PR Pros: Schaunagh Gleeson Of DA Creative Studio On The 5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career As A Public Relations Pro

An Interview With Kristen Shea

Creativity- you need to be able to communicate campaigns confidently and creatively- if you follow what everyone else is doing there’s no way you can cut through the noise and present your client or agency as a forerunner. There’s also no use being hyper-creative if you’re not going to be brave enough to follow it through or back it as an idea when it comes to pitching.

Have you seen the show Flack? Ever think of pursuing a real-life career in PR? What does it take to succeed in PR? What are the different forms of Public Relations? Do you have to have a college degree in PR? How can you create a highly lucrative career in PR? In this interview series, called “5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career As A Public Relations Pro” we are talking to successful publicists and Public Relations pros, who can share stories and insights from their experiences.

As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Schaunagh Gleeson.

Schaunagh is a Digital PR Executive, small business owner and MSc Digital Marketing student who has lived and studied internationally, acquiring both French and Arabic to varying degrees of fluency. She currently oversees all aspects of digital PR at DA Creative Studio, representing clients across a range of industries. She is a compelling storyteller that helps disruptive businesses achieve their full potential within their field, securing coverage in niche publications as well as global outlets like Forbes.

Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?

Growing up I was always fascinated by language. I know that’s a super cliché thing to say but that was my one passion, the one place I could get lost and feel at home was in a good piece of fiction or when writing my own stories. Writing always came quite naturally to me and it was the one place that I really excelled,I was so passionate about it that by the age of 11 I’d convinced everyone I was going to become an author.

At secondary school, I still loved writing, and I’m thankful that I had an amazing English teacher that kept that passion alive. I remember studying Of Mice & Men and writing a continuation of the story in the tone of voice of John Steinbeck, she read it out anonymously to the whole class and continuously convinced me that I had talent; at times when I didn’t believe so. By the time my GCSEs rolled around, I would spend all day in my English teacher’s classroom, revising for other subjects but mainly just reading and writing. Language has always been a safe space for me, somewhere that I can lean into and know that I do it well. I ended up doing my AS level in Creative Writing alongside my GCSEs and then ended up switching to foreign languages at college. From that point on, I laser-focused on learning French, German, bits of Italian, and even Chinese, eventually studying Arabic at university. For me, languages have always been a tool for expression. While this is often hyper-creative or technical in English, using different devices and methods to achieve a certain goal, in other languages has often been a tool for creating connections with people.

I feel that both of these experiences pushed me in the direction of PR as I had a solid background in using written language to achieve a particular aim, and using verbal language to connect with people and understand them better.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began at your company?

The most interesting thing about starting at my current company for me has been that while I haven’t formally studied PR or had years of industry experience like other PR professionals, much of what I have studied and the things that I’ve experienced have prepared me thoroughly to do well in this role. I’m learning more about the field and the way in which I can apply my new knowledge to the company and our clients every single day. Digital PR is a rapidly growing field and one that you can afford to be disruptive and experimental with so I’m not naive enough to think that I’ll ever really know it ‘all’, and that’s an amazing thing to me.

I’ve learned so much from my colleagues who work across a variety of sectors, from social media marketing to design, their enthusiasm for their work is something that I admire.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?

I still consider myself extremely new to the field; I only officially started working in PR in the December of 2021 so there’s still things that I’m learning on a daily basis. The funniest mistake, and potentially also the most costly, has been assuming that I have to do absolutely everything myself. I pretty much refused to use the bank of freelancers that we have for any of the pieces that we were writing, so as a one woman PR team I was researching and writing almost every single piece of content, strategising, building up media lists and relationships, pitching stories, repitching and pitching again, pulling together reports… It was basically a fast-track to burnout and not an efficient use of my time.

The lesson here is simple, you don’t have to do it all. And if you do try and do it all, you’re going to get extremely tired very quickly because none of us are superhuman. I’m now implementing systems that will allow me to expand and improve the digital PR department at DA Creative Studio and strategise plans for clients that will allow them to achieve the big things they’re dreaming of.

What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?

I’m currently working with a disruptive occupational health company, Latus Health, that has amazing visions for the future. I’m so excited to be working on PR strategies that have the potential to create the desired level of growth that the company is aiming for. We’re currently working closely with the CEO to develop his personal brand and get his position of expertise out into the right communities. Jack and the company are true thought leaders in their field and it’s really interesting to be a part of their growth process.

We’re also growing quickly as an agency, which means working on some really cool projects and attracting new clients that we can really get our teeth stuck in with. We’re also exploring really interesting concepts around influencer marketing in the metaverse within the fashion industry, so on the day to day, I get to work on a ton of amazing projects. I love being able to work on forward-thinking concepts that are affecting the industry and having our agency’s unique spin on it.

You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

Intrinsic motivation- I guess I’ve always been what most people would call an overachiever. During GCSEs, I would work until late in the night and during A levels I would be up at 5 or 6 am to study before going to college, all to get into the university that I wanted to go to. Thankfully it paid off and continues to pay off to this day (except now I know when to rest!) I can proudly say that the majority of the opportunities I’ve created for myself have happened directly through hard work and perseverance. In this day and age, without having self-drive and discipline you’re basically doomed, no one is going to tell you to do the thing, you have to learn to just go and do it.

Self-awareness- Being self-aware has been absolutely instrumental to my success, I’ve also known the harsh realities of not being self-aware. When I was at college I would ‘burn the candle at both ends’, as my French teacher loved to say. I was always tired, burnt out and fuelled by caffeine, but hey at least I was doing well! Or so I thought… By the time I got to university I burnt out, I briefly fell out of love with languages and into a bit of a slump. Going through this only made me stronger though and it forced me to put systems in place to prevent it from happening again. Now I make sure to check in with myself every morning, when I’m going through stressful periods I try and prepare as much as possible in advance by meal-prepping healthy foods, booking gym sessions into my calendar and literally pencilling out time for things that I enjoy- otherwise my little overachiever brain will convince myself that the only thing I really need to do is work. Cue mental breakdown… Self-awareness is absolutely key, if you’re not staying in tune with yourself, there’s no way you can be efficient in day-to-day life.

Resilience- In life, but especially when working in PR, you’re going to get knocked back. That pitch you were sure everyone would snap up? Crickets. You have to learn to roll with the punches and go back to the drawing board when necessary to make adjustments to your original plan, that being said, you also need to know when to stick to it. Throwing in the towel too early isn’t productive, but knowing when to quit something at the optimum time is, and that’s definitely a skill that comes over time after making numerous mistakes. There’s been projects that I’ve dragged out endlessly in my personal life because I was too stubborn to quit even though I knew it wasn’t going to work at that time- on reflection, I should’ve let it go a lot earlier than I did.

Ok super. Thank you for all that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. For the benefit of our readers, can you help articulate what the different forms of PR are?

There’s definitely a clear split between traditional PR and digital PR; I think most would agree that the industry is shifting towards digital, although traditional definitely has a place depending on the client. In my opinion, the nature of this field is going to continue changing! As I mentioned earlier in the interview, the metaverse and web 3.0 are very real concepts that are being implemented quicker than most would’ve expected. Digital marketers and PR professionals need to move quickly to be at the forefront of that; it’s a very exciting time but it’s also moving very quickly.

Right now we’re working on ways that influencers who have built a presence on social media can shift over into the metaverse in avatar format and retain that status. We’ve seen the major fashion houses launching fashion shows in the metaverse and creating their own models in the form of avatars, if influencers and models don’t establish their presence there they will be left behind. It also poses new ways of doing digital PR for brands and PR professionals, the newest form of PR package could potentially be a digital wearable that is given to influencer avatars. Honestly, the opportunities here are endless and it’s something that I’m really excited about!

When you divide PR up even more than that, you get into the nitty gritty of media relations, crisis comms, community relations, socials… There are so many aspects that make up PR and it makes for an exciting day to day, most of the time I have a rough idea of what I’ll be working on through the week but the added reactive opportunities to insert our clients into the most relevant conversations is definitely exciting.

Where should a young person considering a career in PR start their education? Should they get a degree in communications? A degree in journalism? Can you explain what you mean?

Personally, I went to university and found it to be a really valuable experience, I studied French and Arabic and didn’t actually consider going into PR until after I graduated. When it comes to studies, absolutely no one can tell you what is the best course of action to take; some people go to uni and absolutely love it and find it to be enriching and formative, others hate it and don’t get any value out of it. The course you study also has a massive impact, there’s no way I would’ve gotten through an incredibly rigorous four years without doing something that I loved.

I’m now studying for my Master’s in Digital Marketing alongside my role in PR, for me that’s mainly about spending dedicated chunks of time learning about the industry. Having an understanding of other aspects of digital marketing makes me more well-rounded in my field.

The key takeaway from this and from my story is that you can get into PR through many different routes, and finding the one that is the best fit for you is obviously the best course of action.

You are known as a master networker. Can you share some tips on great networking?

1. Give more value than you take- networking is supposed to be a mutually beneficial experience, you’re developing relationships with people that could potentially have a massive influence on your future but many people forget to give back. Share your insight and experience, your top tips, job opportunities- your network will undoubtedly thank you for it.
2. Connect with people authentically- don’t be the annoying one jumping into everyone’s DMs with your sales pitch, sites like LinkedIn are amazing for building your professional network outside of people you would usually meet but no one appreciates being hounded with salesy messages before even attempting to build some sort of relationship. Make sure to nurture your connections too, I work with journalists from lots of different publications but taking the time to check-in is absolutely vital. Most recently I reached out to a journalist asking if she needed any insight or additional support for the pieces she’s currently writing that would fit our client, turns out she did! Networking is the quickest way to become the ‘go to’ person for certain things within the industry, if a journalist knows you can provide insight on a specific area and can give quality information with a quick turnaround, they’re more likely to come to you when they need something- a win for them and your client.

Lead generation is one of the most important aspects of any business. Can you share some of the strategies you use to generate good, qualified leads?

Generating leads for clients relies on us showcasing the great things they do and ensuring this is seen by the right people. Generating new leads as an agency largely falls on doing amazing work for our current clients, publicising the things we’re doing well and being authentic to our voice and values as an agency.

We’re a disruptive agency and we work best with clients who are also disrupting their field, by producing campaigns that resonate with these brands, we naturally draw them to work with us. At the end of the day, achieving success for our clients means that they’re more likely to refer us on to other companies that we can achieve great things with.

Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. Based on your opinion and experience, what are your “5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career As A Public Relations Pro” and why.

1. Language skills- of course, being able to speak the language in which you’re conducting PR to an impeccable level is important, but having language skills outside of that opens your agency and clients up to so many opportunities. Being able to communicate in languages other than English means that where possible and relevant, I can craft content in other languages that will be culturally sensitive and appropriate. PR is such a delicate field and the idea that you can just translate a piece from English to French, without having an intrinsic knowledge of cultural nuances doesn’t work. You need to work with someone who has advanced knowledge of both languages.
2. Creativity- you need to be able to communicate campaigns confidently and creatively- if you follow what everyone else is doing there’s no way you can cut through the noise and present your client or agency as a forerunner. There’s also no use being hyper-creative if you’re not going to be brave enough to follow it through or back it as an idea when it comes to pitching.
3. Good relationship building skills- this one goes without saying but you absolutely need to have good relationship building skills, otherwise you’re just creating content to throw at a wall and hope that it sticks. Creating relationships with journalists that know they can rely on you for quality information with a good turnaround is incredibly important, as it means that your client’s voice is going to continuously show up in their publication.
4. An analytical mind- A surprising number of people seem to think that PR is just writing nice stories, or even worse ‘spin’ or ‘strategic lying’. PR is so much more than that and you definitely need an analytical mind to carry it off, from spotting media trends in advance of them happening to create content for your agency or client, or analysing what went well in a campaign and what didn’t go so well, being analytical is central to it all.
5. Ambition- I’m one of the first to preach about work-life balance, but at the same time, working in PR definitely isn’t a 9–5. Everyone working in PR, especially digital PR and how fast moving things can be when you’re going for reactive opportunities or inserting your client into a major conversation, knows the hustle, but they’ll also tell you that they love their job. Ambition and hustle are absolutely essential for PR success; some of my best ideas for approaches for pieces or people that I should connect with have come when I’m out with friends, chilling at home, or even working on personal projects. Sometimes all it takes is to read something or see an ad while you’re out doing your shopping and it gets you thinking, that’s why you need your PR head on most of the time.

Because of the role you play, you are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. :-)

There’s so much going on in the world at the minute that’s causing so much pain for people. I think from a general standpoint we all need to be extremely grateful every single day and live with compassion and empathy. If everyone took the time to help someone else every day, whether it’s something small like making a cup of coffee, donating to a charity or even spending 30 minutes discussing your role and how to get into the industry with a young person, the world would be a much better place!

This was really meaningful! Thank you so much for your time.