When an actor or musician accepts an award their acceptance speech usually begins with, “I would like to thank,” followed by a long list of people who had a part in helping them reach that particular point in their lives. These people are their “team” and without them the chances that that person would be standing their accepting that award are slim to none. No one can do it one their own and this holds true in the world of Public Relations too. You don’t see Jonathan Cheban (there’s that name again) running Command PR all by himself. He has surrounded himself with people who come from very different backgrounds and who have something to offer to the company. Why are teams so important? Why can’t I do it all on my own? These are some questions that you may be asking, but I think once I explain to you the importance of teamwork, and how it has worked in the past, you will understand that if you are going to do it right you can’t do it alone.
I believe you can think of a team in two ways. You have the team within your company, and then you have the team you have create outside your company. The team within the company is the group of people you have hired because of their knowledge of PR that compliments other employee’s strengths and weaknesses. These strengths and weaknesses can be either in the team member’s knowledge or lack there of in a particular subject or in their personality. I think in public relations the team you form outside your company consists of mostly your social networks. These networks can be made of people you have connected with professionally, such as photographers and vendors, to people you know personally who can connect you to others who can ultimately help promote your client. Ascot Media Group in Texas showed that by creating a cohesive team within their company and outside their company they were able to maximize their clients’ exposure. The CEO, Trish Stevens, stated that she attributes her company’s success to the team she had created. When reading further on about how she picked the team I was shocked to find that the attributes were more in the member’s personality traits rather than their status within the company and/or knowledge in the field. Among those listed were individuals who were driven, ambitious, vibrant, results-oriented, and tireless. Ascot also formed a team outside the company by working with networking groups to help create buzz for the company’s client through the Internet. This helped generate a large amount of exposure for their client that landed him a spot on the NY Times best sellers list. The combination of these two teams helped make Ascot a very successful company, and their client very successful as well.
If I were asked today how I would put together my very own celebrity PR team I can honestly say I don’t know. I don’t believe that there is a set list of guidelines for everyone to follow that will help them create an effective team. Every company, every project, and every person requires a different team. Sometimes you just have to know. Jonathan Cheban added to his team a girl name Erika Ledesma. Erika had no knowledge or experience in public relations, or the business world in general. Now if you were to look at any list of requirements for a position like Erika’s you would find something that says 5+ years experience in PR or a related field. If Jonathan had ignored his instincts and formed his team by the book he may have past over someone who has proven to be an asset his company. So how would I form my team? All I can say for now is that it will be by using both my brain and my instinct.
Sources:
http://www.eonline.com/on/shows/spin_crowd/cast_bios.html
http://www.prlog.org/10179075-innovative-pr-firm-takes-positive-teamwork-to-the-max-for-their-clients.html
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