Public Relations Professionals

Professional Blog 
Denise Hawkins graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma with a degree in Marketing. She has been happily married to her husband Tom Hawkins for over 25 years. She has two stepchildren. Before coming to Buy For Le$$ and taking the position of Marketing Director, Denise worked at the Daily Oklahoman and Mathis Brothers in their Marketing departments.
 
Day-to-day
Denise has been at Buy For Le$$ for the past 5 years, and has enjoyed every day she has been there. She coordinates and oversees all marketing functions for the entire company on a daily basis. This includes all media, ads, social media, web and video. As a director, she manages a team of eight people in marketing, graphic design and web. She insists that good communication skills, the ability to manage a team of professionals and a positive attitude are all important skills to have when in a leadership position involving marketing.

Challenges and Rewards
“Not all days are easy ones,” said Hawkins. “Sometimes the work is tedious and stressful. However, I find so much reward in knowing that I am helping out the company and spreading our name in the community. My favorite part of the job is helping in the community. Those are my favorite tasks to coordinate.”

Advice
Hawkins had a few pieces of advice for those hoping to enter the field of marketing and climb the ladder to management. “The key to success is experience, knowledge and surrounding yourself with other skilled professionals in order to create a team that generates success,” said Hawkins. “Be persistent and always work hard. People will notice hard work and determination.”



Additional Links Used:
http://blog.wholefoodsmarket.com/
http://prblog.typepad.com
http://www.prnewsonline.com/prnewsblog/
http://www.buyforlessok.com
http://buddingpublicrelations.blogspot.com

Public Relations Professionals

PUBLIC RELATIONS PROFESSIONAL BLOG
Monnie Romney graduated from the University of Tulsa with a degree in communications. She married young and had 4 kids, not leaving much time for a long career path. She spent the majority of her time carting children to ballet, soccer practice and other school activities, not focusing on work at all. When her children were all old enough, she began looking into the Public Relations field, something she always found interesting during her college career. A family friend of hers worked at Louridge, an events and retreats organization, and encouraged her to pursue a job there in event coordination.

COMMUNICATION IS KEY
11 years later, and Monnie is the head Event Coordinator at the organization, and she’s loving every minute of it. She deals with clients wanting to host banquets, brides planning their big day, employers wanting an event for their staff, and many other organizations wishing to promote their business through events. Although this organization has the largest amount of weddings, Monnie still deals with clients on a daily basis. She stresses that calmness and communication are key. One must be able to effectively communicate with clients, and then be able to relay that information to the correct people.

CHALLENGES OF EVENTS
Not all events are just fun and games, however. “It gets extremely stressful at times,” Monnie said. “Some clients have a lot of unrealistic expectations, or they don’t have a clear message they want to get across through their event. It’s sometimes a challenge coming up with that information and figuring out what exactly they want to accomplish for their organization.” With experience, you learn to ask for those things up front.

ADVICE FOR NEW PROFESSIONALS
When asked what advice she would offer to new professionals, Monnie said the list could be endless. “There are so many things I wish a professional already in the field would have told me.” The biggest one? Network whenever you have the opportunity. “Getting your name out there before graduation is so beneficial,” Monnie said. “Even if you already have a job, network. You never know when you are going to need a favor from someone and it’s a lot easier to ask for things when you know a lot of people in the field. You become much more credible to your clients as well when you have a lot of contacts.”

ADDITIONAL LINKS VISITED
http://buddingpublicrelations.blogspot.com
http://www.brillianteventplanning.com/blog.html
http://prblog.typepad.com
http://online-pr.blogspot.com/
http://www.prnewsonline.com/prnewsblog/