Working Alone?

"It is far better to be alone than to be in bad company."
 George Washington

"Solitude is certainly a fine thing; but there is pleasure in having someone who can answer, from time to time, that it is a fine thing."                                                     Balzac

Whether because of personal preference, economics or other circumstances, more and more of us find ourselves working in one-person marketing and PR offices.  While there are aspects of this that are positive (no one messes with the messes on your desk, you don't have to play departmental politics and you know EVERYTHING that's going on in the department...becasue you ARE the department) there is one decided disadvantage.  You have to do all the work.

There are many keys to surviving work in a one person marketing office.  These include

• Setting and sticking with goals and plans
• Learn to say "no" to additional work
• Take care of your physical work space and the physical YOU
• Give yourself breaks, especially from anything with a screen!
• If you are working from home, establish an "office" space and "office" hours

The most import tip for surviving working alone is to not do it.  Most of the successful people I know in one person marketing/PR offices are really one person in name only.  These people successfully co-opt others into their marketing/communications/PR world.  They recruit interns, find and nurture quality vendor relationships, and involve others in the organization in communications and public relations and outreach.

By making public relations and communications an organization-wide priority, a saavy marketer in a one person office can essentially have the entire organization working for him.  By making sure that marketing and communications principals and values are part of the management principals and values, an on-her-toes communicator can involve the entire management team with her "to do" list.

Ultimately, since marketing and public relations involve communicating with others, you need to involve others.  Done well, the communciations is a conversation, one in which the marketer from the one-person office doesn't have to do all the talking!  

The Answer is Leverage

Communications is like breathing to most companies.  They know that they need to do it to survive, but they don't give it a lot of thought (except when something goes wrong!)

One of the reasons for this is that most companies or organizations don't see communications as their primary function.  They sell cars, make steel beams or educate children.  They don't communicate as their primary business, or so the thinking goes.

Because of that mindset, these companies often don't invest much in the communications function within their organization.

The problem is that in reality ALL companies are communications companies.  Selling cars is ALL about communications.  Making steel requires coordination with suppliers and customers not to mention shareholders and boards of directors.  Teaching is, well, 110% communications: to students, parents, colleagues, administration, licensing boards, the community, grantors, evaluators, and just about everyone else!

So the reality is, while organizations don't invest like they should in communications support and infrastructure, they do a whole lot of it.  Which means that they expect and need a whole lot out of those communications resources they do have.

Hence the age old questions that is heard in marketing/PR/communications offices throughout the land...How can I do ALL of that with just this amount of resources?

The answer is leverage.  Leverage your efforts through partnerships.  Mobilize everyone else in your organization to serve as informal spokespeople.  Develop a Key Communicator network of opinion leaders that can help you get the word out about your organization.  Take advantage of existing platforms to help broadcast your messages further than you can on platforms you have to build and/or fund.  In other words, get EVERYONE you can involved in helping to spread your message!

Leverage can help to expand your results without expanding the amount you spend (in time as well as money).  Leverage, when done well, can appear effortless but seemingly work miracles.

If communications is like breathing, then leverage must be like shouting.  At the top of your lungs.  Without losing your breath.