Colleen O'Connor February 10, 2021 | 03:57:15

10 Things To Know Before Dating a PR Pro

It’s Valentine’s Day, the traditional holiday for couples, and an occasion to show how much we appreciate the special people in our lives.

Let’s face it – dating can be awkward and uncomfortable. Many PR pros have very strong, type-A personalities and can seem intimidating, especially on first dates. In honor of Valentine’s Day, here are a few things you should know about the PR person you may be dating.  

We are planners – This should come as no surprise. In PR, we are very organized and are trained to plan events and programs. We write plans that cover several months and in our personal lives we may do the same. Nothing stresses out a PR person more than last-minute plans with very little thought. We will make the best of the situation but really appreciate a heads-up for date nights or planned events.

Yet we like fast response time – PR, especially a PR agency, is a fast-paced environment. On a daily basis, we are connected to Slack, e-mails, and texts to our team. If we can’t reach someone with one form of communication, we have back-up plans to get that quick response. Nothing is worse than being left on “read” with no response. PR people may even double-text or call when dating. Don’t take it personally; we just like confirmation that you read our message.

Calendar invites are a must – I’m guilty of sending my friends calendar invites weeks ahead of time just for brunch, because I may forget something that isn’t on my calendar. If you’re dating a PR pro, expect calendar invites for nearly everything from date night, vacations or even something small like grocery shopping. If it isn’t on our calendar, we could overbook ourselves. 

We’re great at negotiating – Dine in or take out? Walk in the park or walk by the beach? These are questions couples often ask. PR pros are trained to negotiate with media to get the best story for a client, and sometimes that carries over into our personal lives. We’re in the persuasion business after all. 

We’re attached to our phones – In dating, it can be rude to keep your phone out or to have the ringer on. But we do have those days where it may be after hours and we need to be connected in case of an emergency, especially working with international media or companies. Our worst fear is missing a message that needed immediate attention! 

We geek out over the latest tech announcements – For anyone who doesn’t work in tech, things like the latest product launch or software update are not important. Tech PR teams keep key dates on our radar to see if we can newsjack technology announcements or breaking stories for our clients. We are always looking for opportunities to join the conversations with media, so if we seem obsessed with tech news, please let us have our moment!

Communication is key – In any good relationship, communication is key. It helps anyone learn more about their date or partner to form a healthy relationship. PR people are master communicators – we have a degree in it. 

First date may feel like a media interview – First dates are often awkward and could have moments of silence – but that’s not as likely with a PR person. Going into the date, we will have created a mental list of question. Like media interviews, we often know what questions to expect. We are pros at creating briefing books for executives to prep them on what to expect. Expect a lot of Q&A on the first date.

We can turn any negative into a positive – Unfortunately not everything goes the way we anticipate in PR. The worst feeling is when you expect a client executive to be featured in an article and they are left out for some reason. While this is frustrating, we know how to make the best out of this situation. If our dinner reservation gets cancelled unexpectedly, we will quickly find a new one and it may be better than the original plans, so no worries about small setbacks. 

Expect the unexpected – PR is a fast-paced world. We start our day thinking our work is cut out for us. Then 15 more things are thrown at us. Dating a PR pro can be a lot like that. While we are planners, we do know how to handle the unexpected surprises in life. That’s what keeps it fun and interesting!   

Happy Valentine’s Day from all of us at Crenshaw Communications!