Are you passionate about your PR projects? The more passion we have for the subject of our client work, the more engaged we will be in the work, the more excited we will be to do the work, and the more energy and time we’ll put into it. And when I’m passionate about my clients and projects, often I find that I’m able to be much more creative.

But something I’ve heard people struggle with is how to systematically go after clients that match our passions so that we always have work that we love. Here is my system for doing just that.

First identify your passions. Leave the PR out of the equation and figure out what you are passionate about in life. I happen to be quite passionate about coffee, Romare Bearden, John Coltrane and women’s empowerment among other things.

Identify Your Specialty Skills If you’re starting out in PR it will be easier to get clients if you can tell them exactly what you offer. When thinking of your specialty skills should ask yourself if you love event planning, crisis communications, speechwriting, helping organizations develop their social media, etc.

Identify a couple of industries you want to mine for your clients. You may find that you love to plan events for restaurants and hotels, so your industry might be hospitality and tourism. Love writing speeches for politicians? Politics and government may be your focus.

Put it all together. Make a statement that begins with “I am…” For example: I am a political speechwriter for politicians that focus on education reform. Or: I am an event planner for boutique restaurants attached to hotels in the New York City Area.

Need more help figuring out your specialty? I created a 56-page workbook to help you. Discover and Win helps you put it all together in a chart form. It’ll help you define 1.) who and where your clients are 2.) what your specific skills are 3.) what you are most passionate about and 4.) how to find clients that match your skills and passions.

Remember: Define. Refine. Position.
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It doesn’t feel very good to have your client call you up and break the news that they’re cutting back.   But since we are well into what appears to be an ever deepening recession, it’s something you’ll probably experience this year if you haven’t already.

It happened to me a few months ago. One of my clients relies heavily on government funding; about $31 million or so worth of it.  By and large, their programming dollars come mostly from one government agency.  Our city government, like many others around the country, is facing the prospect of furloughs, so millions are getting trimmed from the operating budget.  Naturally, my client’s twice-removed $31 million program ended up on the chopping block.

I knew something was up when I could never reach my  contact directly. When I finally did get her on the phone, she informed me that my invoices were being held up by the funding agency for further review. The funders wanted more details about what I was doing (that hard to define PR work), etc. At the same time, the agency’s financial woes had been leaked to the papers and were all over Internet. I’m no dummy.  I knew where this was going.

My contract, which was actually up for renewal, was put on hold.  One of my specialties is multi-month, multi-year, multi-tier communications and marketing programming, so I couldn’t stop working cold turkey without letting a lot of time and effort go to waste.  Pulling the plug meant that quite a few irons I had in the fire would not only cool, but go cold all together.  A few projects that had stretched out over several months were finally nearing completion. But I was no longer receiving payment, so what was I to do?
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