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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Social media brings people together. And conferences do, too.

I met a Mopwater PR + Media Notes “fan” today during a panel at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention in San Diego today. My heart’s all gooey. I love meeting Mopwater PR + Media Folks.

How did you find Mopwater PR + Media Notes? I’d love to hear your story.

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I recently had a conversation with a young lady, let’s call her PR Ingenue, who wanted to hear my PR Basic Principles because as she said, PR is so broad. We had an interesting discussion about the difference between public relations and media relations so I thought it would be interesting to share my thoughts with you guys, and get some of your basic principles. Here’s the conversation:

Mopwater: A lot of people equate PR to media relations, but that’s just one part.

PR Ingenue: Could you explain the difference?

What are your thoughts?

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The other day I caught up with one of my PR faves Robert Udowitz, a very well-respected, long-time PR soloist who, despite never doing any formal marketing, has kept a steady flow of work for years! If you’re in the DC area, you probably know Robert because everyone knows him. He’s at every PRSA-NCC event, and most major communications events. We’re working together on the International PRSA conference that will be held in DC this fall.

He met me at the newly renovated Northside Social in Arlington (formerly Murky Coffee) and obliged me with a quick interview because I knew it would be helpful and inspiring for those of you who are hoping to break into “the game”. Pull up a seat and take notes as he shares his experience in the public relations industry.

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Sometimes when launching a consultancy you’re forced to adopt the strategy of “taking what you can get” in order to make ends meet. Whether you love the project or client, you learn to love it whether you’re passionate about the topic or not. But after a few years of consulting one must ask themselves a critical question:

Does the Work I’m Doing Reflect My  Brand?

I personally asked myself this question, and my own answers required some changes be made. So I recently made the decision to retire a longtime client because the bulk of the work I am paid to do for this client doesn’t match what I want to be known in the industry for. I’d been with this client for over two years and the scope of my services had evolved over that time but due to the nature of the organization, we weren’t able to always tweak the contract to reflect how my suite of services had changed.

As other clients came on board and I launched the Twitch! series, and began doing more speaking engagements, social media trainings, etc. through Mopwater, I began to realize how much of a time drain this client was becoming on my business and creative energy. What if I could focus those hours each month on developing my social media trainings, or planning for events in other cities, or finding other clients who need and want what I offer?

I bounced the idea around to a number of people. Some said don’t throw away a guaranteed retainer that doesn’t require a ton of mental energy or work for the unknown. Others said simply “go for it”.

Free from the obligation of this great relationship that was amazingly nurturing and wonderful, but ultimately inconsistent with my brand, I have been able to focus on what I want the rest of this year to look like for me in terms of my business and clients. I already knew that I would be focusing on expanding my event series, making more time for speaking and writing opportunities and doing social media trainings. However I discovered that I want to spend more time pubbing what I love, so I’ve decided  to focus more on the systematic pursuit of clients in the arts and cultural sectors as well as creative women business owners. This strategy has already yielded two new projects that are absolutely in line with my brand. I am more focused, and excited than ever before.

From What I Can Get to What I Want. Here are the steps:

DEFINE YOUR BRAND. Decide what you want to be known for. Fashion PR, Beauty PR, Small Education, Non-Profit, Business Marketing, etc.

Conduct a BRAND ALIGNMENT AUDIT. What services are you currently offering and to what organizations? Are you doing what you want to be known for or not? How can you get closer to doing more of what you love?

CREATE A TIMELINE to phase out the projects that aren’t in line with your brand and bring on projects that are. This may take one month, three months, six months or even a year.

IMPLEMENT. Just do it.

At the end of the day, in life and in business, there is a finite amount of time. Do you really want to spend your day working on projects that you don’t particularly love? If you are a public relations professional it may be time to make the transition from projects you can get, to projects you want. You totally deserve to love what you do.

For more public relations career advice, order your copy of the Mopwater Manual. And to figure out your PR specialty so you can get more clients, download the digital Discover and Win workbook-it’s packed with worksheets and exercises to help you get your ideal clients.

So this Thursday, May 6 at Busboys and Poets, I have the distinct pleasure of hosting an awesome panel of Washington, DC journalists to talk social media for the second installment of Twitch! Public Relations in the Age of Social Media. For talk two, PoliTwitch we’re hosting journalists who focus on political reporting, and I must tell you we’ve got some heavy hitters who you won’t want to miss. Haven’t gotten your ticket yet? Register here.

Our moderator will be Peter Cherukuri, the DC Bureau Manager of the Huffington Post-and the real media mogul in the room for the evening. I hear he’s going to be talking about some of the HuffPo’s newest social media endeavors which should be exciting. And perhaps even newsbreaking.

We’re honored to have Mark Preston, Political Editor for CNN and editor of CNN’s Political Ticker.

Patrick Gavin from Politico will also be on the panel. He’s a staff writer for Politico and editor of Politico’s new “On Media” blog, which you can ask him about in person. You can see him below interviewing David Gregory on the new Meet the Press set.

Roll Call’s Jackie Kucinich will also be at the table as well as the National Partnership for Women and Family Policy Manager Rachna Choudhry, and of course me, Amanda Miller Littlejohn and my husband Marc Littlejohn the organizers and hosts.

Here’s what we’re going to be talking about:

• how social media and new media technologies have transformed the way news is reported
• how political and advocacy issues make it to the top of the news heap
• how organizations are using social media to set themselves apart from their competitors and get news coverage

So bring your questions for these decision makers in the news business. You won’t want to miss this discussion.

Ryan Grim, Senior Congressional Correspondent for the Huffington Post and author of the 2009 Wiley release “This is Your Country on Drugs” was billed as one of 6 speakers for Mopwater PR + Media Notes’ first PR. 2.0 panel  Twitch! Public Relations in the Age of Social Media on Thursday night in Washington, but ended up canceling last minute due to an emergency.

A journalistic emergency?

Not quite. Turns out, it was Grim’s third wedding anniversary, which he obviously could not skip.

Grim sent fellow Huffington Post reporter Arthur Delaney in his stead, and to avoid becoming an official Twitch Ditch, he also sent these responses via email to my questions about his use of social media during his reporting and sourcing.

Mopwater: How has social media changed how you do your job?
RG: The biggest shift I’ve seen is toward IM [instant message], both on Facebook, blackberries, gchat or plain old AIM. People seem more relaxed on IM. So build an IM relationship with a reporter.

Mopwater: How do you use social media to find sources for your stories?

RG: LinkedIn has been an enormous help and is a great way to find people online, as is Facebook. If you want reporters to be able to reach you, make those accounts as public as possible and have a phone number easy to find.

Here’s my broad point: The PR people who are successful for me are the ones who can get through. Getting through is a function of staying ahead of the stream of communication that rushes our way. Once, emailing a reporter was the way to do that, but the inbox now is so stuffed it’ll just get buried. There will continuously be new ways to stay ahead, though. Facebook chatting is a good and underused way now. Some reporters might get annoyed at getting a FB ping from a PR flak, but whatever. It’s not your job to make us happy, just to get our attention. A direct Twitter message would get through, too, as would a tweet with my handle in it. Reporters are always out there looking to see what people are tweeting or writing about their work, so you can trap us that way.

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