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I’m entering my fourth year working as PR consultant at Praxis. For the past three years, I have been learning a lot from the tech industry. My experience in the tech industry began with one of the biggest global tech companies, Xiaomi. I could say, Xiaomi introduced me to the industry, and also opened a lot of learning opportunities during my service time.

Besides Xiaomi, I also had the opportunity to handle tech clients that have slightly different backgrounds from Xiaomi, such as Mozilla, BBM, Opera, and Ericsson. Obviously, I gained a deeper understanding and working knowledge of the tech industry by working with the clients I mentioned before, but at the same time, it started to feel like I am in my “comfort zone” when it comes to working with tech clients. Thus it made me realize that I also want to widen my capabilities by handling clients from other industries.

Entering my third year, finally I was able to handle clients beyond technology and get out of my comfort zone. I then started to branch out my experience by working with clients from finance, fashion, and furniture industries. Drawing from my own experience, I would suggest that every PR consultant should handle clients from different industries, and listed below are the top five reasons that I came up with. Let’s get to it. 

1. Insights from different industries

I can guarantee that you will get broader knowledge if you handle clients from various industries. Based on my experience, now I am confident to have discussions around technology, fashion and furniture. It will also be useful if you are going to meet new potential clients. Before you receive the brief, you already know about the industry.

2. New client, new experience

Clients have their own working procedures which are usually formed based on the industry that they are working in. You will be able to experience different working cultures and phases and it will let you become more comfortable when meeting new clients in the future.

3. Expand your media network

Surely it needs time to have a proper media network. Handling clients from various industries will open your media network to a greater connection. Also, you will be able to learn how to treat journalists from different departments. Look beyond where you are right now, the media network that you currently have will bring a lot of opportunities in the future. The larger connections are the better.

4. Explore new strategies

Communication strategy is the approach you take to achieve a goal. Thus, we usually propose different strategies to different clients. Based on my experience, I was able to explore social media marketing when I am handling IKEA. While, I learnt a lot of traditional PR strategies from my experience handling Ericsson and Xiaomi.

5. Upgrade your skill beyond communication

Clients have different needs when they seek assistance from a PR agency. There are clients who only want to get services related to PR, however there are also clients who require us to connect with EO or other relevant vendors. This kind of requirement lets me upgrade my skills beyond communication. I learnt a lot of things about technical stuff about event organizing when I handled IKEA virtual events.

It is obvious that there are more pros than cons when it comes to handling clients from different industries. Never be afraid to challenge yourself and see the capabilities that you will never see if you do not accept new opportunities. Try and experience it yourself.