{"id":2583,"date":"2026-01-28T16:04:35","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T16:04:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/info.maccabee.com\/blog\/?p=2583"},"modified":"2026-01-28T19:17:33","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T19:17:33","slug":"lessons-learned-from-40-years-of-agency-pr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/info.maccabee.com\/blog\/lessons-learned-from-40-years-of-agency-pr\/","title":{"rendered":"Lessons Learned from 40 Years of Agency PR"},"content":{"rendered":"

I write this as I have only hours left of my 40-year career in public relations, a profession that was the perfect match for my personality, passion, and life-long quest for learning new things. I\u2019m moving on from Maccabee and the PR profession to travel with my husband and family, staying healthy, reading good books, and playing with my grandchild. Sounds heavenly to me.<\/p>\n

As I look back on my career, it was destiny! I\u2019ve loved the news business since my high school journalism days. I even tried to convince a friend at the time that the business pages in the newspaper were an exciting read! And when I moved to the Twin Cities those many years ago, I yearned for an agency PR career. How did I know that was my future? I don\u2019t have a clue. In hindsight, and humbly, the agency PR profession was the perfect fit.<\/p>\n

Over the years I\u2019ve learned a few things that may be enlightening and I want to pass the lessons on to you.\u00a0 At minimum, this Maccabee blog has given me a chance to reminisce a bit. I hope you enjoy.<\/p>\n

Agency PR is a Terrific Profession for Procrastinators<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"calendarFrom a pacing standpoint, think about this. Back in the day, we regularly mailed news releases to the media. Then we moved up to faxing them. We also couriered documents across town at either 15 minute, one hour or 3-hour increments. If you need immediacy, you picked up the phone. Multiple times a day.<\/p>\n

Even though the timing in these scenarios seem relaxed by today\u2019s standards, the profession is not that different today. PR professionals deal with multiple projects and deadlines each day. It\u2019s that juggling and prioritizing of the workload that\u2019s exciting. It\u2019s what makes the profession fun. It\u2019s a profession that works well for procrastinators, like me, as there\u2019s always the next deadline that must be met.<\/p>\n

Pro tip: Set up meetings even before you start on a project. Deadlines are good!<\/p>\n

Proof, re-proof, and proof again. And consider \u2018phone a friend\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

Did you know there is a difference between the words \u2018isle\u2019 and \u2018aisle\u2019? Or how about that there is, in fact, an \u2018e\u2019 in the middle of the word Minneapolis?<\/p>\n

These are two spelling lessons I learned that were, in actuality, proofing lessons. The first, unfortunately made it to my client uncorrected. Trust me, you will never forget that overlooked misspelling when a client points it out to you. The missing \u2018e\u2019 typo was in a brochure that I noticed when it was actually on the printing press. At the press check, I was just to check the colors of the brochure, when, looking at the brochure upside down, I noticed the missing \u2018e.\u2019 I still to this day don\u2019t know how the print operators saved me and corrected it while the brochure was on the press.<\/p>\n

Pro tip: Both of these typos could have been fixed beforehand if I slowed down and employed some best practices when it comes to proofing:<\/p>\n