PR Pros: David Pederson of SmartNews On The 5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career As A Public Relations Pro
Do not write off a reporter for having a subversive reaction to a pitch. Reporters are oftentimes overwhelmed and on deadline, which can often cause stress-induced responses. Don’t take it personally. Taking challenging or difficult feedback from reporters is part of the rite of passage in becoming a true PR professional.
Have you seen the show Flack? Ever think of pursuing a real-life career in PR? What does it take to succeed in PR? What are the different forms of Public Relations? Do you have to have a college degree in PR? How can you create a highly lucrative career in PR? In this interview series, called “5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career As A Public Relations Pro” we are talking to successful publicists and Public Relations pros, who can share stories and insights from their experiences.
As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing David Pederson, Head of Internal Communications at SmartNews.
David Pedersen is the current Head of International Communications at SmartNews, one of the world’s most popular news aggregators. Over the course of his almost 20-year career, David has been executing successful and innovative communications initiatives in a variety of industries including technology, hospitality, sports, and entertainment. Most recently, David led communications for payments leader Adyen, supply chain management company Tradeshift, and cybersecurity technology group Outseer/RSA. He graduated from Pomona College in 2005 with a B.A. in Psychology. David currently lives in Denver, Colorado with his cat Pocket.
Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
In 2005, I graduated from Pomona College, a small liberal arts college in Southern California. Post-college, I was set to work at an internship at a movie prop warehouse, but on my drive back to the Bay Area, I had quite a bit of time to think to myself and realized that I wanted to get into public relations. I made a call to a high school friend of mine, who was working at the time in marketing at Columbia Records in New York City, and she secured a Fall internship for me in the Sony Music public relations department.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began at your current company?
I’ve worked in PR for almost 20 years now, and have never had the opportunity to work side-by-side with journalists. Usually, I’m pitching journalists, not working in-tandem with them on a mutual project. At SmartNews, the content team is brimming with incredible talent featuring wildly impressive and extensive backgrounds at major, household name publications. Being able to leverage the wisdom and experience of my journalist colleagues has truly helped me level-up my PR game.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Almost immediately into my tenure at SmartNews, I was invited to a leadership offsite in Hawaii. When my plane was landing in Honolulu, I realized I was missing my wallet. Turns out, I had dropped it while I was walking on to the plane, and a steward thought it belonged to someone who had been on the previous arriving flight. The wallet was taken off the plane to the lost and found department at Denver International Airport. Thankfully, between Apple Pay and my SmartNews team expensing hotel rooms and food on my behalf, I was covered. But I was mortified that the first impression I was giving my brand new colleagues was exactly the opposite of the organized impression I usually deliver.
Besides a few laughs, no one thought anything of it. Sometimes, we judge ourselves far more harshly than anyone else does.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?
As a news aggregator, SmartNews is sitting on a treasure trove of data points. My PR agency team and I are currently working on some fascinating data stories that will reveal some interesting truths about how people digest news!
You are a very successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?
Be flexible! I tend to work for companies with a global reach, which causes time zone headaches when setting up meetings. The more flexible you can be with your schedule, the better, especially when you are first starting out.
Diplomatic honesty is a difficult attribute to master, but a crucial component of successful leaders. Delivering honest but difficult feedback, especially to leaders, can seem like an intimidating challenge, but it’s absolutely imperative in order to maintain reasonable expectations and healthy alignments.
Growth is not linear. You’re going to have a bad day, which may feel like several steps backwards or downwards. Don’t worry: this happens to every single human being in existence. Focus on how you can do better tomorrow, and how you can grow from a difficult situation. A CEO I worked for many years ago put it best: it’s not about how you fall, it’s about how you get up.
For the benefit of our readers, can you help articulate what the different forms of PR are?
There are four buckets of PR that I am usually accountable for are internal communications, external communications, customer advocacy, and social media. All of these buckets roll up into a comprehensive PR strategy that leverages every available resource and opportunity.
Where should a young person considering a career in PR start their education? Should they get a degree in communications? A degree in journalism? Can you explain what you mean?
A degree in journalism or communications is not necessary to building a successful career in PR. However, I would recommend taking Media Studies courses, or any class that will help you become stronger in media literacy.
You are known as a master networker. Can you share some tips on great networking?
Now that COVID rules have loosened up a bit, I strongly recommend going to conferences and meeting people *in person*. We are so accustomed to Zooming with everyone nowadays that the art of in-person conversation and networking has been all but lost. A brief drink or coffee with a reporter can lead to a career-long relationship. I don’t think Zoom calls can produce this type of connection.
Lead generation is one of the most important aspects of any business. Can you share some of the strategies you use to generate good, qualified leads?
Make sure you are leveraging your customers in ways that help both you and your customer. Being able to point to case studies, joint press interviews, or anything that shows a happy customer will undoubtedly help you with your lead generation strategy. Founders can talk about their visions all day, but clear results and happy customers can dramatically increase your lead gen opps far more than just a vision can.
Based on your opinion and experience, what are your “5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career As A Public Relations Pro” and why. (Please share a story or example for each.)
Be proactive. Do not wait for opportunities to come to you: create your own opportunities instead! I had a brief job at MTV, booking talent to appear on MTV’s various award programs. Because I was talking to publicists every day, I started to develop some very strong relationships with some folks who worked at one of the top entertainment PR firms in the world. I realized after working them on several initiatives that I wanted to try my hand at personal representation. Because I had such a great reputation with the contacts I had worked with already, they found a place for me within days of me asking for a new role.
Do not write off a reporter for having a subversive reaction to a pitch. Reporters are oftentimes overwhelmed and on deadline, which can often cause stress-induced responses. Don’t take it personally. Taking challenging or difficult feedback from reporters is part of the rite of passage in becoming a true PR professional.
Organic PR is just part of the equation. Make sure you have a budget to leverage for paid opportunities. If your brand doesn’t have a strong story or has limited visibility in a crowded market, oftentimes it takes some cash to get the ball rolling, especially in this current economy.
Reporters don’t just want to hear about vision, they need to see results. After the downfall of Elizabeth Holmes, there were a lot of questions raised about how so many fraudulent details were missed. Her vision and execution were clearly on different pages, but she was still heralded as the next brilliant inventor of our time. The common through-line I’m seeing with journalists post-Elizabeth Holmes is the demand for proof. Be prepared to offer it. The days of selling a company just based on vision are long gone, and deservedly so.
Working with an agency should be a mutual partnership. If you invest in an agency retainer, be prepared to work just as hard as the agency team. If you don’t provide your agency with an arsenal of spokespeople and interesting pitch materials, you will effectively be straitjacketing them and will inevitably see poor results. Work WITH your agency, not above them.
If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?
We need to get the circulation of misinformation stopped in its tracks. Especially in the age of COVID, misinformation can not only lead people down the wrong path, but can have lethal consequences (ex. Drinking bleach to cure COVID). Arming people with accurate, factual information should be a goal that everyone is on board with.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-pedersen-4880a3a/
This was really meaningful! Thank you so much for your time.
PR Pros: David Pederson of SmartNews On The 5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.