PR Pros: Lori Bertelli of Era Software On The 5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career As A Public Relations Pro
Learn from those around you: We’re all better together. It’s important to share what works and what doesn’t with each other. Seek this out within your organization and outside of it. Attend professional events and keep learning. I’ve had several mentors throughout my career and learned a lot by brainstorming and running things by these individuals.
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 Lori Bertelli.
Lori is currently Vice President of Communications at Era Software. Era Software observability data management offers modern IT and security organizations the ability to route, ingest, store, and analyze massive amounts of data to get actionable insights in seconds.
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?
Yes! I was attending law school in NYC and mid-way through my second year decided I didn’t want to continue. I decided to contact the PR firm that represented the music production company I worked with prior to moving to New York and started with them, entry level. I learned the ins and outs of the profession and was lucky enough to represent big brands like Bain & Company, the Salt Lake Olympic Organizing Committee and Burger King. I gravitated to B2B tech PR while in New York and haven’t looked back. I truly love being in house with Era Software as I thrive on the startup energy. We’re growing fast — in fact, we recently announced several 2021 milestones, including 238% employee increase. It’s cool to be a part of a company solving hard data problems for companies.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began at your company?
Since I started in January, I would have to highlight the great people I’ve met and enjoying how we take care of each other. We just surpassed the 50 employees mark and it’s amazing to see a company that truly puts employee well-being first. Era is a ‘people first’ company with a shared vision — structuring operations to honor the individuals who have chosen to join Era. I was also told I have a $3,000 home office stipend to make my home office environment what I want and need it to be! That’s cool!
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?
In my first year as a PR professional, I had so much to learn. I quickly realized the importance of researching reporters and then creating storylines that key targets will care about. I had a few lackluster pitches that didn’t get the reaction I’d hoped so I went back to the drawing board and spent more time on the front-end. I can’t emphasize this enough. Journalists don’t like it when we pitch stories they would never cover. I would argue it’s even more important today to target appropriately — journalists’ time is even more limited than it was when I first started. It helps your company, if you’re in house, or your client if you’re agency-side. Take your time. Get the pitch and subject line right!
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?
We are a rocket ship in the observability data management market. We help modern IT and security organizations route, ingest, store, and analyze massive amounts of data to get actionable insights in seconds. This is exciting and we have many projects in the works that we will announce this year. Stay tuned!
You are a 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?
- Empathy: Giving and receiving! This is a tough industry and can be high stress. I’ve been most successful surrounding myself with people who stay calm, are helpful, and we get to the finish line together.
- Kindness: Like the above — giving and receiving! We all have those experiences where someone hasn’t been kind and how that made us feel. I had an executive editor offer story advice and engage in a way that helped us both out. I still talk to this person today!
- Growth mindset: When I remind myself to stay curious and in ‘growth mode,’ I’m happier overall and can continue to make the task at hand exciting! It’s actually fun and challenging to research key reporters and work to understand points of view they would find interesting. Staying curious keeps stress at bay and helps us stay creative in this line of work.
Ok super. Thank you for all that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview. For the benefit of our readers, can you help articulate what the different forms of PR are?
Today there are many ways organizations can communicate who they are and what they do. My experience is in B2B tech. We work closely with the product marketing team and work hard to tell our company story. To do this, we rely on developing content, amplifying on social media, approaching journalists directly through a strategic media relations program. We also incorporate paid media relations. One could also pursue work on an internal communications team or working on crisis communications.
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?
I have a degree in English Literature and a minor in Journalism. These paths are certainly helpful as they helped me understand the components of a good story. A degree in communications is a solid path as well. Critical thinking skills are important in this profession — I’ve had colleagues who studied political science and they also thrived. There are many paths to take but exposure to writing and journalism are definitely useful.
You are known as a master networker. Can you share some tips on great networking?
The growth mindset I mentioned earlier is useful for networking as well! When you approach networking as an exciting journey where you can help someone as they can help you, it becomes a fun exercise and likely less feared.
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?
In my current role, I work closely with our marketing team. We are focused on sharing how we help our customers solve their problems. We use traditional and modern PR and marketing tactics and make sure we share use case examples. We make sure the content we develop includes real-life examples so that the story is richer and prospects can apply lessons learned to their own organizations.
Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. 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.)
- Tenacity: I learned early in my career in New York City that I needed to be persistent to get the results our clients were after. I never gave up and went back to the drawing board until I had the right combination of strategy and tactics to achieve these results. Never give up for feel defeated — try, try again and learn from what didn’t work.
- Curiosity: Stay curious, friends! Find something intriguing about every aspect of your day-to-day workload. This helps keep burnout at bay and makes everything more interest.
- Writing skills: It’s very hard to be in this line of work and not continue to improve your own writing abilities. Continue to work on styles for different mediums like social; thought leadership, etc. We are communicators and need to be able to do this with many audiences. I continue to study and learn. We can always improve our writing.
- Build a strong network: It’s important to learn from others throughout your PR career. Taking classes, listening to journalists and your mentors is invaluable. I’ve stayed connected to many people I met early in my career and I’ve relied on them as references as well as for advice.
- Learn from those around you: We’re all better together. It’s important to share what works and what doesn’t with each other. Seek this out within your organization and outside of it. Attend professional events and keep learning. I’ve had several mentors throughout my career and learned a lot by brainstorming and running things by these individuals.
Because of the role you play, you are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
I would inspire The Growth Mindset Movement. Given what we’ve all dealt with over the last two years, being positive and growing is important. If we could start an actual movement, we would all benefit. Maybe I’ll start with the Leisurewear from Here on Out Movement. ☺
This was really meaningful! Thank you so much for your time.
PR Pros: Lori Bertelli of Era Software On The 5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.