PR Pros: Natalie Norcross of A Design Partnership On The 5 Things You Need To Create A Highly Successful Career As A Public Relations Pro
Focus on building good relationships. From your team to clients and media contacts, it is so important to develop and foster impactful relationships. They are truly the foundation of everything we do in PR. If you are kind, genuine, courteous and friendly, you’ll go far in this industry. Send a gift or a hand written thank you card, it will go a long way.
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 Natalie Norcross.
Natalie Norcross is an innovative and driven entrepreneur who knows the public relations world inside and out. Bringing over 20 years of experience for Interior Designers, Lifestyle Brands and Start-Ups, she has an in-depth understanding of the design and consumer market and a vision for driving business growth, building brand awareness, and securing powerful press placements.
In 2008, Natalie launched A Design Partnership to offer brands a multi faceted approach for forward thinking brands. Since then the agency has grown into a dynamic group of communication experts who focus on strengthening the brands of our global client base through consumer awareness and media relations. We are passionate about helping clients transform their brands by securing coverage and feature stories in domestic and international publications including Architectural Digest, Elle Decor, House Beautiful, Robb Report, New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Departures, Town & Country and World of Interiors.
Our team has vast experience working with brands, start ups, e-commerce and interior designers across luxury and mass market categories, including home and design, fashion, tech, beauty, travel and hospitality. From content curators, to results-oriented experts, our dynamic, design-savvy team knows the shelter industry, loves their craft, and are fanatical about helping brands grow.
Natalie is an Official Member of Forbes Agency Council, as well as a regular speaker and panelist in both the communications and design industries.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began at your company?
We had been working with interior designer Kirk Nix of KNA Design for a while and were strategically focused on growing his partnerships program and aligning with other well-known brands to launch new product collections. He had a successful partnership with Robert Allen Fabrics and we were expanding his partnerships in several other categories. I ended up partnering him with Palecek and together they launched one of the largest licensing partnerships and collections in the industry. A 100 piece furniture collection with a 4-year agreement to add several pieces to the collection every year for four consecutive years. The partnership has resulted in beautiful products and has really helped us to expand and grow our brand partnerships division for the agency. We are now partnering our clients with brands in several different capacities and it is the fastest growing program at our agency, A Design Partnership right now.
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?
I have never made a mistake, just kidding! We foster and encourage thinking outside of the box here at A Design Partnership as that is proof that we are taking risks and trying new things. Navigating bold ideas that haven’t been done before is challenging and a key part of what we do every day. We take calculated risks with the goal of making a lasting impact for our clients and generating positive results for their brands. That’s the kind of PR team I’m working hard to build.
When I was first starting out, I was terrified of making phone calls to media for PR or brands for partnerships. On one of my first calls, I was pitching a wallpaper brand with one of our clients and I was so nervous because I wasn’t sure how receptive they would be to the idea and this partnership. The director at the company could tell I was nervous and after that call, I learned to be more confident in myself and my abilities as a PR professional. I also learned how fun it is to be an advocate for my client. I had so much fun showcasing and selling our client’s designs and his vision for the collection and the partnership. I learned that it is important to have high level clients who are seeing gaps and holes in the marketplace as design professionals. The most important lesson I took from that experience was to always remember that relationships are key because we are relied on to be a key source of information and to advocate for our clients. They need us and we need them. We should work collaboratively together. When I started to focus on building trusting relationships, my career was forever changed and frankly it has been a pivotal vision for the growth at A Design Partnership, we truly believe we are stronger together.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?
We are truly blessed to have a stellar team and a phenomenal client roster. We are consistently doing big things for our clients, we love bringing ideas to the table and then bringing them to life. Right now, our team is working on multiple projects that I’m really excited about. We are currently working on some of the most interesting brand partnerships between several clients. We are exploring partnerships with four different home and design brands and are in the process of launching a pretty unique series for the agency. We are also doing some fun initiatives with Airbnb and large retailers like Target, Walmart and Williams Sonoma. We have been exploring innovative ways to use the Metaverse to launch pop up partnerships and collaborations that showcase unique products all while pushing the envelope with the Web 3.0.
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?
Communicate — Clear communication with our team and our clients!
Collaborate — In PR it is important to collaborate and have good relationships. We share ideas with our team on various strategies and innovative or interesting pitch angles. We also collaborate with the media as it is our job to find the story, source the story, tell the story and get it published.
Creative Thinking- Thinking out of the box with innovative ways that we can partner our clients with a like-minded brand, influencer or tastemaker. Or think of innovative ways we can create a joint venture or license an interesting product with a manufacturer or retailer to help bring it to market. I love thinking of new and creative ways we can support and help our clients grow their brands.
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?
- Strategic communications.
- Media relations.
- Community relations.
- Internal communications.
- Crisis communications.
- Public Affairs.
- Online and social media 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?
Early in my career, I read a lot of general marketing and public relations books and resources. In the last few years, I’ve turned to resources focused on leadership skills and how to motivate teams. Today, I’m finding more tools to help manage leadership teams virtually. So it’s really been an evolution over the last 20 years. Things have changed a lot. Not only within our agency, but in the world of public relations. What we needed to succeed 20 years ago is quite different from today’s world of social media, influencer, content and affiliate marketing and media relations. From industry webinars and events to podcasts and platforms, there are so many valuable tools to help manage teams, personalities and work flow. However, the very best resource for growth has, and always will be, collaborating. Learning how our team has navigated a situation or solved an issue and digging into creative ways to think about a challenge will always be my number one recommendation.
You are known as a master networker. Can you share some tips on great networking?
One of the things we really value at A Design Partnership is relationships. We place connecting with others as the highest standard of all we do and that has proven successful in our networking. It isn’t about connecting with people to get something from them, but to offer something to them. We offer the wisdom, expertise, or message of our clients to them and their audience. If you can keep relationship building at the core of your networking, the rest will flow seamlessly.
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?
I’m a firm believer that word-of-mouth, reputation and continuously doing great work for our clients are the best, most effective ways to generate leads and new business opportunities. Because building relationships and connections is at the core of all we do, that is mostly how we generate good, qualified leads. We have also implemented a strategy on our social media by educating viewers on why PR is an important aspect to their business, in hopes of generating a conversation about a potential partnership. We really believe educating and giving away free resources helps to inform and inspire others and we love sharing our expertise and knowledge.
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.)
- Focus on building good relationships. From your team to clients and media contacts, it is so important to develop and foster impactful relationships. They are truly the foundation of everything we do in PR. If you are kind, genuine, courteous and friendly, you’ll go far in this industry. Send a gift or a hand written thank you card, it will go a long way.
- Collaboration not competition. I have learned to look to other agencies in our industry as a collaborator, not as a competitor. This one was pivotal for me to learn. I have come to understand that different clients work better with different agencies. So much of PR is about relationships and I love connecting with clients and helping them bring their vision to life, but I have also really loved connecting with fellow PR agencies and have found such a collaborative unity in doing so, in fact I have three agencies that we refer quite a lot of business too and for me that is so rewarding!
- Do your research and be prepared. Spending some time to research and read background information prior to a meeting, a pitch, an event or project is always a winning tactic and worth every second. Learning about a person, brand, company or journalist prior to a conversation will almost always put you in a position to succeed. I encourage our team to read through publications, get familiar with what people are writing about and see the level of work they are producing. Reading and going through publications is pivotal to the success of a pitch.
- Be positive and encouraging. There are so many great things to focus on and so many ways we can positively encourage each other. Being someone who sees adversity as opportunity has pushed me through a lot of challenges in my life and has helped me mentor many young people along the way. I once read an article of a woman who took every challenge she had gone through in life and wrote the blessing that came from that experience and it made me realize that sometime obstacles are there to push us to that next level. I strongly believe that a positive, can-do attitude has gotten me to where I am today and can help one push through anything as well as leading a team of some of the best and brightest PR professionals in the industry.
- Have fun. The job of a publicist can be daunting at times, there is a lot of pressure but you should never forget the big picture. This is a job, and you have a goal, but you’re also human. And we should laugh at ourselves once in a while, as one of our Directors always says, “It’s PR not ER!”
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 am really passionate about human trafficking, my mission would be to end it all. No human being deserves to be sold for money and I would love to have a movement to stop it all, it is something I am really passionate about.
This was really meaningful! Thank you so much for your time.
PR Pros: Natalie Norcross of A Design Partnership On The 5 Things You Need To Create A Highly… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.