HR12 tools that make your job in PR easier
For all professions, the beginning of a career is a challenging period. However, entering the world of public relations brings its own set of challenges. Speed of action is crucial, but so is quality, as there is no room for errors in this line of work. This can be particularly demanding for those who are just starting out in their PR journey. With the aim of alleviating such stressful situations, I bring you several tools that can be useful to all PR beginners, and they certainly helped me in the early stages of my work at Manjgura. They are easy to use yet extremely efficient.
Track Changes
Microsoft Word actually offers many interesting options that often go unnoticed. Track Changes is a very useful tool when someone is learning how to properly do the job because it allows the user to track changes made to the text – for example, when writing a press release, you can send the draft of the text to a superior for correction, and the superior can then correct it and send it back. This clearly shows where mistakes have been made, how to correct them, and what to pay attention to. This significantly facilitates the learning process of basic PR skills.
Correct Me/Ispravi me (Hašek)
This project has been around for 20 years, made by the students and professors from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computing, University of Zagreb. The free website has a very simple interface – you only need to insert text to check its grammatical correctness. Namely, on the Internet, you can find numerous free tools for English texts like Grammarly or the Hemingway Editor, which provide suggestions for revising text or writing style. However, lacking such platforms for the Croatian language, “Correct Me” (Ispravi Me) does an excellent job and provides reliable results. In fact, we have so much confidence in it that we decided to use it to check the text of this blog post. You can judge its effectiveness for yourself.
Canva.com
Canva has been used since 2013 for a wide range of business and personal needs, primarily for creating presentations, posters, marketing materials, and social media content. It has become popular as an extremely useful and simple tool, especially for those who want to express their creativity but lack experience and knowledge in design. It is particularly useful for PR because it allows quick creation of consistent design when developing a visual brand. Its premium paid version contains even more photos, illustrations, and effects.
Google translate
Okay, we all know about Google Translate, and we’ve already slightly offended it in this blog when we said that ChatGPT sometimes outperforms it in translation. But as an accessible tool, it actually offers many tricks that many people are unaware of. You can input an entire document, and it will translate it, or if needed, an entire website. Its mobile app features a conversation recording option – by playing an audio recording, Google Translate types and translates what was said. There is also a conversation option, where the phone becomes an interpreter; you turn it towards a person, they speak in their language, and you in yours while the translation is automatically generated. Additionally, there is a camera option where text is photographed and then translated. This is a handy trick when you’re in a store in a foreign country and don’t understand the instructions on the box on how to cook something. But this tool is extremely useful for PR when you need to quickly transcribe some text; it allows you to scan it and import it to a laptop or another device in two clicks. A similar function is offered by Google Lens; by scanning the text with the camera, it is copied to the clipboard of the mobile device.
WhatsApp Desktop
While working on a laptop and writing reports, following the media, and communicating with colleagues, it’s inconvenient to also pay attention to the mobile phone. Therefore, the WhatsApp desktop version is extremely practical as it allows tasks and messages to be on one screen.
Transkriptor.com and transcribe.com
Creating briefs, transcripts, or various documents is one of the most common tasks for assistants in a PR agency. Sometimes it used to take hours, some audio recordings are poorly heard, and the speaker’s words are unclear, and often in the fast-paced world of communication, it is necessary to have a statement on paper as soon as possible. With Transkriptor.com and Transcribe.com, creating a transcript is significantly facilitated, and honestly – nerves and time are saved. It should be noted that both websites offer a free version with a time limit, and by paying, it can be upgraded.
ChatGPT, Gemini, Writesonic and others
Currently the most well-known artificial intelligence tool that seems to have started being used for everything! It is a language AI model that has particularly excelled in generating idioms, slang, and expressions. In classic PR, where brainstorming and creativity play a crucial role, ChatGPT has proven to be an excellent ally for those who know how to input quality prompts. What sets it apart is its ability to accurately translate foreign languages into Croatian and vice versa because it takes into account the context of the text, which it often does better than the classic Google Translate. However, it should be used with caution because it has its limitations, sometimes providing incorrect information, and it has data up to 2023. Additionally, if you have good theoretical knowledge from college and are working on yourself according to the guidelines for a good assistant in a PR agency, ChatGPT, Gemini, and similar tools will be helpful to you, but the real contribution to the project will come from you, your creativity, and your abilities.
Many perceive LinkedIn as the business version of Facebook with a focus on careers and business ideas, which can be daunting for any beginner, regardless of their profession. However, despite the lack of personal business experience, this platform allows us to stay informed about the business community that interests us. This includes companies, employees, agency owners… As we scroll through LinkedIn, we read their comments and opinions on topics that are important to them or that intrigued them that day. Since PR agencies are extremely active on this platform, having a profile on LinkedIn is the easiest way for a beginner to stay informed about the latest events and trends in the industry. It should be emphasized that by following PR agencies whose work interests you, you immediately receive the latest updates on their activities – whether it’s organized workshops or job opportunities.
Image Enhancer
Sometimes it is necessary to create a visual, but the original photograph we have is of low quality. On the Internet, there are numerous tools like this one where, for free and with a few clicks, you get an enhanced and higher quality photograph. This tool is truly easy to use and comes in handy in everyday agency tasks.
GraphMaker
Another platform that works on artificial intelligence. If you’re not skilled at making graphs but want to impress colleagues quickly at work, this tool is for you. You import a table and data from Excel and type what you need. For example, “I need a line graph that clearly shows the increase in revenue in xy category” – the possibilities are truly endless.
Digital Ad Expert
Today, advertising and communication largely take place on social media. Therefore, learning and improving are never enough! This platform is simple, fun, and best of all – free. The participant has the opportunity to learn how online advertising really works by choosing a course that interests them the most. Campaign reports, targeting on Reddit, budgeting on Facebook, advertising formats on TikTok – are just some of the possible topics, and in the end, you receive a professional certificate.
Grow with google
This is another free platform where the user chooses to learn what will be most useful to them. Some of the offered topics include job preparation, developing communication skills, digital marketing, coding and programming, design skills, and more. There are also courses for business development such as market finder, which can be used to find potential markets and customers. Small business owners have the opportunity to learn how to develop a business profile, evaluate retail websites, increase productivity, or use Google ads. Ultimately, in addition to newly acquired skills, the participant receives a handy addition to their resume – a professional certificate for completing the course.
With these tools, working in public relations becomes easier! Try them out and let us know if you know of any that we forgot to mention here.
Author of the text: Jelena Sertić
Tags: posao PR-ovca, posao u odnosima s javnošću, PR alat, Odnosi s javnošću
