I’ve had a client going on six years now and when I think about the reasons why they’ve kept me on as long as they have, despite the work I do, I think it’s my flexibility as a PR professional. When hired, I was in charge of what you might call ‘typical’ PR responsibilities such as press releases and pitching local media. Leadership changed and so did the internal team. Jobs were lost and I thought I was next in line. I came to the table with other ideas on how I could help. New leadership didn’t see much value in press releases and local media relations so I offered to write blogs for their newsletter and manage their Facebook page – knowing they were losing their in-house digital media specialist. So, there it was, my new role at this company for the time being. Although those areas are not under the traditional PR umbrella, they are areas I am knowledgeable in and it was the way I proved a valuable asset during very uncertain times for the company.   Similarly, a start-up company I encountered wanted to pursue PR to prepare for an upcoming conference but just didn’t have the budget. Rather than lower my fee to do what I typically provide or just saying we’d stay in touch, I offered them a unique PR package for an affordable one time fee. To gear up for this show, I developed materials for them (press release, fact sheet, list of media in their space) and gave them a tutorial on how to do PR for themselves. I knew they had a knowledgeable team who could execute PR if only they had the right tools. Having flexibility in the world of PR is key to sustain business and client loyalty. My goal is always to help clients as best I can and any way I can utilize my knowledge to help them do that allows me to feel satisfied and know I’ve done my part.