nate west pr project

NATE WEST: SEIGENTHALER

PUBLIC RELATIONSALYSSA DAHNKE

PUBLIC RELATIONS

NATE WEST: SEIGENTHALER PR

Educational Background:Nate graduated with a bachelor’s degree in public relations from Murray State University.

When Nate first started at Murray State he was interested in doing finance, but he was also interested in psychology, and social sciences. He eventually discovered that public relations was a good mix of both business, people, and psychology.

After he discovered this about public relations he switched from a finance major, to public relations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBWlGw8Xwic




The Path to his Current Position as Director of Client Services:

After graduating with a bachelors degree in public relations, Nate began to reach out to as many PR firms as he could here in Nashville.

He was hired by DVL Public Relations in February of 2008. Then DVL and Seigenthaler Public Relations merged and became one company.

In June of 2014 he became the Director of Client Services.


Preparing for his current position:Nate said that he feels that college did not fully prepare him for job in public relations. He feels that you do not start learning until you start doing the job and you will begin to learn things that you did not know before you began the job.

He said that there is no correct way in public relations. When he began his job he felt like there were people that were smarter, faster, and better then him. He still feels this way, but he said that there is always an opportunity to learn from the people around you.


What Nate’s Job Entails:Nate’s position as Director of Client Services entails identifying strategic communication needs, sitting down with the clients and determining what method of communication will work best for them, and setting that strategy to fulfill the needs of the clients.

He works with media relations, which entails brochures, promotional items, websites and social media. He also works to determine what creative people will be needed to carry out the strategies he and his clients decide on.


Seigenthaler’s Organizational Structure:Nate does not report specifically to one person consistently. He says that at Seigenthaler they all work together to provide the best result for their clients.

Nate does is on the high end of the companies organizational chart. He is one of the main contacts for the clients.


A Typical Day at Seigenthaler Public Relations Firm:Nate said that his days are pretty unpredictable. His day can be filled with writing and editing documents, calls and meetings, working with intern teams, guiding the creative department, or presenting new websites, or brochures. He also deals with crisis communication. He is responsible for setting stories straight, and minimizing the impact of a misrepresented situation. Once a month, Nate also has to review the bills for their clients, and make sure that their clients are being charged the proper amount. Nate believes that there is a very healthy corporate culture, and they are all able to rely on each other when the days get busy.


Favorite Aspects of the Job:Nate loves his job and all of the things he gets to learn about when he is working on new projects. He is exposed to different ideas and information every single day and he gets to learn about a wide range of things that he would never get to learn about if he was not in public relations. He loves getting to know his clients and the interactions he gets to have with them throughout the time he is working with them.


Least Favorite Aspect of the Job:Nate said that it can be a bit challenging at times because the work day is so unpredictable and busy. He is constantly juggling many different clients and projects, and he has to make sure that he is giving equal time and attention to each project and client.

Nate feels like sometimes he doesn’t have time to regroup throughout the day and he is constantly moving from one thing to the next during the day.


Nate West’s Definition of Public Relations:Nate defined public relations as any form of communication where a company is reaching out and communicating with the people they are trying to reach. He thinks that public relations is all about defining what you are trying to say and who you are trying to say it to.


A Public Relations Professional?Nate does consider himself a public relations professional. He works with many different companies to help them communicate their message in the best way possible. He is constantly working with his clients to come up with strategies are the best to communicate the proper messages.


Trends Affecting the Work of Seigenthaler PR:Nate said that the biggest trend that is affecting his work at Seigenthaler is that there is now a digital component for everything. Newspapers are dying and they are not printing in depth pieces like they used to. This has put a strain on the options to communicate. Nate said that he is responding to these issues by encouraging the companies he works for to reassess their values and the mission of their companies. He also said that it has made it more important for them to shape the content and get right to the point in their communication instead of repeating the message in many different forms. Digital strategies make it easier for them to reach a lot of people at once.


The Things that Nate Wish He Would have Known Before Becoming a PR Professional:

Nate stressed a lot that you cannot learn until you are doing the actual job itself.

He also wishes that he would have appreciated the value in practicing technical writing. He wish he would have focused more of learning how to make his writing more precise.


Seigenthaler PR Conference Room


Nate In His Office at Seigenthaler PR


New Projects in the Works

at Seigenthale

r PR


One of the Design Rooms at Seigenthaler Public Relations


Advice for Aspiring Professionals:Nate said that it is really important in PR to be clear and concise. You do not need a lot of words to convey a detailed message. It is important to get to the point. He also said that it is extremely important to realize that it only matters how other will read your messages in PR. It does not matter if it makes sense in your mind and you think that it makes perfect sense, if it does not convey the proper message to the audience then it is not going to be effective.Nate also said that it is important to learn from the people that have been doing PR for a lot longer then you. Do not act like you know it all and try to do it with out help, because you can learn so much from people above you. Staying humble and realizing that there are people that know more then you is very important.


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