A course, of course

I’ve been thinking for a while now about whether or not to do a formal course in public relations to support the work I do for the Central Council and at local level. All that I have learned so far has been on the job, immersive and quite often responsive., and because I have a full time day job, I’m not always picking up signals that require a response, or that could be utilised to our advantage.

I’ve been having a look around to see what’s on offer, and probably prefer an online course that allows me to work at my own pace around everything else I’m doing.  But of course, these courses come at a cost; some in the region of £1,500 – £2,500, depending on what level you want to study at.

I would be prepared to cough that up myself if I was absolutely confident that the course would give me the tools I need, in the sector I’m in and support what I have time to do.  I wouldn’t dream of asking anyone or organisation to fund it if there wasn’t that guarantee.  But how do you really know? 

I’ve read through the “Who this Course is For” and learning outcome pages, but they all seem to be very business orientated.  I’m looking at the charitable, local organisation sector, which is possibly different in parts.  And as I’m not likely to move into PR as a career, can I justify the expense, or should I just stick with winging it?

One of the main things I want to work on is my writing skills.  Seems odd for someone who brain dumps into a blog every day, but there we are.  I want to be able to write more engaging news stories so that the media will take up our stories and we gain more public awareness, and therefore greater recruitment prospects and also greater acceptance, acknowledgement and appreciation of what we do.

There is one course that I’ve seen that has reference to writing skills in it and it seems a bit cheaper than all the others. It seems to be from a reputable organisation https://collegeofmediaandpublishing.co.uk/product/public-relations-course/ and for £500 covers:

• An intro to PR
• Newswriting techniques
• Writing effective news releases
• Communicating with the media
• Online PR
• Handling a crisis
• Using TV and radio
• Organising a news conference
• Law and reputation management
• Using other PR tools
• Running  a PR campaign

Each lesson includes a practical assignment and is marked and graded by tutor, and at the end you get a Level 4 Diploma (equivalent to the first year of a Bachelors degree) in Public Relations. 

I’m quite tempted.