Trailblazers and leaders: Ronke Lawal
Ronke Lawal | Founder/Consultant | Ariatu PR
How did you get into comms?
I didn't get into Comms, Comms got into me. LOL! Seriously though it was a progression throughout the course of my business career which lead me to settle on comms and PR exclusively (when I first started my business it was marketing & business development)
What does an average day look like?
Emails - lots of emails. Then going through what needs to be done according to what client project I'm working on. There's usually a client meeting or call at least once a day or every other day. Working on a strategy document or copy - depends very much on which clients I'm focusing on on that day.
What advice would you give your 21 year old self?
To be bold, to know my figures, charge more and know that this is the right path even if it looks shakey sometimes.
What is the one thing you wish you’d known when you started working for yourself?
How lonely it would be! Incredibly lonely sometimes particularly as a Black PR pro working with majority Black clients (that's unusual in this country - it's more usual for my colleagues in the USA/Canada and obviously across the Caribbean and Africa but not the UK), I'm grateful for networks like this one though and for the many amazing PR and comms pros I have met over the years.
What’s your greatest achievement to date?
STILL BEING IN BUSINESS WITH MONEY IN THE BANK! Honestly every month and year I give thanks, and my business is thriving at present so this to me is an achievement.
Is there a particular comms campaign that you’ve seen in your career that you didn’t work on but wish you had?
This is a great question. So good that I'm going to flip it on its head. I would have liked to have worked on that Home Office Chicken Box campaign so that I could really assess what they were thinking and stop them from executing it at all (I know it was more of an advertising campaign but the comms attached to it was also poor). I would have loved to have worked on the H&M crisis comms campaign with regards to the jumper (no need to describe it we all know what it was) - they missed so many key messages and let that crisis run away from them, I actually saw how they could have resolved it.
What’s the key skill you think an agency owner requires?
Agility. I worked out a while ago - pre pandemic - that I couldn't just offer retainer services I had to offer micro one off services and even e-guides so that my business could run as a micro agency and pretty much 100% online. This means I've tapped into a slice of consumer PR and personal PR that is not only forward thinking but means I am not reliant on only a handful of income streams from my business. This also makes means I capture a segment of the small business community that while may not be able to afford a retainer service they can afford at least one micro product which ensures they understand the value of PR. My ability to be agille and for my business to be agile has served me very well.
Where can we find out more?