We recently connected with Kat Jones and have shared our conversation below.
Kat, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
“Purpose” can often be seen as a heavy word. It carries so much weight and extends far beyond a career or job. Therefore, I think it’s safe to say I haven’t yet found my purpose on this little planet we call earth – there’s so much I have yet to discover about the world around me and myself and I’m excited at the prospect of uncovering that with the more experiences I have.
That said, if we focus the term “purpose” within a career path, then I have found my calling. Early on in high school I was fascinated by creative marketing ideas I would see on TV, at the store, on billboards and in magazines. However, it didn’t stick automatically. In fact, when I first entered college, I was actually more interested in – of all things – the psychology of interior design. I was fascinated by the idea of developing interior designs that impacted a person’s mood or experience. As much as I was interested in that field, it became clear very quickly that I was no good at interior design. As I continued with my general education, marketing and communications perked my interest once more. The more I learned, the more it all aligned with my interests, and more importantly, my personality. There are certain characteristics that organically make sense for a career in marketing and communications, and I have many of those characteristics. Studying and eventually starting a career in marketing and communications was challenging but it also clicked like nothing I had ever done before, and that’s when I knew I had found my career calling, my career purpose. And once I graduated with a degree in communications, I never looked back.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
Public relations, communications, publicity – no matter how you say it, it all leads to my passion, my day to day, what I do best and what I love to do. I’ve been working in PR and marketing for almost 19 years, and I can’t even begin to count the ways in which it has drastically changed and evolved throughout those years. Being a part of a field that truly feels like the wild west most of the time is both thrilling and terrifying, but I don’t think I’d have it any other way.
I started Motiv PR in early 2019, focusing on digital media, video games, fandom culture, creators, technology and anything that touched those spaces. Really, anything that challenges the traditional way people consume entertainment is our sweet spot. In those nearly five years since we launched, the public relations landscape has changed drastically. A strategy that worked then may not work now, so we’re constantly needing to think outside of the box and come up with new ways to engage with the media. As scary as that can be, I look at it as an opportunity. It’s putting us in a position to expand past our core offerings and bring to the table new ideas and ways to reach audiences. That’s what I see as what’s currently exciting about PR – having to constantly ask the question “what are some other ways we could help shape and tell this story?” and not automatically leaning into what may have worked in the past. Instead, we get to come up with new strategies that bring to the table ideas that may have not been thought of in our space before.
That’s what Motiv PR is about – we’re not a one size fits all for our clients. We’re flexible and hungry and amiable and excited about what’s to come. We’re constantly trying to think of new ways to share our client’s stories, and we truly LOVE what we do, especially in the genres we work in.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
A saying that I’ve carried with me for as long as I can remember actually covers two of those qualities: “work hard and be nice to people.” Yes, it seems pretty straightforward and easy enough, but I can’t tell you how many times throughout my career I’ve reflected on an experience where neither of those qualities were being reciprocated and it was detrimental to the project and the people working on it. Working hard doesn’t have to mean hardcore hustle mentality, where there’s no work/life balance. I’m a huge believer in a quality work/life balance for myself and those around me. Working hard just means doing quality work, putting in the necessary effort, being there for your team and following through from start to finish. But above all, just be a good person. Have empathy going into work and life experiences, put yourself in other people’s shoes and understand that you don’t understand what they’re going through or what’s going on in their lives. Being a genuinely good and nice person is not only beneficial for those around you, but it’s crucial for your own well-being. Of course, everyone has off days where it’s tough to be happy, but that doesn’t have to equate to being mean. Just be a good person to those around you and your life will be so much more fulfilling – it’s easy to be nice, trust me.
Another quality that is extremely important as you grow in your career is being detail oriented. Reread every email or document before you send it, look over every last word, sentence and explanation before you conclude that you’re happy with it. Not just for grammatical or spelling errors, but also to make sure you’re 100% confident with what you’re presenting or delivering. I read the following somewhere a while back – “dance like no one is watching, email like it may be read aloud in a deposition one day” and it rings so very true.
Tell us what your ideal client would be like?
My passion is working with companies that are pushing the boundaries on the way people consume entertainment. Call it transmedia, call it multiple forms of storytelling, but at the end of the day, working with brands that look to deliver their experiences to fans in every form the fans want to engage with it is the perfect client for us. We love to work with a wide range of brands, companies and people within the geek, nerd and fandom spaces (think San Diego Comic-Con), digital media, creators, technology and video games, and would love to expand even further into working with studios, streaming platforms and IP owners.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.motivpr.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/motivpr/, https://www.instagram.com/thekatjones/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MotivPR/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/motiv-pr/, https://www.linkedin.com/in/lkatjones/
Image Credits
Aaron Jay Young Getty Images
