7 essentials for PR pros

Here are seven things communicators can’t live without:

1. AP Stylebook. AP style has been a part of my world since journalism school. What would we do without this handy guide by our sides? It’s indispensable when it comes to checking things such as titles, numbers and, of course, the Oxford comma. (It’s used sparingly in accordance with AP style.)

2. A simple way to create images. As images become more and more important to what communicators do, we need an easy method of creating images to accompany our social media and blog posts. Although there are many choices, the two I use most often are Canva and Pablo. Pablo integrates images from Unsplash and Pixabay, my two favorite sources of royalty-free images, making it even better.

3. Coffee. Although we might not all be caffeine addicts, I suspect many of us are. I know a lot of my fellow communicators couldn’t live without their cup of joe—or maybe three or four cups, truth be told. We all probably have our favorite coffee shop. Because I work from a home office, my Keurig is a necessity. (Peet’s Major Dickason’s Blend is my favorite, by the way.)