Tips for Boosting Your Brand in Political Communication

Many starting out in the field of political communication are concerned with the names of campaigns, publications, or government officials they have worked for or been affiliated with. Having reputable places or people to put on your resume is important, and can go a long way in making people notice you in different circles, but it does not help cater to your own brand.

Oscar Lopez with Councilmember Phillips and his Senior Advisor Emmanuel Wilkerson. Photo by Oscar Lopez.

Why is having your brand important in political communication?

Unfortunately in this world, nothing lasts forever. Your candidate could lose reelection, publications can go out of business, or life might have you relocate to a new market. In any case, you need to be prepared to explain what you can bring to your next role and have a portfolio that speaks for itself without the names of people you have worked for before.

In this blog, I will share three tips that have helped me carve my own path in this line of work and become recognized locally. Hopefully, this will gear college students or young professionals to be more proactive when advancing through their beginnings and creating their own brands.

1. Speak Up For Yourself and Negotiate With Your College Internships.

Students fixate on the need to have a college internship on their resume on top of the extracurricular activities and classes they already balance. Applying for one in the political communication sphere can be intimidating and being accepted is an impressive feat, but many act like the work stops here.

You are just as lucky to have that internship as the employer is to have you there. Everyone brings a specific set of skills and knowledge, so make sure you can tailor the internship so that the employer can get the best out of you and so that you get closer to gaining expertise in what you are passionate about.

I will share an example from my internship with Al Dia News that showed how advocating for myself gave me a better experience.

On my first day, I met with the CEO and Founder of the publication, Hernan Guaracao, and he wanted me to focus on pieces relating to Latino businesses and entrepreneurship.

I did this for the first two weeks and I get to write an article a day. I did not hate the topics and stories but every writer or journalist knows this feeling. When you have to write on things that are outside of your preferred beat, it feels like pulling teeth.

During this time, I had the dream of working in international relations and loved reading about Latin American foreign policy. This led me to request a meeting with my internship supervisor Nigel Thompson and ask to test writing some articles about the region’s politics and its connection to the US.

He appreciated my honesty and let me go ahead with this change. It was much easier to write my pieces and I quickly sought to interview experts in the field.

Some of my most successful articles were discussing the 2020 Bolivian presidential election with Tulia Falleti, Director of the Latin American Studies Program at the University of Pennsylvania, and learning more about Mexico’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic with former US ambassador Earl Anthony Wayne.

If I had never spoken up for myself, I would not have learned much from my time at Al Dia and I would not have become a memorable intern through advocating for my beat.

2. Have a Professional Social Media Presence

Social media primarily serves as a place to bond with your online communities, post photos, and learn about the latest pop culture references. Many forget that it can be used to determine if a company hires you or not.

An entirely separate blog could be written on tips to manage conduct on all social media platforms but I will focus on the two main ones for young professionals.

My Instagram account is public and I am very outspoken about my political stances. This sounds like a recipe for disaster but not if you manage it correctly.

I can easily justify every person I follow and the content I like on the platform. If you keep this in mind, you have nothing to fear when a potential employer asks you about your social media presence. Similarly, when reposting something on your story, make sure you know the account it came from and if the message limits job opportunities for you. For example, if you repost MAGA memes, do not expect to be hired by a progressive non-profit organization.

LinkedIn is seen as the more career-focused platform but this does not stop people from missing some important steps on it.

Make sure to update it regularly especially when starting a new role, and once you have been somewhere for a few weeks connect with your colleagues to grow your online network.

This is the platform to boast about your accomplishments, so take pride in your work. If you have your employer’s permission, post about projects you have worked on or photos of you with staff members. Anyone can add impressive names to their LinkedIn but it is something entirely different for people to see your work and notice that you make an impact wherever you go.

As an added tip, make sure to like and repost the accomplishments of your peers and other students because success is not mutually exclusive and you will appreciate it when they do it for you.

3. Always Stay in Touch with Former Colleagues

This last tip might sound like the most obvious but struggle to see many through on this.

Your internship might end on a certain date but this does not mean that your relationship with the office you work with has to. Internship supervisors and staff members at a company are happy to stay in contact but the effort has to come from you.

Oscar Lopez with his intern binder in US Senator Casey's office. Photo by Oscar Lopez.

They love knowing what students got out of their internship and where it took them to next. If you performed well during the time you were at an office, you should want to have someone from there be a reliable reference when seeking your next opportunity. Lastly, it is hard to truly get to know people in an office on top of having the dynamic of being a temporary intern. Meeting with old colleagues after work hours is when genuine friendships can be formed. I have found these friendships to be particularly strong because the environments I have worked in have people similar strong values similar to mine. This is different from college where most friends are made from noticing shared interests.

I know it seems intimidating to email or text your former colleagues after giving in your badge or clearing your desk. I felt this after leaving US Senator Bob Casey’s office, especially because I knew that they had interns year-round so I thought that they would forget about me soon enough. Not only was this not the case but you stand out more when you show your old colleagues that you value them enough to stay in touch.