From PR Brand Rookie to Creative Pro: Tips from Learning on the Fly

I’ll be the first to admit it: I never studied graphic design, PR, comms, or marketing. Now, as a Brand Manager at a PR agency, you’d think those skills would be essential, right? But here’s the thing — a linear career path isn’t always the most powerful one.

At Krupa Consulting , I manage graphic design, social media, and content marketing not only for our clients but also for our internal brand. And while I now have an intern (forever grateful), I was the agency’s sole creative for most of my time here, self-teaching my way through new skills and keeping up with ever-evolving trends in social media and content marketing. This is the kind of grit and flexibility that makes Krupa stand out, allowing us to deliver unique creative work while staying on top of our game.

For anyone balancing multiple has or being the designated “social person” at their agency (because someone has to), here are the key lessons I’ve learned along the way:

LOOK BEYOND THE HEX CODES

If you’re not a 'Designer,' you’ve probably inherited a polished brand book, complete with fonts, colors, logos—the works. Those multi-page brand books and guidelines can feel overwhelming and while it’s tempting to grab the hex codes and run, you’d be doing yourself and the brand a disservice.

By understanding the why behind your brand’s design, you unlock an entire world of creative potential. That understanding lets you experiment while staying true to the brand’s essence, which is especially critical when balancing multichannel content strategies.

One of my first projects at Krupa Consulting was designing a new template for how we showcase press clips on Instagram . I drew inspiration from our website’s grid system—an intentional nod to our agency’s transparency and forward-thinking approach. Creating a mini-grid for the clips mirrored that message, ensuring information remained digestible while adding a layer of bold creativity.

TAKE STOCK OF YOUR SKILLS

Anytime you learn a new skill, it’s easy to focus on the negatives: a video shoot that can’t be edited, a newsletter with a typo, or that one typography effect that you just can’t crack. You may not have the technical chops of a designer or content creator, but you’re not without skills of your own.

For me, my background as a retail manager sharpened my time management. On any given day, I could be shooting content at an event, designing a newsletter , working on a mailer insert, and analyzing social media performance. Managing all of that is a lot, but when you’ve wrangled a 20-person team on the fly, it’s second nature.

From soft skills to hard skills, you might just surprise yourself with how many tools are in your toolbox. Never start from scratch if you don’t have to.?

CONSIDER YOUR QUESTIONS

One of the hardest parts of being self-taught? Knowing which questions to ask. Early on, I would focus on deadlines but miss important details: Is this for print or digital? What’s the production timeline? Are we working with a vendor or printing in-house?

Asking the right questions saves everyone time and stress. I now focus on the big four when a request comes through: timeline, intent, overall look & feel, and copy. Keeping a list of go-to questions helps, and over time, your team will start anticipating them too.

And if you’re unsure about something, always batch your questions and avoid design-speak that could cause confusion. Advocate for yourself—you’re the one steering the ship.

ASK FOR THE RIGHT FEEDBACK

The joke about naming files “FinalFinalFinal2.0” exists for a reason: feedback is never-ending. But it doesn’t have to derail your progress if you know how to ask for it strategically.

Over time, I’ve developed a loose schedule for feedback that works:

** 1st Review (40%): High-level feedback on look and feel.

** 2nd Review (85%): Focus on copy, visuals, and readability.

** 3rd Review (95%): The final pass—checking grammar, links, and print-readiness.

This method saves me from wasting hours on something that needs a bigger pivot. And trust me, it’s far better to ask early than hear, “This was supposed to be a postcard, not a social graphic.”

MISTAKES WILL 1000% HAPPEN

Learning on the job means making mistakes—especially in a fast-paced industry where tech and trends change constantly.

From realizing my phone’s mic needed to be in ‘mic mode’ during a shoot, to learning that Instagram doesn’t save audio on drafts, to discovering that all print designs need a bleed and crop marks—mistakes have been my greatest teacher.

If a recent slip-up still stings, take a minute to reflect on how far you’ve come. And if you don’t have old work to compare? That’s all the more reason to be patient with yourself. We’re all just figuring it out.

- Jasmine Ferrell, Krupa Consulting Brand Manager