audience - again

The biggest mistake that CEO may make, defining his audience for PR-tasks (and PR-budget), is idea that PR is only about media. Insofar as PR mean relationships (public relations) with numerous different people, we can not define PR to be only relationships with journalists, or just with investors, or only with the government and officials. PR - it's always contact with the audience that you need for strategic development.

Important: Your own history

It's extremely important to create, take care of and develop your history. It doesn't matter who are you now and whom you are working for - PR/AD agency, transnational company, own business or serving your one and only client. Fix everything. Especially numbers. Especially if they can tell everybody the story of your growth.
Let's have a look at two specialists. For instance manager A is huge educated person, famous among colleagues for his genius solutions and excellent writing/presenting/communication skills. He is always positive and all his tasks are prepared in time. Of course, he is popular. For the job. Inside the agency he work for. Because of all mentioned advantages he always is busy. So busy that he has no one single minute to fix the results of all his projects. He is always in process and never gets results.
Manager B is not so educated. Not so positive. Not so creative. Not so popular. But he fixes everything. He always takes approving document for every step he makes. Number of years spent in this agency. Number of sold (or just created) projects. Number of projects he was involved in. Nobody likes him - inside the area he is living now.
But time is very strange thing.