Impressions are vital in the public relations industry. If you are on camera, you have 30 seconds to make a good impression of you and your company. In the newspaper, you have one story to make a good impression. Sometimes people won’t even make it past the lead, so it needs to leave a great impression right off the bat.

But you also need to be able to make a good impressions on clients, coworkers and potential employers. Business Week’s Rules for Making A Good Impression offers seven rules for making good impressions.

First of all, respond within 24 hours. I generally check my e-mail several times a day. If there is an e-mail I cannot immediately reply to, I will usually let the person know that I will give them more information later. It’s nice to receive the acknowledgment that contact was made, even if you don’t have the answers yet. You also should keep the e-mail short and concise. Penelope Trunk offers great tips and I really suggest reading them.

Next, be enthusiastic. Nothing drives me more crazy than people who act like they hate what they are doing. If I can hear it in your voice or see it in your face and posture, your negativity will transfer over to me. I won’t like your product just because of the way you present it.

Give people your full attention. One of my biggest pet peeves is to be having a conversation with someone and have then start text messaging. One person I know text messaged while I was talking on the phone with her! It made me want to hang up. We all have things we need to be doing, but don’t multitask when having a conversation.

Send thank you notes and other small touches. It will make you more memorable. I send Christmas cards to two professionals I job shadowed and have stayed in contact. This year, I wrote personalized notes in Christmas cards to every person I worked with at CMU Public Relations and Marketing. I also try to send interesting and relevant articles to people if I know they would like them.

Rachel M. Esterline works as an account executive for Central Michigan Life, the nationally award-winning school newspaper at Central Michigan University. She is as an account executive for PR Central, CMU’s student-run public relations firm and as a public relations executive with the Student Government Association. Additionally, Rachel serves on the executive board of the Public Relations Student Society of America at CMU and has completed a seven-month internship with her university’s public relations and marketing department. Rachel will graduate in May 2010 with a degree in public relations with minors in journalism and communication.