Top Public Relations Job Titles and Career Paths
Public relations is all about the relationship a company has with the public. That means the job of public relations professionals is to develop, improve, and nurture those relationships.
Additionally PR professionals need to develop their own positive relationships with reporters, journalists, influencers, bloggers, and other influential people that can change the minds of the general public.
At the core, people working in PR work to help companies project a positive image to the public so that those companies can achieve success.
Instead of paying for ads like advertising campaigns, professionals in the public relations industry try to draw the attention of media outlets to their clients.
The goal is for journalists and media outlets to decide that a company has a story worth covering in a magazine, newspaper, website, or TV program.
This attention can then lead the general public and the company’s target audience to purchase the company’s products, promote its idea, and improve the company’s reputation.
Media Relations
The job of a media relations professional is to develop and maintain positive relationships between a company and journalists. This way, companies can pitch stories to the journalists and seek out interview opportunities for their executives.
Media relations professionals also track all of a company’s press, blog, and social media placements, as well as to measure and report the performance of their PR campaigns.
Content Creation
Content creation professionals work to create positive stories about a client that the media relations team can then pitch to relevant journalists and outlets. The stories can also be related to the journalist’s own interests, such as in the case of a press release about a company acquisition.
The content creation professional can create press materials for the topic, such as bylined articles or outlets, or even brand awareness videos.
Community Relations
Community relations professionals ensure that a business is living up to its potential as a corporation that is socially responsible. This is done by associating the company with various positive events in their community, such as donating to an organization, sponsoring an event, or philanthropic activities.
The company’s impact on its community gives media outlets positive stories they can cover, which increases the company’s number of press placements and improves its public reputation.
Social Media Community
Social media community professionals have the job of tracking and managing a company’s image on social media platforms. There are a number of social listening tools that they can use to understand and improve the company’s public reputation.
They also interact with the company’s social media followers, make announcements on those platforms, and source the top social media influencers to promote the business.
Crisis Management
The job of crisis management or a reputation management professional is to help companies deal with PR crisis situations that are caused by intervention, human error, or even malicious intent.
These professionals can help companies mitigate reputational damage, monitor brand sentiment on digital platforms, identify customer complaints, respond to the backlash, and solve PR problems for the business.
As Co-CEO at 5W Public Relations, Dara Busch oversees 5W’s Consumer Practice, which includes Travel & Entertainment, Apparel & Accessories, Non-Profits, Home & Housewares, Health & Wellness, Mom & Baby, Beauty & Grooming, and Consumer Packaged Goods.