PR packages include press release writing, distribution via segmented media lists and news agencies, media monitoring and reporting processes.
With chairs in universities, teams of hundreds in globally renowned companies, and occasionally intertwined with digital marketing, public relations is among the career paths many students aspire to take. So, how can one build a career in public relations and digital marketing? Who can pursue a career in public relations? What does public relations mean as a profession? As Online PR ServiceB2Press, we invite you to explore the answers to these questions together.
Communication, whose roots can be traced back to around 100,000 years ago, is an integral part of human existence. The use of technology in communication can be roughly dated back to about 30 thousand years ago, extending to symbols on cave walls. As human history progresses, societies form, and the concept of the state emerges, the meaning and role of communication also change. The discipline we know as public relations (PR) has its origins in the 20th century. Considering the age we live in, characterized by the communication and information era, there is increasing interest in pursuing a career in public relations, which occasionally intersects with digital marketing. In an age where perception, trust, and values come before anything else, public relations continues to maintain its respectability as a profession. Therefore, in this article, we, as Online PR Service B2Press, aim to shed light on questions such as “What is a career in public relations?”, “How to build a career in public relations?”, “Who can pursue a PR career?”, and “How can students planning a PR career develop themselves?”
Due to confusion in job advertisements and a lack of understanding of interdisciplinarity, public relations, sometimes evaluated alongside digital marketing, is fundamentally different from the discipline known as digital marketing. The fundamental difference between digital marketing and public relations can be summarized as follows: Digital marketing is a professional pursuit that focuses on selling products and services under any circumstances, with the primary goal of selling products/services and using the internet, mobile devices, search engines, and social media for this purpose. On the other hand, public relations is fundamentally about maintaining and enhancing the reputation of brands, individuals, or institutions before selling products/services, establishing credibility in the public eye, and conveying the values of these entities to the public with influential statements.
Therefore, the difference between a digital marketing professional and a PR professional lies in the goal. Of course, the indirect goal of PR may be to positively contribute to sales by increasing trust in the company. Moreover, PR can contribute to the visibility of brands online by using online tools. However, regardless of the context and tools used, the primary goal in public relations is to manage perception, reputation, and convey messages.
Anyone with specific competencies and enough passion for the field can pursue a public relations career. Although there are options such as a four-year bachelor's degree, a two-year associate degree, and distance education in both state and foundation universities in fields such as “Public Relations and Promotion” or “Public Relations and Advertising,” corporate companies or non-governmental organizations do not necessarily require individuals interested in a PR career to graduate only from these fields. A recent study conducted in the United States shows that 45% of companies plan to eliminate the requirement for a bachelor's degree for some positions by 2024. In other words, formal education no longer solely determines a professional career. Anyone with a high command of language, strong communication skills, analytical thinking, problem-solving ability, and, most importantly, enjoyment in all these aspects can pursue a career in public relations.
Since public relations is often associated with verbal competencies, those graduating from relevant degree programs, as well as those in social science fields such as philosophy, sociology, psychology, and history, can plan a career in this field. To advance in public relations, it can be helpful to have both the competencies required in this field and an understanding of the brand/agency distinction.
Individuals aspiring to build a career in PR are expected to have skills such as communication, quick thinking, and problem-solving. When listing these skills one by one, the following items emerge:
Communication: Managing a multi-stakeholder ecosystem is one of the main tasks of those working in public relations departments. This requires constant communication with different professional groups, senior executives, and department heads. Individual verbal and written communication skills are among the main qualities sought in PR professionals.
Writing skills: Although the foundation of public relations seems to be verbal communication competencies, the most robust ability of PR professionals is considered to be their skill in transforming even the most boring data and complex issues into meaningful and resonant stories.
Understanding from digital and media: Considering that the digital environment and online channels have become central to communication and messaging, PR professionals inevitably need to understand the dynamics of the internet. On the other hand, the undeniable role of the media in the process of public relations also requires PR professionals to have knowledge about media business models and the media landscape of the country they work in.
Crisis communication: Crisis communication, which includes organizational skills, effective communication, and creativity, is also positioned as a service evaluated within the scope of public relations. Since even the smallest mistakes in brands and the communication world can lead to significant crises, and a malfunctioning process is commonly seen to disrupt all operations, PR experts need to have nerves of steel, the ability to work under stress, and the ability to find the shortest way out of any difficult situation.
An example of a recent crisis: Lyft, a US-based ride-sharing application, issued a press release announcing its fourth-quarter results for 2023. A statement that should have been written as a 0.5% increase in margin value was mistakenly written as 5%, leading to a rapid 60% increase in the company's stocks. After the error was explained, most of the approximately $2 billion increase was erased. The CEO of the company took responsibility for the mistake and made statements through media organizations. Although this is an extreme example, a PR team decided that the cleanest way to overcome this crisis, directly related to the company's reputation and likely to attract the attention of legal authorities, was to let the CEO speak.
After listing the competencies expected from PR professionals, let's touch on the brand and agency/service distinction.
Taking part in the brand team: Brand PR positions and job descriptions
A career in public relations can be pursued in corporate communication and digital marketing departments of a specific brand. Professionals working in these departments are usually assigned to the following positions.
Corporate Communications Specialist: Professionals in this position are responsible for managing PR agency relations, determining the PR strategy, and producing or facilitating what is needed for this strategy.
Copywriter / Content Editor: In this position, professionals undertake tasks such as creating the message sets of brands in line with the corporate communication strategy, determining their core narratives, and preparing materials such as press releases, promotional texts, and corporate presentations.
Event Coordinator: Those in this position are responsible for organizing corporate events, organizing decorations and printed materials for events, and similar tasks within PR teams.
Corporate Communication and Social Responsibility / Sustainability Manager: Especially found in companies in sectors with a higher corporate or environmental impact, these positions lead social responsibility and sustainability projects focused on people, society, and the environment.
Being on the agency / PR service team: Agency public relations positions and job descriptions
Those who want to pursue a career in public relations can also work in PR agencies or flexible, service-mode businesses that adapt PR processes to digital. These structures can provide a more general and comprehensive experience by serving client portfolios from different sectors and of different scales.
Media Relations Director: People working in this position play an intermediary role in the communication of brands with media organizations, important journalists, key opinion and opinion leaders.
Business Development Specialist: Business development specialists work for the PR agency or PR service to make new collaborations, gain market share in new business areas and acquire new customers.
Account Manager: Account managers ensure communication between creative teams and customers. They listen to the demands and expectations of the customers and conveys these to the strategy and author teams in the most open format.
Copywriter / Content Editor: Content editors produce written content for brands in different scales and sectors, from press releases to special news studies, speech texts and message sets.
After briefly touching upon the essential competencies expected from those planning a career in public relations and the positions in the field of PR, let's conclude our article with some recommendations, especially for students who are pursuing their undergraduate education and aiming for a career in PR.
Getting actively involved in student communities/clubs: Student clubs, where students come together to organize events, art activities, summits, and meetings, can be very beneficial in developing organizational skills, gaining business discipline, improving interpersonal relationships, and advancing communication skills.
Producing content, writing news: Many independent publications, focusing on different niche areas with the digitalization of the internet and media, produce both written and multimedia content. Students planning a career in communication and PR can advance their relationship with text and language by gaining experience in such platforms and media organs.
Gaining experience through internships: Corporate companies and PR agencies offer internship opportunities through internship announcements, providing a starting point for those planning a career in PR. Individuals aiming for a career in this field can apply to job announcements of companies they are interested in through career and job finding platforms.
Reading and researching on this subject: Communication and media, and therefore public relations, are dynamic fields that change according to current events, making it essential for those planning a career in this field to keep themselves informed and enriched based on new PR trends, PR research, and PR theories. If you are interested in PR-focused content, you can visit the library of B2Press!
With offices in the Netherlands, Greece, and Turkey, Online PR Service B2Press focuses on press release distribution, exclusive news, advertorial content, and media collaborations for hundreds of brands. Unlike traditional PR agencies, B2Press offers PR as a service model. B2Press, capable of distributing press releases in more than 50 countries worldwide, combines content creation, press release distribution, media monitoring, and reporting processes into one package. You can visit our How It Works page for details.