Choosing the right career is undoubtedly the most important decision-making process of life. Job opportunities, work environment, financial gain, along with passion, talent, skills, knowledge – are considered while making this decision.
So if you are reading this, it is because you are considering a career in PR. We hope this is helpful to you and it guides you to make a thoughtful decision by answering your basic questions like what is PR, the role of a PR professional, Responsibilities of PR Person and more:
In simple words, Public relations professionals earn media attention to promote a product or to maintain the reputation of a company/Individual. Initially, traditional media like Newspapers, news channels, radio were used to tell stories. Now in this digital world, there are many channels to communicate your message like Social media, blogs, white paper, etc. This has led to an increase in the scope of work and fastens the entire process of communication. To learn more check out our blog on What is Public Relations
We say communication is a key to Public relations. So if you are good at communicating with others and conveying your stories, or are passionate for media-related tasks and events then you should consider a career in Public Relations (10 signs you are made for Public Relations)
Related article – Why PR Career Rocks
So if you become a PR professional there are different roles that you can get to play on your job.
1. Building Brand and Spokespersons Image
One of the important role of a PR professional is to build a right brand image. They have to make sure a right communication about the brand is sent to the media at the right time. Also, an image of a company’s spokesperson reflects an image of an organisation. Similarly, role of a PR Professional has to make sure the right image is created and maintained of its spokespersons. This is done by making sure the right message or quotes are sent to the media.
2. Crisis Management
Crisis management is the process by which an organisation deals with a disruptive and unexpected event that threatens to harm the organisation, its stakeholders, or the general public. Tackling a crisis can be very challenging and difficult most of the time. One has to prepare themselves to manage the crisis.
3. Reputation management
Reputation management team first monitors the sentiments of responses on social media, news, blog, and any form of communication that happens around the organisation or its spokesperson. And when required it is one of the role of a PR professional to change or maintain the reputation.
4. Media relations
This is also one of the crucial role of a PR professional. By media relation, we mean developing and maintaining relations with journalists and influencers to make sure your story/Press release is picked and published on the right channel; for it to reach the right audience.
5. Communication Command Center
Creating a clear and apt piece of communication to pitch it to the journalists is done by PR Pro. They are the one who creates a key message or a story that has to be communicated to their audience. Like, when any news about the company has to be broken, it is PR Professionals who decides how public should get to know. PR pros will create a well planned strategy for communication and make sure that the company in the best media spotlight possible.
6. Internal Communication
Last, by not the least, PR Professionals looks after the streamless process of communication within the organisation. It is they who make sure that the internal stakeholders are well aware of the development, crisis, critical changes, etc. that takes place within the organisation. (Why is Internal Communications Important?)
1. Media Monitoring
To work for a brand, one must stay current with industry events and keep the client informed. A typical day for a PR professional begins with media monitoring and sending industry updates to the client. Not only should you keep an eye on the news, but you should also keep an eye on which journalists are working on various kinds of stories so that you may develop a relationship with them.
2. Media Relations
In today’s time, building a media relation needs a lot of effort. From keeping an eye on the journalists’ stories and drafting data packed, impactful pitches take a lot of brainstorming. The job is not done here. One has to keep updating the media list, keep following up with the media, be updated about their career moves and follow them on social media channels. All these take a lot of time and effort. Again, while putting the journalist’s name in the media list, one must be extremely careful because they may be writing on the beat that your client belongs to, but the type of article they are writing may be different. Based on mapping the stories of a journalist, one needs to try pitching the relatable story ideas. This is how slowly you will be in the journalist’s mind. Once you have built that relationship, you need to maintain it with equal or more effort. Half of the work is done when you have good relations in the media fraternity. This makes this one of the most important items in the list of responsibilities of PR professionals.
3. Content Creation
Words play a vital role in creating an impactful brand image. Whether it is a brand tagline or any brand related announcements, a strong and right kind of content attracts the audience. A good writing skill is what a PR must have. There are various types of content that a PR professional writes for their clients such as press releases, blog posts, social media/digital contents, thought leadership articles, drafting responses, case studies, white papers. Some short and some long form of content, both are required in PR. One has to be very careful with their choice of words while delivering a message to their target audience as the situation has changed and people have become more cautious about their choices. Content is no longer limited to prints; it has extended to digital platforms as well where anyone at any time can access it and share their instant feedback.
4. Creating a 360-degree PR Plan
To gain the trust of the client, PR professionals should have a strong PR plan on how they are going to drive the brand image to a higher level. They start with a detailed plan with their client in order to build that internal trust with them. An internal brainstorming is needed while drafting a PR plan. Every PR firm has different formats of a PR plan but almost similar kind of approach. From cracking interviews to product placements, a PR plan consists of all 360- degree approaches. The first to do before starting a PR plan is to see all important days that are coming in the upcoming months related to the client’s offering. Leveraging topical days in the best way possible and aligning the plan strategically is the most important thing to do. Noting down the upcoming announcements and topical days helps in creative ideas. One should always create a plan keeping scope of work for the client in mind.
5. Campaign Planning
In building brand awareness, campaigns play a major role which requires strategic planning. From drafting a right objective to selecting the right media for your target audience, PR experts execute the whole campaign and map the impact as well. Not only this, they prepare a back up plan as well for the worse situation, to be on a safer side.
Want to become a seasoned PR Professional in India? Check out our PG Diploma in PR!
6. Crisis Communication
They say, hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Crisis can occur anytime. The best thing to do in any crisis is to communicate correctly. Analysing the type of crisis and taking the right step at the right time is the ideal approach. Starting with assigning a response team in place in every crisis is the ideal step. A right briefing of the team and setting a strategy with them should be the next step. Gather all the information from the incident and draft a message while being transparent. If the mistake has happened by the client, it’s ideal to apologise first and be very honest with the audience. Think what your client can do for the affected parties and with your client’s consent, address those affected parties and help them in all possible ways. Timely monitoring the situation is necessary after every step.
Patience and right communication is the ideal approach in dealing with crises.
7. Social Media management
Since the world has shifted towards digital, brands are being creative in their approach and choosing social media to communicate with their audience. For a lot of creative posts and short updates, every brand needs a strong social media presence and here comes the role of a PR in social media management.
Related: 5 Tools that PR Professionals LOVE to use!
8. Advising Clients
To understand your client’s demands and make them happy, you must first listen carefully to the brief they have for you. Once you have a comprehensive understanding of your client’s expectations, you may inform them on the possible ways to accomplish these. Once you have a complete understanding of their expectations, you can communicate your plan accordingly. Sometimes, clients keep some higher expectations but it’s a PR professional’s responsibility to make them understand what is achievable and what is not in a particular time frame.Setting high expectations and then failing to meet them can lead to a dissatisfied customer. This is rare, but still an important role in the list of responsibilities of PR professionals.
9. Media training
Having industry expertise and media relations aids PR professionals in selecting the appropriate communication while communicating with the public and the media. PR advises their clients on the best method to send the proper message to the audience and media, as well as providing media training. The firm designates a team/member to provide media training, and they instruct the client on what the client should highlight and avoided while dealing with the media in various situations.
10. Blogger/influencer outreach
Since the digital craze is so widespread, brands’ digital presence is just as crucial as their physical presence. Digital content draws attention of audiences at a high level. In this approach, it is also vital to use social media influencers/bloggers to spread awareness about the brand and its services. To do so, you’ll need to compile a list of influencers who produce material in the same genre as your customer. The approach for contacting influencers is as follows: contact them via their social media handles, text them the client’s details, and explain what you need. Collect their confirmation and the service charge, then their contact information, and explain your concept to them. Before briefing the influencer on the idea, make sure your client is fine with the influencers specified. Once you are done with the process, finalise the time and date for the digital posts/content to go out.
That wraps up our list of responsibilities of PR professionals. PR professionals are constantly on the move, juggling a range of tasks. It takes a long time and a lot of effort to establish and sustain a brand’s reputation. The role of a PR is changing, and the demand for it is growing. Any brand that benefits from greater brand awareness and reputation should consider investing in PR.
Check out more on Reputation Today – India’s only magazine dedicated to Public Relations!
Hope this helps you in your career decision-making process. Also, read about the scope of PR to know more your career growth in PR. Leave in the comments below if you have any future queries related to the public relations career. We will be happy to help.
Happy Career!
– Shreya Doshi
Shreya Doshi is a Marketing and Communications Manager at School of COmmunication and REputation, Mumbai (SCoRe).
She has completed her Masters in Marketing and Advertising from Mumbai Educational Trust (MET) University. She believes that learning should never stop in life. Hence, learning something new every day is her moto. She loves to travel, enjoys the thrill while performing adventure sports, music and dance are her other passions.
