Public Relations Manager: Job Profile and Role

Every company has at least one, and every company needs one: a public relations manager. As a public manager, you are the face of said company that represents it. You do this by coming up with and launching press releases. You also liaise with the most influential media entities, such as journalists and influencers. Being a public relations manager can mean dealing with a high amount of pressure and very sensitive information. Being resilient, discreet and professional at all times is another aspect of your job description. The following blog will explore what being a public relations manager entails. We will take a close look at the necessary educational background, the typical salary, potential employers and the required soft skills. We will also give you an insight into a day of a public relations manager and on how to thrive in this profession.

Short Summary

• As a public relations manager, you are the face of the company you work for. You represent this company as well as their visions and values.
• As a public relations manager, you are the intermediary between your company and the public. It is your job to make sure that the public identifies with your company and the causes it is passionate about.
• As a public relations manager, it is your responsibility to communicate with everyone involved in your company. This involves stakeholders (for example, clients) as well as the general public.

Job description

You are the public relations manager of a company – and with this, you are the official public face of your employer. Representing your company to the outside world involves a lot more than being “present”. It also involves feeding important media outlets and entities as well as the general public with valuable information on your company’s objectives and goals. To achieve this, you have to work behind the scenes. This generally involves team work and liaising with different departments, such as marketing and IT. Together, you come up with innovative PR strategies that will both protect and promote your company’s image and reputation.

Responsibilities

• Social Media management
• Stakeholder relations
• Budget management
• Brand management
• Crisis management
• Content creation
• Market research
• PR strategizing
• Media relations
• Event planning

Different types of Public Relations Managers

• Agency PR Manager
• Corporate PR Manager
• Public Affairs PR Manager
• Environmental PR Manager
• Crisis Communications PR Manager

Salary

Your annual salary as a public relations manager is between £42,400 to £48,500. Note that your salary usually depends on multiple factors, such as work experience, position, location, company size and employer. As an unofficial rule, metropolitan areas and big cities tend to pay higher wages. Depending on your employer, your salary might also increase through benefits, such as holiday and Christmas pay.

Working hours

As a public relations manager, you typically work between 35 and 40 hours a week. However, these working hours do not guarantee you fixed working times. As a public relations manager, you may well have to work overtime. In lots of cases, this overtime is not being paid. Depending on your employer, you may also have to be on call 24 hours a day. This consequently means that a healthy work-life balance might not be possible – especially since extra working hours might affect your weekends and holidays. Make absolutely sure that is works for you to not have a classic 9 to 5 job.

Employers

Public relations managers can find jobs in various fields. Depending on your area of expertise, you can start looking for your first job in government agencies, the healthcare sector or in the environmental sector. The company size can vary from small start-ups to medium-sized businesses to large household names in your chosen industry. The job of public relations manager is also a good fit if you are thinking to start your own agency. If you are thinking about being a self-employed public relations manager, we recommend you gaining some work experience with a known company first.

Qualifications

An academic background is one first step on your way to becoming a public relations manager. Typically, you will have a Bachelor’s degree in either journalism, business, marketing or communications. Usually, you can sit one or more of the mentioned studies. This gives you an academic expertise in more than one required field. Some future public relations managers also read psychology at university.

Alternatively, you can become a public relations manager by doing an apprenticeship. You can find those on the PRCA page.Typically, you will need four to five GSCEs with grades from A* to C (9 to 4). If you want to apply for a higher PR-related apprenticeship, you usually will need additional qualifications in one or more A-level subjects.

The academic qualifications or your apprenticeship are only one part of the qualifications needed to be an excellent public relations manager. You should also acquire additional qualifications ranging from crisis communication to event planning and market research.

Skills

Hard skills are one part of the mandatory skill set to secure a job as a public relations manager. You should also possess above average people skills, including communication, emotional intelligence and empathy. Let’s take a closer look at the most important soft skills for a public relations manager.

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is a vital soft skill for public relations managers. This is especially true when you work in healthcare, environmental or governmental institutions. Crises can occur on a regular basis, emotions go hand in hand with those. Understanding your emotions as well as the emotions of those you deal and work with is important to diffuse potentially volatile situations.

Storytelling

It is a truth universally acknowledged that emotions play a vital part in interpersonal relationships – be it interacting with people through communication or through sales. Storytelling is one of the magic words – and a skill you should have perfected as a public relations manager. You will only achieve your company’s goals and agenda if you manage to get your target audience hooked. Telling them a story they can relate to will ensure that you and your company will thrive.

Stress Management

One thing is for sure: the job of public relations manager can involve a certain stress level and high pressure. As a public relations manager, you will not only have to be extra resilient and immune to stress. You will also have to brilliant and stress management. How else will you manage to keep emotions in check, especially, when tempers may be running high?

The First PR Handbook was written by a Founding Father

It was Benjamin Franklin, one of the founding fathers of the USA, who wrote and published the first work on public relations and content marketing in 1732. Poor Richard’s Almanack is – to this day – considered one of the must-reads for PR Managers and everyone who works in marketing.

Career Path

Your career technically starts with your academic education. It is either accompanied or followed by gaining your first work experience and by networking with essential key players in the business. After having secured your first job, you will start at entry level. After several years – and depending on your overall performance – there is no reason why you should not be promoted to a higher PR manager position. This may include becoming a senior public relations manager in your chosen field, such as corporate PR or brand management. In this role, you are likely to be responsible for a PR team as well as for liaising with other departments.

Educational Background

Your educational background is made up of a Bachelor’s degree in either communications, journalism, marketing, business or a combination of several of those studies. If you are very ambitious or want to improve your job chances, you can follow up your Bachelor’s degree with a Master’s degree. In rare cases, a doctoral degree can be another academic option, granting you one of the highest academic degrees – incidentally one a lot of companies dealing with PR will not sniff at.

Gaining Experience

An internship or traineeship during your studies helps you to gain your first insights into the job of public relations manager. You will also gain valuable experience. You will quite likely establish your first important contacts in this industry as well. Having these experiences listed in your CV can give you a valuable advantage when applying for your first job as public relations manager.

Continuous Learning

Keep on learning – admittedly, this goes for every job there is. So, naturally, it also applies to the job of public relations manager. You can broaden your horizons and your knowledge in all the fields relevant to your job. Be it further training in communications, interpersonal skills, crisis or event management. The important thing is to be on the ball, always.

Continuous learning advances knowledge, empowers you to adapt to a changing environment, and fosters professional development and personal fulfilment while keeping you competitive.

A Day in the Life of a Public Relations Manager

Team meetings, prioritizing emails, setting goals and timelines for the day – these are all vital parts of your working day as a public relations manager. They are part of that job parcel and by no means unique to the job of a public relations manager. So, what are the things that are intricately linked to a day in the life of a public relations manager? Let’s take a close look at what awaits you in this exciting job.

Press Releases and Content Management

As a public relations manager, you are the face of the company you represent. It is one of your responsibilities to decide which news and snippets the public will know about both the company and what it represents. Therefore, one of your daily tasks is to draft and publish press releases. Since they run as content, content management is closely linked to this part of your daily workload.

Media Outreach

Drafting and publishing press releases is all well and good. But it will never work to its full potential if you do not have a network of journalists, influencers and bloggers or vloggers that help you spread the word. Reaching out to various media people is therefore another important part in the day of a public relations manager.

Strategy Planning

Your press releases have been launched, the relevant content has been managed? It is now time to come up with new strategies for future events and projects. You have several ways to plan these new strategies. You can either brainstorm with your team, or you can start doing some online research into the latest trends and what your biggest competitors are up to.

Tips for Thriving as a Public Relations Manager

You have been working as a public relations manager for a few years? And you feel it is time for the next step on your career ladder, but you are not quite sure yet which things will help you thrive as a public relations manager? No need to worry or panic. In the following section, we will share valuable tips for thriving as a public relations manager:

• Build strong relationships
• Be resilient
• Familiarize with digital PR

Build strong relationships

Building strong relationships is an important step in thriving as a public relations manager. First and foremost, this affects the relationship with the media. It is vital for you to build strong relationships with journalist, bloggers, vloggers and influencers. Always keep them in the loop about everything you are planning on doing. Make sure they always get all relevant content and that you respond to their questions and feedback on time.

Be resilient

Resilience is another way to thrive as a public relations manager. Having nerves of steel will very likely help you to deal with the pressures that come with this job. And do not worry – you do not need to be a resilience expert when you start out as a public relations manager. There are plenty of (online) workshops and trainings in which you can build up your resilience in order to thrive as a public relations manager.

Familiarize with digital PR

Long gone have the times where public relations were exclusively conducted in the real world. The digitalization naturally has also found its way into this field. Familiarizing yourself with all relevant digital PR tools and adapting to them is a third important tip for thriving as a public relations manager.

Frequently Asked Questions