In short
- Who is the PR person?: A PR professional is a communication specialist whose job is to build, maintain, and – when necessary – repair the image of a company or institution.
- What does a PR employee’s day look like?: From the outside, the work of a PR officer mostly involves writing texts and sending emails to journalists.
- What competencies does a good PR officer have?: A good PR person is not just someone who „knows how to write".
- Why is it worth taking care of PR?: 1. Building trust and credibility In the age of the internet and social media, public opinion can quickly influence a company’s success or failure.
A public relations professional (commonly known as a „publicist”) is a person who builds and protects a company’s reputation in the media, among customers, and among employees. According to the 2012 definition of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), public relations is „a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their audiences.” A public relations professional is the one who maintains that relationship on a daily basis.
Who is the PR person?
A PR professional is a communication specialist whose job is to build, maintain, and – when necessary – repair the image of a company or institution. In job advertisements, you can find the same position under different names: PR specialist, PR specialist, press spokesperson, PR manager, or PR consultant. The scope of responsibilities varies depending on the size of the company, but the core of the profession is the same.
In a small PR agency, the PR professional often combines this role with marketing or social media management – one person is responsible for everything related to external communication. In a large organization, PR is often a separate department divided into media relations, internal communication, crisis communication, and employer branding – each of these areas may have its own specialist, and the entire process is overseen by a PR manager or director of communications. Regardless of the size of the team, the PR professional always answers to someone – the owner of the company, management, or the client of the agency – and it is this relationship that determines how quickly they can react and how much real freedom they have in making communication decisions.
What does a PR professional do on a daily basis?
- Forming a communication strategy – plans what, to whom and when the company wants to communicate in order to support business goals, rather than acting randomly.
- Manages relations with the media – builds and maintains contact with journalists so that the company has a chance to appear in the media in the right context.
- Manages communication in a crisis situation – reacts when something goes wrong to limit the damage to the company’s image.
- Creates content – prepares press releases, expert articles, blog posts for the company’s website, and content for social media.
- Measures the effects – checks whether PR activities are having an effect, instead of counting only the number of publications.
What does a PR employee’s day look like?
From the outside, the work of a PR officer mostly involves writing texts and sending emails to journalists. In reality, the workday looks much more diverse and rarely follows a fixed schedule:
- Morning review of the media – checking whether there has been any mention of the company or its industry that needs to be responded to.
- Conversation with a client or management – determining what is a priority in a given week: a new product, financial result, change in the team.
- Preparing the content – a draft of a press release, an expert article, or an answer to a question from a journalist who has already contacted us.
- Contact with the editorial offices – telephone or email conversations in which the PR professional proposes a topic for a specific publication, tailored to its profile.
- Monitoring and reporting – checking what has emerged, what its implications were, and whether it’s worth changing something in the plan for the next week based on that.
Unpredictability is part of this profession – a well-planned day can be thrown off when an urgent crisis topic arises or a journalist calls with a question that needs to be answered within an hour. Therefore, one of the PR practitioner’s most important competencies is the ability to quickly shift priorities without losing sight of the long-term strategy. This daily juggling of tasks also makes good work organization – a list of tasks, a publication calendar, a clear division of roles within the team – just as important as the talent for writing.
What competencies does a good PR professional have?
A good PR professional is not just someone who „knows how to write”. It is a profession that combines several different skills at once:
| Competence | Why it is important |
|---|---|
| Writing concise, clear texts | Journalists and clients read quickly – the text must convey the essence in the first few sentences |
| Knowledge of the client’s industry | Without understanding the business, it is difficult to find in it a real message, worthy of communication. |
| Calmness in a crisis situation | Decisions under time pressure require a cool head, not emotions |
| The ability to listen | A good strategy starts with understanding what really worries the customer and their audience. |
| Knowledge of ethical principles | Trust in the media and its audience builds up over years, but it can be lost in a single day. |
Why is it worth taking care of PR?
1. Building trust and credibility
In the age of the internet and social media, public opinion can quickly influence a company’s success or failure. Well-managed PR helps build trust and credibility in the eyes of customers and business partners – not through a one-time campaign, but through consistent, authentic communication.
2. Increasing brand visibility
The PR professional knows how to effectively communicate with the media and how to use various promotional channels to increase brand visibility. This allows the company to reach a wider audience than it could achieve through paid advertising alone.
3. Crisis management
Even the best-managed companies can encounter unexpected crisis situations. A PR professional trained in managing such situations allows for quick and thoughtful response, which minimizes damage to the company’s image – rather than acting under emotional influence.
4. Saving time and resources
Managing PR requires time, knowledge, and experience. By hiring a specialist or agency, the business owner can focus on other aspects of running the business, knowing that the communication is in good hands.
The most common mistakes when hiring a first PR officer
- Treating PR as an advertising department. PR and advertising are different tools – advertising buys space, PR builds credibility. The expectation that a PR professional will „deliver” the same results as a paid campaign ends in disappointment on both sides.
- PR professionals only get involved in crises. The best results are achieved through systematic communication before something goes wrong – by then the company already has relationships with the media and a developed way of communicating about itself.
- Lack of access to information. A PR person who doesn’t know what’s going on in the company can’t come up with a good topic or respond quickly to a journalist’s question.
- Expecting immediate results. Trust in a brand is built over months of consistent communication, not just one press release.
- There is no clearly defined goal for the cooperation. Before hiring a PR agency or a company, it’s worth determining what exactly the goal is – greater brand awareness, support for B2B sales, preparation for a crisis, or building a brand for the employer. Without this, it’s difficult to assess whether the collaboration is successful.
State PR agency or PR agency?
This is one of the first questions a business owner asks themselves. The answer depends on the scale of the business and the budget:
- State PR officer It is useful when a company needs someone on the ground who knows the organization from the inside, who is available every day and who can respond quickly to current issues.
- PR agency it provides access to a team of specialists with different competencies (media relations, crisis management, content, social media) without the need to hire each of them on a full-time basis, as well as to a network of contacts with journalists built up over the years in many industries.
- Combined model – one person in the company as a contact point plus a PR agency as strategic support – works well in medium-sized companies that are growing but do not yet need a full-fledged internal communications department.
| Criterion | State PR officer | PR agency |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Fixed salary + contributions, regardless of the number of projects | Usually a fixed monthly subscription or a flexible range of plans |
| Availability of competencies | One person, limited number of specializations | Team – media relations, crisis management, content, social media |
| Knowing the company from the inside | Very good, presence on site every day | It requires time to implement, but it is not limited to a single perspective |
| Network of contacts with the media | It is being built from scratch or is being transferred from the previous job | Usually ready-made, built over the years in many industries |
| Flexibility in a crisis | A limited number of hours for one person | The ability to quickly engage additional team members |
Who uses the PR officer’s help most often?
Contrary to popular belief, PR is not reserved for large corporations and well-known consumer brands. In practice, PR agencies and PR professionals are used by:
- B2B companies – build credibility among business partners and investors, for whom the expert image of the brand matters, rather than flashy advertising.
- Technology and manufacturing companies – they need a PR person who understands the technical product and is able to translate it into a language that is understandable to the media and customers.
- Public institutions and local governments – they must communicate decisions in a transparent manner and answer questions from residents and local media.
- Growing start-ups – they need recognition to attract investors, customers and employees before they can build a large marketing budget.
- Companies undergoing change – merger, name change, restructuring – and they must explain this change to employees, customers and the market.
Before you make a decision, it’s worth checking in more detail., what exactly public relations is about and what it actually brings in terms of benefits – this makes it easier to discuss the scope of the collaboration, regardless of whether you decide to go with a full-time position or an agency. It also helps to understand, What are the tools and features of PR, Because it shows what both a full-time specialist and an agency team can use. If you decide to hire a person to manage all communication, it’s also worth knowing exactly what the scope of responsibilities is. PR manager – this position often goes beyond just writing texts.
How to become a PR professional?
There is no single path to becoming a PR professional. Most often, PR professionals are people with degrees in journalism, social communication, marketing, or management, but more and more often, graduates in philology, law, or political science also find their way into this profession – the profession values diversity of experience because different clients require a different approach.
In practice, the professional path usually looks like this:
- Internship or internship in a PR agency or corporate communications department – first contact with writing texts, media monitoring and working under time pressure.
- Junior PR Specialist – independent management of minor tasks under the supervision of an older colleague from the team: preparation of press releases, contact with selected news outlets.
- PR specialist / PR consultant – independent customer service or communication area, building your own network of contacts in the media.
- PR manager / senior consultant – responsibility for the strategy, the team, and relationships with key clients or business areas.
Regardless of the stage of one’s career, one thing remains unchanged: a PR professional learns throughout their life – the media, tools, and channels of communication change, but the principle that truth and reliability are important to the recipient remains the same.
How does Commplace help?
If you are looking for support, not just one person on a full-time basis, see, How we conduct public relations at Commplace From finding a topic that is news, through preparing a communication and an expert to talk to the journalist, to measuring the results. The results of PR work – publications, website visits, inquiries from clients – are all seen in one place in the dashboard. Commwork®AI, Alongside the team's tasks and deadlines, so you know not only that something has been published, but also what the result was.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Who is the PR person?
This is a public relations specialist who builds and protects the company's image in the media, among customers and employees – creating a communication strategy, managing media relations, and responding to crisis situations.
What distinguishes a PR person from a PIARer?
These are two common names for the same profession – a public relations specialist. „Priest” and „PR-ist” are used interchangeably in Polish.
Does a small company need a PR officer?
Not necessarily on a full-time basis. Many small businesses use PR agencies on a part-time basis – for example, only for larger events or crisis situations – instead of hiring their own specialist.
What does a PR manager do?
The PR manager manages the entire company’s communication – plans the strategy, oversees the team or agency, is responsible for media relations and crisis communication.
What kind of education should a PR professional have?
Most often journalism, public relations, marketing or management, but in practice, writing skills, knowledge of the client’s industry and experience working with the media are the most important factors.
Are a PR professional and a marketing specialist the same thing?
No. Marketing focuses on selling and promoting the product, while PR is about building a long-term reputation for the company in the eyes of the media, customers, and employees. In practice, both activities should be consistent with each other.
Sources: Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), the official definition of public relations adopted in 2012, prsa.org/about/all-about-pr.