| Back to Home > Bulletin Board > Media Issues > Topic: How to go from journalism to PR/marketing |
Topic: How to go from journalism to PR/marketing
| Author | Message |
| ChiTiger | Posted – 12/28/2007 12:49:59 PM | show profile I've been a professional, salaried journalist for the past 2.5 years. In that time I have helped my publication win several awards, moved through the ranks very quickly (my salary has nearly doubled since I started and my title has gone from junior-level to senior-level) and gained some managerial and Web experience. However, I'm ready for a change. I'm wanting to transition into the PR/marketing field. Yet, without a track record in this area, I'm unsure of how easy it will be for me to land a job, especially one with equivalent pay. What types of jobs/companies should I look for to make this transition? Is additional education needed? If so, what sort of education? I'm not really wanting to go back to school full-time, necessarily. |
| melinyc | Posted – 12/30/2007 6:28:03 PM | show profile How to go from journalism to PR/marketing Dear Chi, A few questions first: What field have you been working in? What is your motivation to make the leap to PR/Marketing? Did you have any interaction with PR folks in your journo job? |
| WritingEd | Posted – 12/30/2007 9:46:16 PM | show profile I work in journalism, not PR, but from what I understand jobs for people with just a few years experience are low in both fields. It seems unlikely that you would be able to find comparable pay if your journalism salary has doubled in less than 3 years. Is it an absolute requirement for you that you make the same amount of money? |
| Cyrus | Posted – 12/31/2007 12:08:31 PM | show profile You should search the archives, as this question has been asked often in both this and the publicists forum. Basically, the big difference is PR involves a client-service environment and knowing how to manage that takes experience and skill. Honestly, somebody with only 2.5 years' experience will start as an account executive at the most. Salaries for that are about 50K in NY. In this role, you'd do a lot of the account work, but be under the supervision of an acct supervisor and VP. If you show promise, you can move up and increase your salary relatively quickly. ------ Cyrus Afzali Astoria Communications www.astoriacomm.com |
| ChiTiger | Posted – 1/1/2008 10:53:16 AM | show profile To answer some questions, I currently work in the B2B space. My motivation for possibly moving into PR/Marketing is varied: 1. I'm sick of doing what I'm doing now. I enjoy a lot of the work I'm doing, I just am tired of the subject area. 2. I want to use my business skills more. I'm fortunate in that I'm not just an editor/reporter. I also am a strategist and work closely with our publisher to create new products to deliver content to our readers and attract new advertisers. 3. I want to use my creative skills more (thus the marketing). 4. Money. I'm making too much money as a journalist for this market. No one else could pay me as much as I'm making now. Also, I do deal with PR reps in my current position. Who doesn't? I understand PR takes a "client-service approach." But honestly, as someone who has done the client-service gigs before, it doesn't take years of training or experience. If you're the type of person that understands the fundamentals of business and the service provider/client relationship, then taking the client-service approach is a nonissue. Besides, journalists are client-centric from the reader standpoint (and some lesser B2Bs from the advertising standpoint too). I think this is a moot point. I'll search the archives here to see what other advice has been given. In the meantime, I'll continue to do what I've been doing: Highlighting my transferable skills I've picked up in my position and applying for jobs that interest me. |
| Cyrus | Posted – 1/1/2008 11:47:24 AM | show profile I didn't intend to imply it's rocket science, but agencies do things in a formulaic manner and they want a certain experience track in people they hire. Also, until you're truly in a client/service environment, it's hard to truly understand what it will mean. Management roles in a company are different. While you may be able to do it, your career experience is short thus far and that will limit you to relatively entry-level positions if/when you switch to PR. You might try non-profits, as they tend to be more forgiving in terms of experience. ------ Cyrus Afzali Astoria Communications www.astoriacomm.com |
| ManhattanMatt | Posted – 1/1/2008 7:34:30 PM | show profile TRANSLATION: You can do the job. And the people in the PR industry KNOW you can do the job (probably even better than they can because journalists have a distinct advantage in writing, idea formulation, communications, research, and actually meeting deadlines). But because you didn't earn your stripes in PR, they're going to keep you out (or at least "in your place" in the form of a mediocre salary). Welcome to the club. |
| Cyrus | Posted – 1/1/2008 8:35:09 PM | show profile Matt, I wouldn't say you're completely wrong, but I would say you could make that argument about journalism and lots of other jobs. Financial writing wasn't rocket science to me, but I wouldn't have gotten to the NY market without a certain level of experience. PR people in agencies are the financial lifeblood of the biz since their billings cover their salary. That's not the case with most other jobs. Given that fact, agencies want to make sure you're a solid PR practitioner and know how to manage clients. ------ Cyrus Afzali Astoria Communications www.astoriacomm.com |
| ManhattanMatt | Posted – 1/1/2008 8:36:41 PM | show profile How else would they know ... ...unless they give you a chance? |
| Cyrus | Posted – 1/1/2008 10:19:30 PM | show profile Again, you're right for the most part. But that's something you could say about a lot of professions. We like as a society to stick people in boxes, so to speak. So just like a first-year MBA isn't going to be given millions to manage on their own at an investment bank, rookies at PR agencies aren't going to be given key account work. I think this is especially true in NYC, where people obsess about where others went to college, their past jobs, etc. much more than other places. ------ Cyrus Afzali Astoria Communications www.astoriacomm.com |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 1/2/2008 4:27:36 AM | show profile First, I think you should focus on whether you want to go into marketing or PR. Don't think of them as one field, because usually they aren't and I've found the work and skill sets they require are very different. In some ways, your headline is similar to someone who would write, "How to go from accounting to journalism/public relations." The fact that you even phrase your question like this might be a red flag to potential employers, unless you are applying to really small companies wear marketing does PR chores as well. (As a general rule of thumb, marketing is more important than PR -- if you have no strong feeling about one or the over, marketing is a much better career route than PR.) And then I think you need to accept that if you want to transition into of these fields, you are going to have to really work hard to find an entry level job -- probably as hard as a new college graduate with no experience other than internships. In all honesty, 2.5 years in journalism won't mean much to PR people, and it will mean next to nothing to marketing people. |
| dribbledrive1 | Posted – 1/2/2008 4:34:46 AM | show profile In a nutshell, you've hit on why PR companies tend to be wary of journalists. Journalists often think they are smarter and more talented than PR people, but will deign to do the work for the money. --TRANSLATION: You can do the job. And the people in the PR industry KNOW you can do the job (probably even better than they can because journalists have a distinct advantage in writing, idea formulation, communications, research, and actually meeting deadlines). But because you didn't earn your stripes in PR, they're going to keep you out (or at least "in your place" in the form of a mediocre salary).-- |
| Cyrus | Posted – 1/2/2008 9:24:37 AM | show profile Those posts hit on it better than perhaps I was doing. Let me relay a personal story: a couple of years ago, when my biz was only about 2 yrs old, I was still struggling to build it, even though I had a decent clip book. Sometimes I woild toss my name in the ring for big agency jobs, even though it really wasn't what I wanted. I got called in by one, interviewed by 3 people who, after telling me I'd work all hours, etc. never had the decency to call me back, send a rejection letter, etc. Now, I'm not saying I'm a genius, but I put a body of work out there that's got the NY Times, WSJ and other important outlets to show what I can do. If they treat someone with 17 yrs of work exp like that, then you have to be prepared for it too. ------ Cyrus Afzali Astoria Communications www.astoriacomm.com |
