Journalism teaches you several transferable skills that can prepare you for a career in marketing, corporate communications, and editing. It’s also remarkably easy to switch from journalism to PR.
PR Skills You’ll Learn in Journalism
Your journalism degree gives you the communications skills you’ll need in PR to bridge the gap between media and marketing. PR teams handle brand messaging, which requires a talent for creating stories that reverberate in the minds of an audience. If you can craft an attention-grabbing headline, you’re halfway there.
How a PR Career Differs From Journalism
If you have a journalism degree, you’ve probably learned to prioritise the public when you formulate your stories. If you enter a PR career, that priority will need to shift. Your greatest authority is the brand you’re working with. In journalism, your highest goal is to give readers the knowledge they need to retain their freedom. In PR, you might release news to broadcasters, but your writing and editing will always serve stakeholders.
Skills You Might Need to Grow
As a PR expert, you must understand the language of conversions and other analytics. You’ll need to update your understanding of branding and learn to think strategically. Journalism degrees don’t always give you a comprehensive grasp of crisis management or make you fluent in social media–two more skills to learn.
Journalism and PR have enough in common to support a seamless career change, but if you want to get to the top, you’ll need to gain a few new skills to truly excel.
