Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between directors, corporate communications and communications directors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a director, corporate communications and a communications director. Additionally, a communications director has an average salary of $107,700, which is higher than the $104,820 average annual salary of a director, corporate communications.
The top three skills for a director, corporate communications include corporate communications, external communications and press releases. The most important skills for a communications director are web content, press releases, and customer service.
| Director, Corporate Communications | Communications Director | |
| Yearly salary | $104,820 | $107,700 |
| Hourly rate | $50.39 | $51.78 |
| Growth rate | 8% | 8% |
| Number of jobs | 34,978 | 27,939 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 80% | Bachelor's Degree, 76% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
Corporate communications directors are responsible for supervising all official communications for their organization, including emails, press releases, responses to media inquiries, and through other formats. As top-level managers, they oversee middle managers and work with a communications staff, ensuring that all communications deliver a consistent message that is equivalent to the corporate philosophy and branding. Their duties include analyzing communications strategies and policies to examine their effectiveness. Also, they set up and implement communications policies and determine official formatting for documents. Additionally, they collaborate with different departments to ascertain communications' needs and develop plans to resolve those needs.
A communications director is responsible for monitoring and supervising the overall media relations from internal to external communications. A communications director's duties include managing campaigns, providing organizational updates to the employees, supporting social media marketing, developing effective communication strategies to build the organization's reputation, and efficiently leading team members in handling events that represent the business. Communications directors must have strong leadership and communication skills to provide support for the company's daily operations and strategies.
Directors, corporate communications and communications directors have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Director, Corporate Communications | Communications Director | |
| Average salary | $104,820 | $107,700 |
| Salary range | Between $64,000 And $169,000 | Between $61,000 And $188,000 |
| Highest paying City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | California | Nevada |
| Best paying company | Juniper Networks | McKinsey & Company Inc |
| Best paying industry | Finance | Health Care |
There are a few differences between a director, corporate communications and a communications director in terms of educational background:
| Director, Corporate Communications | Communications Director | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 80% | Bachelor's Degree, 76% |
| Most common major | Communication | Communication |
| Most common college | Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between directors, corporate communications' and communications directors' demographics:
| Director, Corporate Communications | Communications Director | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 45.2% Female, 54.8% | Male, 40.2% Female, 59.8% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 6.0% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 9.2% Asian, 5.1% White, 74.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% | Black or African American, 5.8% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 9.0% Asian, 5.1% White, 75.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.4% |
| LGBT Percentage | 16% | 16% |