What does a marketing & public relations manager do?
A marketing and public relations manager coordinates all marketing and public relations activities within an organization. Their role is to coordinate all public relations activities, manage the promotion of a brand, come up with budgets for marketing campaigns, field questions from the media, deal with negative publicity, oversee the selected marketing strategy from implementation to completion, and gather information on the effectiveness of the strategy.
Marketing & public relations manager responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real marketing & public relations manager resumes:
- Manage improvements to company website including new content management system and SEO to increase functionality and improve organic search rankings.
- Maintain strong working relationships across all departments to manage successful on-site opportunities, content and multimedia asset development and spokesperson requests.
- Implement social media strategy creating and maintaining presence on LinkedIn, Facebook, and YouTube.
- Plan, prepare, and implement all marketing strategies and provide ROI on performance programs along with recommendations to senior/executive staff.
- Serve as press and public relations liaison for both organizations, proactively driving website hits through target content creation and SEO.
- Complete ROI analysis making strategic recommendations for future business.
- Project oversight include qualitative and quantitative data collection that ultimately substantiate the value of the new foaming platform against customer KPIs.
- Collaborate with creative agencies to develop company website using HTML and other design elements
Marketing & public relations manager skills and personality traits
We calculated that 13% of Marketing & Public Relations Managers are proficient in Digital Marketing, Press Releases, and Marketing Campaigns. They’re also known for soft skills such as Leadership skills, Problem-solving skills, and Speaking skills.
We break down the percentage of Marketing & Public Relations Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Digital Marketing, 13%
Develop and implement new digital marketing campaigns, resulting in an online revenue and fan base increase of 30%.
- Press Releases, 11%
Prepared press releases and media advisories, which resulted in increased media attention and participation in community events.
- Marketing Campaigns, 10%
Managed channel marketing efforts to develop co-branded marketing campaigns and communications, improve lead generation and secure and negotiate MDF.
- Brand Marketing, 7%
Lead brand marketing strategist for the corporation.
- ROI, 6%
Develop smart, cost-effective PR plans, maximizing ROI that focuses on quality over quantity of coverage.
- Marketing Mix, 5%
Implemented cross-unit projects and ensured Internet/intranet strategies were incorporated into the marketing mix for all service offering launches.
Most marketing & public relations managers use their skills in "digital marketing," "press releases," and "marketing campaigns" to do their jobs. You can find more detail on essential marketing & public relations manager responsibilities here:
Leadership skills. To carry out their duties, the most important skill for a marketing & public relations manager to have is leadership skills. Their role and responsibilities require that "public relations and fundraising managers often lead large teams of specialists or fundraisers and must be able to guide their activities." Marketing & public relations managers often use leadership skills in their day-to-day job, as shown by this real resume: "managed public relations efforts and created thought leadership content. "
Problem-solving skills. Many marketing & public relations manager duties rely on problem-solving skills. "managers sometimes must explain how the company or client is handling sensitive issues," so a marketing & public relations manager will need this skill often in their role. This resume example is just one of many ways marketing & public relations manager responsibilities rely on problem-solving skills: "solved problem of poor program attendance by reaching out to new target market. "
Speaking skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of marketing & public relations managers is speaking skills. This skill is critical to many everyday marketing & public relations manager duties, as "public relations and fundraising managers regularly speak on behalf of their organization." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "created and placed advertising, negotiated media contracts, wrote press releases and served as corporate spokesperson. "
Writing skills. A big part of what marketing & public relations managers do relies on "writing skills." You can see how essential it is to marketing & public relations manager responsibilities because "managers must be able to write well-organized and clear press releases and speeches." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical marketing & public relations manager tasks: "demonstrated strong writing competence by producing creative advertisement scripts, press releases and magazine articles. "
Communication skills. A commonly-found skill in marketing & public relations manager job descriptions, "communication skills" is essential to what marketing & public relations managers do. Marketing & public relations manager responsibilities rely on this skill because "managers deal with the public regularly; therefore, they must be friendly enough to build a rapport with, and receive cooperation from, their media contacts and donors." You can also see how marketing & public relations manager duties rely on communication skills in this resume example: "directed all aspects of public relations including drafting and distributing written communication such as press releases, newsletter, and articles. "
Organizational skills. Another skill commonly found on marketing & public relations manager job descriptions is "organizational skills." It can come up quite often in marketing & public relations manager duties, since "public relations and fundraising managers are often in charge of running several events at the same time, requiring superior organizational skills." Here's an example from a resume of how this skill fits into day-to-day marketing & public relations manager responsibilities: "created organizational procedures to govern the marketing process, corporate communications, website enhancements, and quality control. "
The three companies that hire the most marketing & public relations managers are:
- P&G2 marketing & public relations managers jobs
- Millennium Physician Group2 marketing & public relations managers jobs
- Montage Hotels & Resorts2 marketing & public relations managers jobs
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Compare different marketing & public relations managers
Marketing & public relations manager vs. Senior manager of marketing
A senior manager of marketing is responsible for monitoring the organization's marketing staff, reviewing and approving marketing campaigns, and identifying strategies to improve services that would generate more revenues and increase its profitability. The senior manager of marketing evaluates the current market trends to meet consumers' demands and organizes techniques to sell products and services to the target audience. They lead the development of promotional offers and brand awareness, interpret sales data, and monitor the marketing processes' progress.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a marketing & public relations manager are more likely to require skills like "instagram," "graphic design," "event planning," and "external communications." On the other hand, a job as a senior manager of marketing requires skills like "integrated marketing," "project management," "sr," and "crm." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
Senior managers of marketing earn the highest salaries when working in the technology industry, with an average yearly salary of $126,981. On the other hand, marketing & public relations managers are paid more in the manufacturing industry with an average salary of $88,023.The education levels that senior managers of marketing earn slightly differ from marketing & public relations managers. In particular, senior managers of marketing are 7.4% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a marketing & public relations manager. Additionally, they're 0.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Marketing & public relations manager vs. Head of marketing
The head of marketing primarily oversees all marketing departments and operations, ensuring to convey the message of the brand. Their responsibilities revolve around devising strategies and business plans, preparing and allocating the budget for all departments, identifying new opportunities and assets, and analyzing consumers' needs. There are also instances when the head of marketing has to produce progress reports and presentations, monitor the competition, spearhead the hiring activities, and manage schedules. Furthermore, one must lead and encourage staff to meet all goals and deadlines in the joint effort to improve brand awareness and strengthen the client base.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that marketing & public relations manager responsibilities requires skills like "seo," "graphic design," "web content," and "external communications." But a head of marketing might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "integrated marketing," "kpis," "content strategy," and "brand management."
Heads of marketing may earn a higher salary than marketing & public relations managers, but heads of marketing earn the most pay in the media industry with an average salary of $134,857. On the other hand, marketing & public relations managers receive higher pay in the manufacturing industry, where they earn an average salary of $88,023.heads of marketing earn higher levels of education than marketing & public relations managers in general. They're 8.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.2% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for marketing & public relations managers in the next 3-5 years?
Stefanie Leiter
Assistant Professor of Public Relations, Anderson University
Marketing & public relations manager vs. Marketing lead
A marketing lead is an individual who is responsible for overseeing a team of marketing specialists to help a company achieve its marketing goals. Marketing leads are required to create and manage marketing plans so that they can deliver marketing campaigns on time and escalate issues that may prevent prompt delivery. They can incorporate a mix of different strategies in campaigns such as digital publishing, templates, and training. Marketing leads must work closely with account managers and sales engineers so that they can empower them to effectively position the company's products differently from their competitors.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a marketing & public relations manager is likely to be skilled in "graphic design," "web content," "external communications," and "public relations strategies," while a typical marketing lead is skilled in "project management," "integrated marketing," "healthcare," and "digital transformation."
Marketing leads make a very good living in the technology industry with an average annual salary of $118,478. On the other hand, marketing & public relations managers are paid the highest salary in the manufacturing industry, with average annual pay of $88,023.When it comes to education, marketing leads tend to earn similar degree levels compared to marketing & public relations managers. In fact, they're 2.4% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.0% more likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Marketing & public relations manager vs. Assistant marketing manager
An assistant marketing manager is primarily responsible for overseeing marketing operations, reaching sales targets and boosting brand awareness. There are also instances where one must coordinate with various marketing staff to develop plans and strategies, utilize knowledge on trends to determine new opportunities, conduct marketing projects and campaigns, and produce sales forecasts from financial data. Furthermore, an assistant marketing manager may perform clerical duties such as delivering progress reports and presentations, managing schedules, and responding to calls and inquiries.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between marketing & public relations managers and assistant marketing managers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a marketing & public relations manager might have more use for skills like "web content," "external communications," "public relations strategies," and "pr campaigns." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of assistant marketing managers require skills like "project management," "strong project management," "data analysis," and "pos. "
In general, assistant marketing managers earn the most working in the finance industry, with an average salary of $99,097. The highest-paying industry for a marketing & public relations manager is the manufacturing industry.assistant marketing managers reach similar levels of education compared to marketing & public relations managers, in general. The difference is that they're 0.5% more likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.4% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Types of marketing & public relations manager
Updated January 8, 2025
