Post job

Media planner vs public relations

The differences between media planners and public relations can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a media planner and a public relations. Additionally, a media planner has an average salary of $58,044, which is higher than the $48,383 average annual salary of a public relations.

The top three skills for a media planner include media planning, powerpoint and campaign performance. The most important skills for a public relations are press releases, web content, and facebook.

Media planner vs public relations overview

Media PlannerPublic Relations
Yearly salary$58,044$48,383
Hourly rate$27.91$23.26
Growth rate8%8%
Number of jobs24,12622,721
Job satisfaction--
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 89%Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Average age4242
Years of experience44

What does a media planner do?

A media planner is responsible for managing market campaigns and promotions for clients' advertising needs through various social media platforms and other mediums of communications. Media planners handle the brand's media presence, strategizing its maximum appeal to the target audience. They coordinate closely with the clients for the progress updates, as well as informing them of any adjustments, especially on meeting the public's interests and concerns. A media planner develops innovative techniques, analyzes market data, and manage campaign results, ensuring to meet the clients' objectives and goals.

What does a public relations do?

Public relations is a strategic way of developing and maintaining a client's or company's public image through media coverage, appearances, and press releases by designing and developing events to raise funds or to spread awareness to the public regarding products, brands, or individuals. It involves research and evaluation of programs including financial, marketing, employee, or government relations using topics of public interest and news items. Due to our present technological innovations, public relations now use webinars, blogs, and downloadable resources under one convenient website.

Media planner vs public relations salary

Media planners and public relations have different pay scales, as shown below.

Media PlannerPublic Relations
Average salary$58,044$48,383
Salary rangeBetween $48,000 And $69,000Between $32,000 And $72,000
Highest paying CityWashington, DCRichmond, VA
Highest paying stateWashingtonVirginia
Best paying companyRPAEdelman Financial Engines
Best paying industryProfessionalProfessional

Differences between media planner and public relations education

There are a few differences between a media planner and a public relations in terms of educational background:

Media PlannerPublic Relations
Most common degreeBachelor's Degree, 89%Bachelor's Degree, 75%
Most common majorCommunicationCommunication
Most common collegeNorthwestern UniversityStanford University

Media planner vs public relations demographics

Here are the differences between media planners' and public relations' demographics:

Media PlannerPublic Relations
Average age4242
Gender ratioMale, 39.2% Female, 60.8%Male, 36.1% Female, 63.9%
Race ratioBlack or African American, 10.4% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.3% Asian, 5.4% White, 66.3% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%Black or African American, 10.0% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 11.9% Asian, 5.3% White, 67.0% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6%
LGBT Percentage12%12%

Differences between media planner and public relations duties and responsibilities

Media planner example responsibilities.

  • Partner with programmatic buying team to manage DSP campaign and ensure tactics maintain maximum efficiency.
  • Lead monthly meetings with each AE to discuss key accounts and strategize for revenue growth.
  • Manage multiple inboxes handling numerous RFP inquiries from top tier clients while training new employees on processes.
  • Manage multiple million dollar budgets, budget analysis and reconciliations.
  • Manage MRI research system generating specific demographic information for media recommendations.
  • Experience with Comscore, Nielsen, Kantar & Mediamind.
  • Show more

Public relations example responsibilities.

  • Manage LinkedIn profile updates and new leads.
  • Manage all copywriting elements for live broadcasts and promotional commercials.
  • Create an official office page on instagram to facilitate interaction with students.
  • Track and analyze local talent and trends on social networking sites (MySpace, YouTube).
  • Coordinate multiple marketing campaigns (SEO, CPA, CPM) and optimization of organic search traffic.
  • Edit and create YouTube videos for clientele, creating proper titles and tags to increase viewership ;.
  • Show more

Media planner vs public relations skills

Common media planner skills
  • Media Planning, 11%
  • PowerPoint, 8%
  • Campaign Performance, 5%
  • MRI, 4%
  • Digital Marketing, 4%
  • Nielsen, 4%
Common public relations skills
  • Press Releases, 22%
  • Web Content, 12%
  • Facebook, 5%
  • Event Planning, 4%
  • Blog Posts, 4%
  • Twitter, 4%

Browse arts, entertainment, sports, and media jobs