In today's digital age, the Media Relations Director is at the forefront of brand management and engagement with a company's audience. This is a position worth looking into if you're looking to help your company strike out against the competition.
This position wears many marketing hats, with the ability to organize, develop and regularly increase the efficiency of many tasks. Press release creation, audience spokesperson, risk management, and internal communications are just a few of the common responsibilities a Media Relations Director has. You'll also be coordinating with many of the managers and directors from other teams within the company to have a constant flow of updated knowledge on the company's projects and achievements.
Most Media Relations Directors hold a bachelor's degree in marketing, communications, or business. Having experience in journalism or audience analysis is beneficial when applying for this position, as companies are looking for talented market researchers. This is generally a full-time position with a high possibility of early mornings or long nights. When it comes to annual salary, a Media Relations Director can make anywhere between $48,000 to $148,000 a year.
How to Become a Media Relations Director
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a media relations director. For example, did you know that they make an average of $53.55 an hour? That's $111,389 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 8% and produce 6,300 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Media Relations Director Do
There are certain skills that many media relations directors have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed communication skills, leadership skills and organizational skills.
How To Become a Media Relations Director
If you're interested in becoming a media relations director, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 83.7% of media relations directors have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 10.3% of media relations directors have master's degrees. Even though most media relations directors have a college degree, it's impossible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a media relations director. When we researched the most common majors for a media relations director, we found that they most commonly earn bachelor's degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on media relations director resumes include associate degree degrees or high school diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a media relations director. In fact, many media relations director jobs require experience in a role such as reporter. Meanwhile, many media relations directors also have previous career experience in roles such as communications director or account executive.
Media Relations Director Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a media relations director can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as communications director, progress to a title such as executive director and then eventually end up with the title executive director.
Average Salary for a Media Relations Director
What Am I Worth?
Top Colleges for Media Relations Directors
1. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
2. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
3. San Diego State University
San Diego, CA • Private
4. Stanford University
Stanford, CA • Private
5. Boston University
Boston, MA • Private
6. New York University
New York, NY • Private
7. University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN • Private
8. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA • Private
9. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, IL • Private
10. Howard University
Washington, DC • Private
Top Skills For a Media Relations Director
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 13.4% of media relations directors listed web content on their resume, but soft skills such as communication skills and leadership skills are important as well.
Choose From 10+ Customizable Media Relations Director Resume templates
Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Media Relations Director templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Media Relations Director resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.
Media Relations Director Demographics
Media Relations Director Gender Distribution
After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:
- Among media relations directors, 38.8% of them are women, while 61.2% are men.
- The most common race/ethnicity among media relations directors is White, which makes up 78.7% of all media relations directors.
- The most common foreign language among media relations directors is Spanish at 42.9%.
Online Courses For Media Relations Director That You May Like
Public Relations: You can shape and control your media messages at the worst possible times...
Learn high impact communication skills for emails, group messaging, online meetings, social media & verbal communication...
This specialization is ideal for learners interested in how to practice public relations and branding communication. You will learn how to use different tools to manage your company's reputation. You will learn about different forms of media, how to work with journalists, and how to plan strategic communication to enhance your company. And you will emerge from this specialization with several portfolio pieces, including a media contact list, press release, pitch, and crisis communication plan...
Best States For a Media Relations Director
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a media relations director. The best states for people in this position are Washington, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and New York. Media relations directors make the most in Washington with an average salary of $148,879. Whereas in Nevada and Pennsylvania, they would average $141,368 and $139,008, respectively. While media relations directors would only make an average of $136,761 in New York, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Delaware
$135,312
Avg. Salary
2. New York
$136,761
Avg. Salary
3. Washington
$148,879
Avg. Salary
How Do Media Relations Director Rate Their Jobs?
Top Media Relations Director Employers
Most Common Employers For Media Relations Director
| Rank | Company | Average Salary | Hourly Rate | Job Openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pfizer | $131,172 | $63.06 | 8 |
| 2 | AT&T | $119,128 | $57.27 | 3 |
| 3 | BAE Systems | $115,686 | $55.62 | 4 |
| 4 | iCare | $114,196 | $54.90 | 2 |
| 5 | Lone Star Analysis | $111,389 | $53.55 | 3 |
| 6 | USAF Police Alumni Association | $111,389 | $53.55 | 3 |
| 7 | The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights | $111,389 | $53.55 | 2 |
| 8 | Ferro | $102,587 | $49.32 | 3 |
| 9 | World Vision U.S. | $100,333 | $48.24 | 2 |
| 10 | American Cancer Society | $99,217 | $47.70 | 5 |
Media Relations Director Videos
