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The differences between public relations and publicists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a public relations and a publicist. Additionally, a publicist has an average salary of $50,679, which is higher than the $48,383 average annual salary of a public relations.
The top three skills for a public relations include press releases, web content and facebook. The most important skills for a publicist are press releases, press materials, and public relations campaigns.
| Public Relations | Publicist | |
| Yearly salary | $48,383 | $50,679 |
| Hourly rate | $23.26 | $24.36 |
| Growth rate | 8% | 8% |
| Number of jobs | 22,721 | 7,343 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 75% | Bachelor's Degree, 83% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
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.
Public Relations Supervisors are responsible for implementing the media and public relations strategy of an organization. Their duties include developing public relations campaigns, organize public relations events, assist in emergency response planning, updating documentation, monitoring media, improve management of press office, and manage media databases. They are responsible for assisting with journalistic content writing, refine internal processes, and track public relations activity performance. They help prepare reports as well as undertake competitor and market research.
Public relations and publicists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Public Relations | Publicist | |
| Average salary | $48,383 | $50,679 |
| Salary range | Between $32,000 And $72,000 | Between $30,000 And $83,000 |
| Highest paying City | Richmond, VA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Virginia | Washington |
| Best paying company | Edelman Financial Engines | J. The Jewish News of Northern California |
| Best paying industry | Professional | Media |
There are a few differences between a public relations and a publicist in terms of educational background:
| Public Relations | Publicist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 75% | Bachelor's Degree, 83% |
| Most common major | Communication | Communication |
| Most common college | Stanford University | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between public relations' and publicists' demographics:
| Public Relations | Publicist | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 36.1% Female, 63.9% | Male, 27.4% Female, 72.6% |
| Race ratio | 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% | Black or African American, 10.1% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 12.0% Asian, 5.3% White, 66.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.6% |
| LGBT Percentage | 12% | 12% |