Senior publicist vs communications director

The differences between senior publicists 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 senior publicist and a communications director. Additionally, a communications director has an average salary of $107,700, which is higher than the $77,515 average annual salary of a senior publicist.

The top three skills for a senior publicist include press releases, publicity campaigns and press materials. The most important skills for a communications director are web content, press releases, and customer service.

Senior publicist vs communications director overview

	Senior Publicist	Communications Director
Yearly salary	$77,515	$107,700
Hourly rate	$37.27	$51.78
Growth rate	8%	8%
Number of jobs	1,157	27,939
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 86%	Bachelor's Degree, 76%
Average age	42	42
Years of experience	4	4

Senior publicist vs communications director salary

Senior publicists and communications directors have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Senior Publicist	Communications Director
Average salary	$77,515	$107,700
Salary range	Between $55,000 And $108,000	Between $61,000 And $188,000
Highest paying City	-	San Francisco, CA
Highest paying state	-	Nevada
Best paying company	-	McKinsey & Company Inc
Best paying industry	-	Health Care

Differences between senior publicist and communications director education

There are a few differences between a senior publicist and a communications director in terms of educational background:

	Senior Publicist	Communications Director
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 86%	Bachelor's Degree, 76%
Most common major	Communication	Communication
Most common college	Northwestern University	Stanford University

Senior publicist vs communications director demographics

Here are the differences between senior publicists' and communications directors' demographics:

	Senior Publicist	Communications Director
Average age	42	42
Gender ratio	Male, 23.1% Female, 76.9%	Male, 40.2% Female, 59.8%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 5.7% Unknown, 4.6% Hispanic or Latino, 8.9% Asian, 5.1% White, 75.3% 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%

Differences between senior publicist and communications director duties and responsibilities

Senior publicist example responsibilities.

Manage and oversee the distribution of show web clips, including breaking news and investigations.
Manage improvements to company website including new content management system and SEO to increase functionality and improve organic search rankings.
Develop promotional strategies for bestselling fiction, and non-fiction hardcover and trade paperback publishing.
Create original press release, brand biographies, and story content copy.
Create and implement publicity and marketing campaigns for general interest, non-fiction books.
Specialize in creating publicity and brand awareness campaigns for bestselling literary and non- fiction authors.

Communications director example responsibilities.

Assist in managing the Facebook and Instagram pages.
Develop and manage c-level strategic client relationships to grow revenue base.
Create and manage corporate website, online demand gen through SEO and SEM.
Manage editorial content of the organization website, build and upload web pages via HTML.
Manage the marketing strategy and budget, including B2C acquisition campaigns focuse on out of home and DRTV.
Manage media relations, announcements, editorial placement, and speaking opportunities the organizations.

Senior publicist vs communications director skills

Common senior publicist skills

Press Releases, 19%
Publicity Campaigns, 10%
Press Materials, 8%
Fiction, 8%
Booking, 6%
Brainstorming, 4%

Common communications director skills

Web Content, 8%
Press Releases, 8%
Customer Service, 7%
External Communications, 5%
Project Management, 4%
Employee Engagement, 4%

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Senior Publicist
Senior Publicist vs Communications Director

Updated January 8, 2025

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