With media outlets like Mad Magazine, Entrepreneur, Gannett, Vice Media and BuzzFeed laying off thousands of journalists in 2019 alone, it’s no wonder that so many reporters today are considering making the switch from journalism to public relations or PR.

However, competition for these jobs can be stiff. According to Muck Rack, there are six PR professionals for every one journalist.

This isn’t to say that it’s impossible to make the switch from journalism to public relations. Indeed, many of the skills that are required to work a PR job like writing and research are also cornerstone skills in the reporting field as well.

The purpose of this post is to give journalists who want to make the switch from journalism to public relations some concrete tips on how to make the leap from journalism to public relations.

Journalism Vs. PR

Ideally, a journalist tries to give equal or nearly equal coverage to all sides of the issue/s and events that shape our lives, according to the American Press Institute. This information allows them to make decisions about their lives on both the local and national levels.

On the other hand, a public relations professional’s job is to support his/ her client’s business. He/ she is partially responsible for business development, which necessarily means that his/ her work isn’t going to embrace the full scope of the issues like a journalist’s would. It will be more client-centric.

Journalists who wish to make the switch to public relations must be able to demonstrate an ability to make this switch. According to Media Bistro, former journalists are often used to being approached by PR people, sometimes more than they want to be if a work day is busy.

However, that model gets turned on its head once a journalist transitions to PR. He/ she must now chase other journalists in the same way he/ she was once pursued during his/ her journalism days.

Develop Relationships and Your Niche

If you suspect that you’re going to be making the switch, you’ll want to develop a list of contacts and creative partnerships in the world of journalism and business before you leave the job. Ideally, you will have been developing these contacts throughout your career so that once it’s time to jump ship, you’ll have plenty of names in your Rolodex.

Doing this will cut down on you having to chase a journalist down. They’re more likely to return your call because they already know you.

One person who understands how this works is PR professional Nancy Behrman of Behrman PR. She parlayed her contacts in the beauty world into big-time success.

She did this because she foresaw how the health and beauty industries would affect the world of celebrities. As a result, Behrman PR has done creative work with many celebrities and been involved in events like the Emmys and the Oscars.

Your list of contacts could be equally lucrative. Be sure to start developing them today.

Use What You Know as a Journalist

As a former journalist, you’ll have an advantage over some PR professionals; you know what will make a journalist decide to follow up on a press release and what will make him/ her file the press release in the garbage can.

As Monster.com points out, you’ll want to learn how to tailor your PR efforts to the media outlet in question.

Additionally, you need to include statistics and data in your pitch and actually not make it sound like a pitch at all. Most reporters won’t pick up a story if it sounds like a blatant attempt at getting free publicity for your business.

Here’s an hypothetical example. Let’s pretend that you’re a PR person for a real estate agent, who keeps detailed records of the market trends in the area and has done so for six or seven years.

In that time, there was a downward spiral in the housing and job markets, causing many people in the area to lose their homes. You know from talking to the real estate agent you’re working with that there has been an uptick in the market and home sales are back up to where they were from “Pre-Fall” days.

In order to capitalize on this data, you would write up a press release about this, using the facts and figures that your employer has compiled over the past six or seven years.

While it’s true that a story written about this would feature the real estate agent, and therefore, indirectly give a boost to his/ her business, it’s also true that it’s a story that is timely and relevant to the city and its inhabitants, which makes it more likely that someone in the media will pick up the story.

This is the kind of knowledge you would bring to the job. This gives you an advantage over other possible applicants. It’s something you’d want to mention to a potential employer, who’ll be looking for reasons why he/ she should hire you over someone else who’s applying for the job.

Final Words

Transitioning from the world of journalism to the world of public relations takes time and preparation. You’ll be required to change your mindset from one of public servant to public relations manager (or some similar title). You’ll be asked to take part in business development, try to get press coverage for your new boss’s business and to develop creative contacts in your niche, like Nancy Behrman of Behrman PR did.

Fortunately, you already posses many of the skills you’ll need to transition into a PR job. You now just need to hone your marketing and business development skills, along with your list of contacts in order to make the transition successfully