An English Degree Is Useful In The Public Relations Sector

An English degree might lead students to important roles within companies. There are many careers other than writing and editing where having an English degree can help. Public relations specialists and managers are among them.

The Public Relations Society of America is a professional association that represents PR professionals, and students in English degree programs might have opportunities to join student chapters at the colleges or universities that they attend. The PRSA defines public relations as helping "an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other."

When it comes to PR, English degree recipients might use their communications skills in ways that help them maintain and enhance a client's, or an organization's, image and identity. That might include keeping up on trends that can affect a client or company and making image improvement recommendations based on those trends as well as handling crisis communications. An English degree particularly can come in handy in that PR specialists often rely on writing as a form of communications. They might, for instance, be writing news releases, newsletters, blogs, speeches and more.

Public relations is a part of marketing. Therefore, PR managers and the specialists they supervise might find themselves working jointly with the advertising, sales and market research areas of marketing as a means of keeping their messages consistent. Students who participate in English degree programs might minor in marketing and PR, in which case they might learn about the early 20th century beginnings of public relations, when a December Economist article noted that coal miners hired a former journalist to represent their side in a labor strike.

The average annual salaries for PR specialists range from $34,380 to $52,529, according to Payscale.com. For PR managers, the average annual salary could be anywhere from $43,844 to $74,895. Information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that employment increases in this area are expected to be about as fast as average into 2018.

PR representatives, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, are being asked to establish new ways of promoting products and services as a means of reaching customers. What good, after all, are gaining skills in writing that English degree programs teach if there's no one to read the works that graduates ultimately write? With advancing technology, there are also public relations challenges that students in English degree programs might consider in instances where they're interested in entering the field.

The Public Relations Society of America addresses challenges such as those that PRSA Chair-Elect Gerard F. Corbett wrote about as they relate to anti-business groups that are making use of citizen journalism opportunities and the like to take control of a company's news away from it. The Economist article gave the example of a "pro-green" organization's video showing a famous candy bar that contains an orangutan's finger as a means of persuading the the manufacture company to stop buying palm oil from places where forests native to the orangutan are being cut down. The PRSA article among other things recommends that public relations specialists provide constant and honest communications, prepare employees well to represent a brand and support and serve customers.

Students in English degree programs who want to learn more about public relations, as well as those who are already in the field, might consider webinars (virtual seminars) that the PRSA has planned. To help members and non-members stay competitive, the organization is offering webinars that provide information about online newsrooms, social media offerings such as Facebook and Twitter, pod-casting, blogging, RSS feeds and You Tube, in addition to B2B social marketing and creating social media policy or guidelines that includes keeping readers engaged. At a time when technology has been advancing so rapidly, public relations specialists might have to stay on top of trends in their fields as well as in those of their employers and clients. If this field is intriguing to you, you should consider a degree in English and perhaps a minor in Public Relations. Want to earn your degree online? College in PJs could become your latest pursuit! Don't waste any time getting started with your education.