This guide sorts those 15 into six working functions because the six answer six different questions. Who speaks to the press? What gets written? What happens when something goes wrong? How is the organization perceived over time? What is said on public platforms? Who else needs to hear from the organization? The grouping is an editorial choice by this publication, not a PRSA standard.
| Function | What the work covers | PRSA disciplines it draws on | Main audiences |
|---|
| Media relations | Pitching, answering reporter requests, briefing journalists, preparing spokespeople, monitoring coverage | Media relations, executive communications | Journalists, editors, producers |
| Content creation | Press releases, bylines, speeches, report narratives, scripts, newsletters | Content creation, speechwriting, multimedia, brand journalism | Media, customers, employees, investors |
| Crisis communications | Response plans, holding statements, spokesperson training, approval chains | Crisis communications | All stakeholders during an incident |
| Reputation management | Coverage and sentiment tracking, correction requests, executive visibility, awards | Reputation management, corporate communications | Customers, investors, the public |
| Social and digital communications | Platform presence, community management, monitoring, response protocols | Social media, marketing communications, integrated marketing communications | Customers, followers, journalists |
| Stakeholder relations | Investor, employee, community and government communication, public policy work | Investor relations communications, internal communications, events | Investors, employees, regulators, communities |
Two PRSA disciplines sit on the border with marketing: marketing communications and integrated marketing communications. The table places them under social and digital communications as a convenience, and an organization could just as reasonably place them under content creation. Where a given organization draws the line depends on who owns the budget, a point the marketing section below returns to.
Media relations is the function that puts an organization's news, expertise and spokespeople in front of journalists, editors and producers. BLS notes that many radio and television reports, newspaper stories and magazine articles begin with material prepared by public relations specialists, and that specialists differ from advertisers because they earn coverage instead of buying space.
The work follows a repeatable cycle. A media relations lead maintains a list of reporters who cover the organization's topics, reads what each has published, and pitches only stories that fit that reporter's beat. When a reporter replies, the lead arranges the interview, prepares the spokesperson, supplies documents and numbers, and checks facts after publication. Afterward, the lead records what ran, which claims were quoted and which errors need a correction request.
Speed and accuracy matter more than volume. A reporter on deadline needs a name, a number, a document or a quotable explanation, and a team that can supply one quickly gives the reporter a reason to call again. A team that sends the same release to every address on a list gives the reporter a reason to stop reading.
Hypothetical example: A regional credit union opens a free clinic for first-time homebuyers. The media relations lead skips the national business press and pitches the local newspaper's housing reporter, the morning radio host who covers community events and a county newsletter. Each pitch carries a different angle: the reporter gets the clinic's first-year numbers once they exist, the host gets a first-time buyer willing to speak on air, and the newsletter gets the schedule.
The guide to public relations media relations covers pitching tactics, list building and follow-up in more detail. Spokesperson preparation, one of the most important parts of this function, also applies during an incident, which the crisis section below covers.
What content does a public relations team produce?
A public relations team produces the written, audio and video material that explains what an organization is doing and why. PRSA lists content creation, speechwriting, multimedia and brand journalism as separate disciplines, which shows how wide the category is.
The output falls into four groups. News material includes press releases, statements and fact sheets. Executive material includes bylines, speeches, interview talking points and conference remarks. Organizational material includes annual report narratives, employee announcements and question-and-answer documents. Audio and video material includes podcast appearances, explainer videos and recorded statements. BLS adds that press releases are often adapted into social media posts, so one drafted announcement can serve several channels.
The test that separates public relations content from promotional copy is newsworthiness: would someone outside the organization choose to repeat it? A short checklist helps before anything is drafted.
- Is there a new fact, decision, number or person that did not exist last month?
- Can the main point be stated in one sentence without adjectives?
- Is there a document, data set or named spokesperson that backs the point?
- Does the story matter to the specific outlet's readers, and not only to the organization?
When the answers are no, the better output is often an executive byline, a data explainer or a response to a news event already underway, because those formats offer something a reporter can use without a launch.
Hypothetical example: A mid-size public company prepares to announce a leadership change. The announcement passes through legal and finance review, the investor relations lead approves the final text, and employees receive an internal message at the same moment the press release goes out. One decision produces four documents: the press release, an executive question-and-answer sheet, an employee note and a short set of talking points for the spokesperson.
Why is crisis communications a core PR function?
Crisis communications is a core function because an organization under pressure must give accurate information quickly, and the preparation for that cannot start after the event. PRSA's About Public Relations page names crisis communications as part of how practitioners counsel management on policy decisions and communications. The guide to crisis public relations goes deeper into response frameworks.
Preparation has four parts. First, a risk inventory lists the events that could plausibly affect the organization, such as a product defect, a data incident, an executive's conduct or a workplace accident. Second, a holding statement template exists for each one, with blanks for the facts only the organization can confirm. Third, a named spokesperson has practiced answering hostile questions. Fourth, an approval chain specifies who signs off, how quickly, and who can act if a senior person is unreachable.
During an incident, the function works in a fixed order: confirm the facts, tell the people most affected first, issue one public statement, and update on a schedule even when little has changed. After the incident, the team reviews which statements were accurate, which questions went unanswered and which approvals slowed the response.
Hypothetical example: A regional food manufacturer discovers a labeling error that omits an allergen. The crisis team notifies retailers and the relevant regulator, posts a public notice on its website and social channels, briefs customer service on exact wording, and gives the local press one named spokesperson. Each step draws on another function: media relations for the spokesperson, content creation for the notice, social communications for monitoring replies, and stakeholder relations for retailers and employees.
What does reputation management cover?
Reputation management covers the continuing work of tracking, shaping and correcting how an organization is perceived by customers, investors, employees and the public. PRSA lists protecting an organization's reputation among the core activities of public relations and names reputation management as its own discipline.
Four activities make up the routine. Monitoring means reading coverage, review sites and social mentions on a set schedule. Correction means contacting a publisher or platform when a fact is wrong, with the evidence attached. Visibility means placing executives and experts where journalists and conference organizers look for commentary. Recognition means entering awards and rankings whose criteria the organization genuinely meets.
Reputation management differs from crisis communications in timing. Crisis work begins when an event forces a response, while reputation work continues in quiet periods and shapes how audiences read the next event. An organization with a record of accurate public statements has material to point to when a claim is challenged.
AI assistants add one more place to check. An audit starts by asking ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity who the organization is, what it sells and who leads it, then recording every factual error and the sources each assistant cites. When an assistant cites a page that contains an error, the organization can ask the page owner for a correction or publish an accurate page of its own.
What do social and digital communications involve?
Social and digital communications involve running an organization's public voice on social platforms, its website and other owned channels, and listening to what audiences say back. BLS says public relations specialists are usually in charge of monitoring and responding to social media questions and concerns, and that they evaluate public opinion of clients through social media.
The function needs three written rules before it needs a posting calendar. A response protocol says which questions get a public answer, which move to private messages and which go to legal or customer service. An escalation list names who decides when a thread becomes a news issue. A voice guide fixes how the organization speaks when it is wrong, when it is thanked and when it is attacked.
BLS projects that social media will create new opportunities for public relations specialists, while noting that artificial intelligence is making inroads into data-rich social media, which may soften demand for these workers. One reasonable reading, offered here as analysis and not as a BLS conclusion, is that routine monitoring and first-draft writing are the tasks most exposed to automation, while the judgment about what to say and when stays with the person accountable for the statement.
Social channels also overlap with marketing. Who owns paid campaigns and who owns the organization's voice during a sensitive moment should be written down, which the marketing section below addresses.
How does stakeholder relations work in public relations?
Stakeholder relations is the function that keeps communication open with groups whose decisions affect an organization but who are not its customers or the press. PRSA names several of these relationships in its list of disciplines and activities: investor relations communications, internal communications, employee, community and government relations, and efforts to influence public policy.
Each group needs a different channel and a different message. Investors need financial results, strategy and risk factors delivered through formal filings and scheduled calls. Employees need to hear major news from the organization before they read it in the press. Regulators and elected officials need accurate technical information and a named contact. Residents near a facility need plain notice of construction, schedules and who to call with a problem.
PRSA lists corporate communications as its own discipline, and the guide to corporate public relations covers that part of the field in more depth. Whatever the department is called, the test of the function is the same: did each group hear the news from the organization first, in words it could act on?
Hypothetical example: A university announces a new campus building. The communications office tells faculty and students first through an internal message, briefs the city council members who approved the zoning, notifies neighbors by mail about construction hours, and only then sends a release to local media. The order reflects who is most affected, not who is loudest.
How do PR functions differ by type of employer?
The mix of public relations functions differs by employer because each type of organization faces different audiences. BLS data shows where public relations specialists work: among the largest employers in 2025, educational services accounted for 14 percent of the 314,500 jobs, advertising, public relations and related services for 12 percent, government for 11 percent, healthcare and social assistance for 7 percent, and grantmaking, giving and social advocacy organizations for 6 percent.
BLS also reports median pay by industry for May 2025: $81,350 in government, $77,480 in advertising, public relations and related services, $71,720 in grantmaking and social advocacy, $66,220 in educational services and $64,550 in healthcare and social assistance.
The comparison that follows is editorial analysis, not BLS data. A university communications office spends much of its time on content creation and stakeholder relations, because students, alumni, donors and faculty are its core audiences. A government press office leans on media relations and crisis communications, and BLS notes that specialists in government may be called press secretaries who keep the public informed about the activities of officials and agencies. A public relations agency runs all six functions for several clients at once, and its staffing follows whichever client need is most urgent that week.
How is public relations different from marketing and advertising?
Public relations differs from advertising mainly in how attention is obtained: BLS says public relations specialists get their stories covered by the media, while advertisers purchase ad space in publications and on television. That difference changes who controls the message, because an advertiser decides every word of a paid placement and a journalist decides every word of a news story.
Marketing is wider than advertising and includes pricing, product positioning and demand generation. PRSA itself lists marketing communications and integrated marketing communications among the disciplines of public relations, which confirms that the two fields share work. A product launch is the clearest overlap: marketing plans the campaign, and public relations pitches the launch story to reporters whose coverage the company does not control.
Three questions help assign work between the two departments. Who pays for the placement? Who approves the final wording? How is success judged: by sales, by the accuracy and tone of coverage, or by audience attitudes? The guide to PR vs. marketing vs. advertising compares the three disciplines in detail.
Public relations specialists perform most of these functions, and BLS reports that they held about 314,500 jobs in 2025 with a median annual wage of $74,750 in May 2025. The lowest-paid 10 percent earned less than $44,110, and the highest-paid 10 percent earned more than $135,150. The median for all occupations was $50,980.
BLS projects employment of public relations specialists to grow 2 percent from 2025 to 2035, slower than the 3 percent average for all occupations, and expects about 23,000 openings a year, mostly from workers who change occupations or leave the labor force. The same handbook reports a 2025 median pay of $136,470 for public relations and fundraising managers, a category BLS describes as managers who direct the creation of materials that enhance the public image of an employer or client.
BLS says specialists typically need a bachelor's degree in public relations, another communications field, social science or business, and that some employers prefer professional certification. Internships and experience with a school newspaper, blog or social media account also help. The guide to the public relations specialist role covers the position in more detail.
Organizations that buy these functions from an agency instead of hiring staff pay retainers or project fees, and the guide to how much a PR firm costs sets out pricing by firm type. How the same functions play out across print, broadcast and online channels is covered in the guide to traditional PR vs. digital PR.
What do people ask about the functions of public relations?
What are the main functions of public relations?
The main functions are media relations, content creation, crisis communications, reputation management, social and digital communications, and stakeholder relations. PRSA lists 15 disciplines under public relations, and this guide groups them into those six. Most organizations combine several functions in one team, and a crisis tends to draw on all six at once.
What does a PR department do day to day?
According to BLS, public relations specialists write press releases, answer media requests, draft speeches, arrange executive interviews, evaluate public opinion through social media and help maintain the organization's image. The mix across a week depends on whether the organization is launching something, responding to news or in a quiet period.
Is advertising a function of public relations?
No. BLS distinguishes public relations from advertising: public relations specialists earn media coverage, while advertisers purchase space. PRSA lists marketing communications among public relations disciplines, so the work overlaps, but a paid advertising placement is bought rather than pitched and the buyer controls its wording.
Which PR function should a small organization start with?
Start with the function that serves the audience the organization most needs to reach. A local business that depends on neighborhood trust may begin with media relations and community communication, and an organization with an active online presence may begin with social and digital communications. A one-page crisis plan with a named spokesperson and a holding statement is a sensible first document in either case.
Do public relations jobs require a degree?
BLS says public relations specialists typically need a bachelor's degree to enter the occupation, in public relations or another communications field, social science or business. Professional certification is not typically required, though some employers prefer it. Internships and experience on a school newspaper, blog or social media channel can also help candidates.
How can each PR function be measured?
Pick one indicator per function and define it before the work starts. For media relations, count interviews with target outlets and check the accuracy of the resulting coverage. For crisis communications, record the time from the first confirmed fact to the first public statement. For reputation management, count factual errors found and corrected in an audit of search results and AI assistant answers. For stakeholder relations, check whether the intended audience heard the news from the organization first.
Where should an organization start with PR functions?
An organization should start by naming the audience it most needs to reach and the one action it wants that audience to take, then fund the function that reaches them. A team cannot staff all six functions from the first day, so the order of work matters more than the size of the plan.
- Write down the three audiences that matter most, in order, and what each should know or do after hearing from the organization.
- Choose one function to build first and one to hold in reserve.
- Draft a one-page crisis plan with a named spokesperson, an approval chain and a holding statement template.
- Assign an owner to every public channel and write the response protocol for social platforms and email.
- Pick one indicator per function and review it monthly.
- Decide whether to hire a specialist or retain an agency, and compare the quoted cost with the BLS pay figures above.
The thread that runs through all six functions is accuracy delivered on time to the right audience. Coverage, content, crisis plans, social replies and investor notes all work when a named person can say something true, quickly, in words the audience can check. Start with the audience, fund the function that reaches it, and write down who approves what.
