Finding Your Niche: Specializing in PR, Marketing, or Journalism
After answering what your career is, it is not easy to be asked what you want to do with that. We are in the field of communication, but what if it is so broad? You can write, shape narratives, analyze consumer behavior, or tell stories. And suddenly: Public relations, marketing, or journalism? And you feel stuck. How do we decide which is right for me? According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Overall employment in media and communication occupations is projected to grow about as fast as the average for all occupations from 2023 to 2033, but every day, there is a need for new skills specific to each field of work, so specializing in one will help you stand out.
First, it is essential to understand the differences.
Public Relations (PR)
Public relations professionals are responsible for building, enhancing, and maintaining a brand’s image and reputation. This includes crafting press releases, managing communication crises, crafting stories for journalists, and forging relationships with the media. PR is ideal if you enjoy networking, working on organizational communication crises, and working in reputation management.
Marketing
Marketing promotes products, services, and brands to increase consumer engagement and sales. It involves market research, content creation, analysis of the performance of an organization’s marketing campaigns, and the analytical performance analysis. If you like data driven storytelling, creativity and campaign shaping, and audience research, this could be for you.
Journalism
A journalist writes, research, and reports news to the public through various platforms. This field requires writing skills, working with tight deadlines, and strong research skills. If you like reporting the truth, writing, and reporting the truth, this could be the field for you.
After analyzing and understanding the differences between each field, we must recognize which fields we can excel in according to our tastes and interests.
- Where do we feel most comfortable? Do you prefer to write persuasively, such as in PR or Marketing? Or in a factual way, as in journalism. Do you feel more comfortable being behind the scenes (PR/Marketing) or being the storyteller (journalism)?
- The work environment and location: PR and marketing professionals usually work for agencies, companies, or brands, while journalists work in media organizations.
- The alignment of your skills with the setting: For PR professionals, interpersonal skills and crisis response are essential, marketing relies more on creativity and analytics, and journalism is strong in writing and in-depth research skills.
Finding our focus or niche requires a process of introspection. We must know our skills, weaknesses, and, above all, tastes and interests. We must also keep in mind that no matter what field we choose, this will remain a process of continuous learning. Even if we feel that we are not 100% prepared for the field we choose, we can begin to explore, gain experience, and refine to find the right fit.
References:
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). (n.d.). Media and communication occupations. Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/ooh/media-and-communication/
