For many, show business is synonymous with a beautiful life. And, although not everyone can become rich and famous, it is quite possible to get closer to them. One way is to get a job as a PR specialist for a celebrity. We’ll tell you where to start and what nuances to consider before entering circumstellar orbit.
Responsibilities of a PR specialist
An artist (or a musical group) needs a PR agent to stir up interest in him and create a little buzz around him, not only on the eve of the release of a single or the start of a tour, but throughout his entire career. This affects the demand and “cost”: news heroes are more highly valued by customers of corporate events and private parties. In general, the responsibilities of a PR agent look like this:
- Formation and support of the artist’s public image, increasing his media exposure.
- Creating a creative information occasion. This could be real news from life (the release of a video, buying a car, a trip to the Maldives) or fictitious.
- The ability to competently use “black PR” methods, minimizing image damage from the appearance of dubious publications.
- Control of content on social networks.
- Preparation and distribution of press releases to journalists, responses to their requests, reports on published publications.
- Issuing accreditation for events with the participation of the artist, organizing filming and interviews.
- Communications with journalists and editors.
- Conducting and analyzing the effectiveness of PR campaigns.
Important skills
In the work of a PR agent, many soft skills that are in demand in the labor market will be useful: the ability to work in a team, initiative, confidence, proactivity, etc. However, there is a set of key qualities that are important for any PR manager working with a star.
✅ Stress resistance. There can be any number of tense situations, for example: an artist is late for recording an interview, and “stones” from the organizers are thrown at the PR agent.
✅ Work in multitasking mode. Serious media figures have a whole team of professionals on their staff, including PR specialists, event managers, personal assistants, and administrators. For less popular artists, the PR specialist often performs the duties of both. He can simultaneously negotiate vacations through barter, help choose clothes for shooting, and go get coffee.
✅ Creativity. First of all, this quality is important for PR specialists, whose task is to promote a still unknown artist. That’s why legends appear that “this singer sings with his gills,” and “the rhymes of songs come to that singer from the other world.”
✅ Tactfulness. Whatever the outcome of communication with the media, it is important to be able to keep a face – conflicting personalities are quickly blacklisted, no matter what stars they work with.
✅ Literacy. It’s strange when a press release or a regular message comes from a PR person, written with errors. This not only creates a negative image of the sender, but also casts a shadow on his client.
“In this job, you constantly have to communicate with completely different people. Therefore, developed soft skills are very important. Communication skills combined with tolerance towards people and diplomacy. Here, everything or almost everything is based on communication, so if you don’t like someone or you just want to “be in the house” today, don’t do this job! It is necessary to establish connections with journalists, editors and advertisers, and be able to make new acquaintances. It is very important to always remember that a bad mood, irritability and neglect of a PR manager can lead to reputational and financial losses on the part of the artist. And, of course, it is very important to know at least the basics of psychology, jurisprudence and crisis management.”
Alina Popova, PR director of Yulianna Karaulova and Elvira T.
Entry into the profession
PR is taught in colleges and higher education institutions. You can find out about universities that produce in-demand specialists here. But it is in this area that people with different education work, for example, philologists or project managers. The main thing for a candidate is to have the qualities discussed above, plus instinct, observation and understanding of the general principles of the industry.
The employment process depends on the caliber of the artist. For example, A-list stars will have increased requirements for candidates: education (mostly higher education), a warm base of contacts in the media, including personal acquaintances, knowledge of the principles of PR campaigns and PR strategies, including aggressive ones, successful experience in digital sphere. In other words, they will look for someone who is “in the know.” It’s easier with beginner performers. Production centers, music labels and large agencies periodically look for PR managers for their artists and post vacancies on hh.ru or on their social networks. Many are ready to hire people with almost zero experience. In principle, you don’t have to wait for a vacant position to appear and send your resume to a potential employer—in show business, initiative is valued.
Often the PR people for stars are people who worked in fashion, for example, ordinary journalists or producers who, on duty, communicate with stars. Other ways include networking or good old word of mouth. Employment options are also different: a PR specialist can be on the staff of a PR agency or directly in an LLC or individual entrepreneur of an artist.
Pros…
🟢 Opportunity to work for yourself
🟢 Networking
🟢 Lack of routine
…and cons
🔴 The complex character of the artist
🔴 Frequent trips
🔴 Working hours
Income
Beginning PR specialists with no experience earn from 30 thousand. The more experience, the higher the earnings. Income “in the market” is considered to be 70–100 thousand rubles. For example, actors, ballet dancers, and astrologers offer a small fee. But you can manage several clients at the same time. PR people at the top of the industry can earn up to half a million to a million a month. There are known cases when celebrities gave their PR directors apartments in Moscow and helped them launch and promote their own project.
“PR director of a media personality is a very personalized field. And, as a result, with this or that artist there are always individual working conditions and development in the profession. If we talk about a vertical career, it directly depends on the growth of popularity and status of the mentee. There are often cases when PR directors of stars eventually open their own agencies, which recruit artists with different levels of popularity and several assistants who serve as their administrators. This is not vertical growth in its essence, but something as close to it as possible. A horizontal career track, that is, expansion of functionality, is more common. And, as a rule, first of all, this includes the responsibilities of a manager for selling advertising on the artist’s resources and concluding commercial contracts with him, which implies a percentage of each transaction.”
Alina Popova
Related professions
The profession of a PR agent allows you to develop many hard skills that allow you to find yourself in other professions. Here are just a few career path options.
✅ PR specialist. Each business has its own approach, audience, and tools. One thing is certain: PR specialists, especially high-quality ones, are needed by everyone who sells services or goods. The main thing is to have basic knowledge.
✅ Correspondent. The transition to journalism is facilitated by constant work with style. Often PR people become social chroniclers and, given their connections in show business, providers of exclusive news.
✅ Digital marketer. Skills such as conducting PR campaigns (including in the absence of financial investments), the ability to adapt to non-standard situations, the ability to sense the target audience, and creativity are easily converted into this profession.
✅ Designer. Mastering this profession will make it easier, for example, to understand how presentations, posters, release covers, promotional materials are created, and how websites are laid out. PR people, as a rule, are people with a developed sense of beauty – this is another bonus when moving into the design field.