A Public Relations (PR) director is typically charged with supervising and carrying out the various public relations programs and directives of a client. He or she will often direct other public relations people working for the client in organizing various efforts and working on different types of tasks and directives on behalf of the business or individual that has hired him or her. This will often include organizing media relations, handling customer relations, setting up programs to ensure positive community relations, and any other type of action that establishes a positive public image for a client. A public relations director will usually answer to an executive high within a company and may be employed directly by a company or work for a PR firm that has been hired by a client to provide PR services.
Sometimes also called a PR director, a person in this position is typically responsible for organizing various aspects of PR for a client. Public relations is a field of work that deals with how the general public interacts with and views businesses, celebrities, and political figures. Major corporations will often have a number of PR experts hired by the company, and a public relations director will usually oversee their efforts.
A public relations director will often direct and execute a number of different forms of PR for a client. This can include media relations, which is the use of news and the Internet to attempt to control or direct how a client is viewed and discussed by the media. Press conferences are often involved in this type of public relations as are press releases and Internet blogs. Customer relations are typically handled by a PR director for a company to ensure that customers view a business in a positive way.
This can be important whenever some type of incident has occurred that might make a business appear uncaring or disinterested regarding the good of its customers. Community relations programs are usually established and overseen by a public relations director to ensure that local communities view clients in a positive way. For example, celebrities or businesses may hold charity events or fundraising campaigns to help a city or state devastated by a natural disaster.
A public relations director will usually plan this type of event, and ensure that the other PR workers are properly coordinated to make the final result improve the way a community views the client. Many PR directors work for PR firms that hire their services out to individual clients. Some major corporations, however, will keep PR directors and staff on full time to create a positive public perception of the company.