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Manager - Media Relations
Our Company is a full-service marketing communications and public relations agency with an expertise in prescription and consumer healthcare. Based in New Jersey, we specialize in strategic marketing, product and corporate branding, ally development and media relations. Our comprehensive programs are designed to reshape and redefine markets for meaningful market change.
We approach each client challenge with an overarching goal – to change the landscape for consumers, professionals, and the media, and to create a climate of excitement, rapid uptake and enthusiasm for our clients’ brands and services. We deliver outstanding results that help drive market share increases, expand and grow markets and sharpen corporate profiles for new product entries and established brands.
Job Summary
The Manager of Media Relations supports the client services team to raise our clients’ profiles by implementing a sound and practical media relations strategy that balances initiating positive publicity about our clients and their products while managing and minimizing negative media coverage.
The Manager of Media Relations will work with colleagues in various functions to identify and develop story platforms and ideas to pitch in compelling and creative ways to a variety of media.
Duties & Responsibilities
1. Maintain strong relationships with journalists and represent our company favorably, particularly among top-tier and trade media, including on-line publications and influential bloggers. Based on media strategy, pitch potentially newsworthy story ideas, events, initiatives, trends, experts, etc., to variety of news and feature reporters. Help to position our company as a leading industry player and a useful resource for client information for traditional and on-line journalists.
2. Handle media inquiries: manage process of gathering information, vetting responses, providing response or materials, and/or arranging interviews with internal experts. Notify clients’ of impending stories and ensure distribution following publication, airing or posting. Work closely with the client services team to ensure consistency in responses to various issues that involve potential negative exposure for our clients.
3. Develop and maintain strong relationships with external audiences and stakeholders to seek out appropriate external venues – such as speaking platforms, media ranking opportunities and conferences – in order to augment our clients’ share of voice in the fast-moving healthcare category and consumer-goods industry.
4. Keep abreast of industry trends, issues and news that might affect how our clients are viewed. The Manager of Media Relations must be fluent and agile at speaking with the media about Rx and consumer health category, established brands, and consumer-goods industry. Analyze media coverage of our clients’ competitors to develop better understanding of the clients’ needs.
5. Draft press materials used to deal effectively with the media (traditional and social): corporate press releases, standby statements, Q&As, talking points, briefing documents, bios, fact sheets, Twitter feeds and Facebook posts. Liaise with clients’ advertising firms to ensure consistency of message and voice.
6. Day-to-day management of all media activities in-house, including overseeing of client media reports, media monitoring reporting and training of junior staff with regard to media relations.
Challenges
1. Learn our clients, their brands and strategies in order to mine positive external opportunities to elevate our clients’ share of voice in the news media.
2. Coordinate fully with client services team to insure transparency and consistency of messaging.
3. Cultivate strong relationships with journalists so that their stories contain balanced facts and information about our clients.
4. Compete for share of voice with our clients’ competitors who mount public relations campaigns and ongoing outreach with reporters.
Key Requirements
1. Education
BA degree, with strong liberal arts, communications and/or journalism background.
2. Work Experience
Previous, proven experience (5-7 years) in dealing effectively with journalists at a variety of top-tier media outlets in fielding tough inquiries on complex topics and issues, and in formulating and pitching story ideas on proactive basis. Manager must have excellent, relevant experience as a publicist, representing a mix of diverse clients in Rx and consumer health category, established brands, and biotech products. Must have orchestrated interviews, organized editorial briefings and demonstrated effective dealings with the media at all levels.
3. Skills - Manager must be adept at:
Cultivating relationships with key top-tier reporters and ascertaining reporter’s likely story angle.
Writing and editing public relations materials, including talking points, press releases, standby statements, opinion pieces, letters to the editor, etc.
Understanding and applying explicit rules and subtleties of journalism to interviews (“on the record,” vs. “background,” etc.), briefing and preparing Company spokespeople prior to interviews (media training).
Developing and conveying strategic messages.
Analyzing and critiquing news reports/coverage and preparing media coverage briefings for Senior Leadership.
Understanding social media and the ability to develop media strategies and activations for such platforms as Facebook and Twitter
Influencing skills and ability to multi-task
Training junior staff
*Employment is subject to verification of pre-employment drug-screening results and background investigation.
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