What is the Role of a Publicist

A lot of artist, authors, models and business owners turn to the art of Public Relations to garner more awareness for their brand, however a lot of times, they are requesting their publicist to do things that are not in their job description or they do not truly understand the role of their publicist.

There are several different roles that a publicist can play however the most popular is simple publicity.


Below is the definition of a Publicist:

A publicist is a person whose job is to generate and manage publicity for a public figure, especially a celebrity, a business, or for a work such as a book, film or album. Most top-level publicists work in private practice, handling multiple clients.

In the world of celebrities, unlike agents or managers, publicists typically take a monthly fee for serving a client (whereas agents and managers tend to take a percentage of their client's gross income). Publicists can be at local, regional or national level. They can also have special expertise in areas such as entertainment or literary publicity.

One of the publicist's main functions is to generate press coverage on behalf of clients and to serve as the bridge between clients, their public and media outlets. A publicist writes press releases, manages campaigns and performs other public relations functions. It usually takes many years to develop the media contacts, experience and relationships necessary to be an effective publicist.
Some publicists specialize in representing 'ordinary' members of the public to procure the maximum possible fee for stories they wish to sell to newspapers, television stations and magazines. A number have now sprung up on the internet and work as media agents gaining members of the public multiple 'deals' with publications.
An older meaning of the term is closer to pamphleteer: someone who circulates ideas by publishing them, perhaps in ephemeral forms.

This definition gives you the basic break down, now there are some firms that go above and beyond to assist their client’s even help manager their career.  A publicist will help with image consulting, image branding, and various other aspects of your career but for the most part they are there to expose you to the media in a positive light.