A public relations cover letter helps PR professionals demonstrate their strategic thinking, communication skills, and various other abilities that are vital for the role. This document includes their work experience and achievements relevant to the job they are applying for, helping them impress recruiters and secure an interview invite.
In this article, we’ll teach you to write an exceptional public affairs cover letter from scratch. We’ll give you a step-by-step guide, professional examples, and expert tips. By the end, you’ll know how to grab the recruiter’s attention and show them why you’re the best person for the job.
Let’s get started!
Key Takeaways
The established format for a public relations cover letter is the business letter format.
Addressing the reader by their name personalizes your cover letter and helps you build rapport.
Highlighting your key strengths in the introductory paragraph helps grab the reader’s attention.
All the skills and accomplishments you add to your PR cover letter should be relevant to the job you’re applying for.
Include a call to action in the final paragraph to significantly increase your chances of landing an interview.
What Format to Use for a Public Relations Cover Letter
A format to use for a public relations cover letter is the business letter format. It offers an established, optimal structure for professional correspondence. Plus, it makes your cover letter elegant and easy to read.
To follow this format, you want to arrange the contents of your public relations cover letter in this order:
Cover Letter Format
Contact information and date of writing
Formal greeting
Introduction
Main body
Closing paragraph with a call to action
Conclusion and sign-off
Now that you know how to format your cover letter, you should learn how to get a strong cover letter layout. This will make your document visually appealing while enhancing its legibility.
Here are the guidelines to follow to get a professional layout for your PR cover letter:
Cover Letter Layout Guidelines
Your cover letter should have 3–5 paragraphs, 250–400 words, and be one page long.
You want a professional font for your cover letter, like Arial or Calibri, with a 10–12 pt size.
Margins should be at least 1 inch and uniform on all sides.
Line spacing should be single or 1.15, with an extra line of space between paragraphs.
Following these rules will help you craft a professional public relations cover letter from scratch. However, you can significantly speed up and simplify the process while reducing the chance of making mistakes by using our cover letter builder.
We developed custom software specifically for creating cover letters, where you can take advantage of ready-made templates to write your document in minutes. The process is straightforward: choose a template and customize it to your liking, input your writing in predesignated spots, and download a finished product!
PR Cover Letter Outline
Let’s go through each of the sections step-by-step to learn how to write a PR cover letter best. To help, here’s a brief visual overview of what the final product should look like:
#1. Heading
Your cover letter heading is the place for contact information and date of writing.
Your details should go first. You should list:
Heading Mandatory Details
Full name
Job title
Phone number
Email address
These are the mandatory details, but you can also include:
Heading Optional Details
Mailing address
LinkedIn
Personal website
Relevant social media pages
After you provide your information, you should include the date and location before listing the recipient’s contact information, including their job title, company name, and location.
Here’s what that looks like in practice:
Heading Example
Karen Parsons Public Relations Specialist 1609 Geraldine Lane New York, NY 10007 646-348-5837 karenparsons@example.com
New York, 08/10/2024
Tiffany Arceneaux Hiring Manager Sonn & Partners 4945 Small Street New York, NY 10023
#2. Greeting
A cordial greeting is the best way to address your cover letter. The key here is to include the name of the recipient after a simple “Dear.” That way, you’re personalizing your letter and building rapport from the start.
Here’s what that looks like in an example:
Greeting Example
Dear Ms. Arceneaux,
That’s why it’s crucial to research the company and find out who is going to read your cover letter. If you did your due diligence and didn’t find the name, you can use the recipient’s professional title or address your cover letter to a department. What you want to avoid are generic, bland greetings like “To Whom It May Concern.”
#3. Introduction
An introduction to your public relations cover letter should be brief, catchy, and 2–4 sentences long. You want to state the position you’re after, say how much experience you have, and highlight one or two exceptional achievements.
Conversely, if you’re writing a public relations cover letter with no experience, you can showcase your degree and mention your academic accomplishments or notable skills.
By emphasizing your key strengths outright, you grab the reader’s attention and persuade them to keep going.
Let’s see this in an example:
Introduction Example
I am writing to apply for the open position of Public Relations Specialist at Sonn & Partners, as advertised on your website. I have more than seven years of experience in the field, working as a PR coordinator and specialist. Notably, I led a social media outreach campaign that boosted a brand’s visibility by 43% within three months.
#4. Skills, Qualifications, & Experiences
Your public relations skills, qualifications, and experiences should be the central part of your PR cover letter, as they show why you’re the right person for the job. Hiring managers analyze your abilities and work history to gauge whether you can perform optimally in their organization. That’s why it’s crucial for all your qualifications to be relevant to the role you’re after.
For instance, a public relations officer's cover letter might emphasize how they can support C-level management. In contrast, a media relations cover letter should focus more on role-specific hard skills, like drafting press releases.
Here’s a good example of what that should look like:
Skills, Qualifications, & Experiences Example
During my tenure at Aurora Media Group, I was in charge of email marketing campaigns, having successfully used them on multiple occasions to boost conversion rates by up to 23%. Furthermore, I secured 170 media placements for a corporate client, including pieces in Forbes and The Wall Street Journal. This resulted in a 25% growth in their online visibility.
#5. Reasons for Applying
You should mention a specific reason for applying to the company that goes beyond just getting a job or a good compensation package. For instance, you can talk about the company’s work, values, or culture and show how they align with your qualifications, preferences, or career goals.
Let’s see what that looks like in an example:
Reasons for Applying Example
I am particularly drawn to Sonn & Partners due to the way your organization blends traditional PR strategies with contemporary methods. I believe my strong foundation in offline advertising, combined with my experience in digital marketing practices, can help me contribute to your esteemed organization.
#6. Call to Action
A call to action can be a simple sentence that proposes that hiring managers invite you for an interview. It’s most effective near the end of your PR cover letter when combined with a thank-you note. That way, you can capitalize on the impression your writing left on the reader, maximizing your chances of success.
Here’s a good example:
Call to Action Example
Thank you for considering my application. I look forward to discussing over an interview how my qualifications align with your company’s needs.
#7. Conclusion & Sign-Off
The conclusion and sign-off should be short and polite, just like the greeting. Without overcomplicating it, you should simply use one of the many established farewell phrases followed by your name.
Here’s an example:
Conclusion & Sign-Off Example
Best regards, Karen Parsons
Let’s put theory into practice and examine a complete example of a public relations cover letter:
Before we bring this comprehensive guide to a close, let’s take a look at a few expert strategies that can help you polish your public relations cover letter to perfection:
5 Effective Strategies for Creating a PR Cover Letter
Focus on your communication skills. Communication—both written and verbal—is fundamental to PR professionals. That’s why you want to demonstrate your ability to communicate clearly and persuasively. Even your cover letter is a form of communication, so you should ensure your writing is top-notch.
Quantify your achievements. You should add measurable value to your past accomplishments by including numbers and statistics. This makes them more concrete in the eyes of hiring managers and increases the positive impact of your public relations cover letter.
Match your cover letter to your public relations resume. Resumes and cover letters are often sent simultaneously, which is why you should create them with a similar format and layout. Moreover, you shouldn’t use your PR cover letter to repeat the information already stated in your resume; instead, you should add something new.
Be professionally persuasive. Persuasive language is at the core of your profession, so you should leverage it to present yourself as a strong candidate while remaining professional and not presumptuous.
Proofread with care. Even a single typo draws the wrong kind of attention and can detract from relevant details about your qualifications. Proofreading helps iron out the kinks in your writing and fix any potential errors, demonstrating professionalism and attention to detail on your end.
Final Thoughts
Public relations specialists have a projected job outlook of 6% between 2023 and 2033. This faster-than-average growth means there will be approximately 27,100 new openings for PR professionals each year. If you’re looking to secure one of those spots, you can’t go wrong with a well-written public relations cover letter and a strong resume.
Whether you’re writing a public relations cover letter for an internship, an entry-level public relations role, or a C-level job, you want to leverage your communication and persuasion skills. Craft a compelling narrative that highlights not just your skills and experience but also your motivation and personality, and you’ll get ahead of the competition.
