Glossary
Public Relations Specialist Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential public relations specialist terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key public relations specialist vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in public relations specialist training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- Boilerplate
- Standard company description.
- Crisis communication
- Managing communication during problems.
- Earned media
- Coverage you don’t pay for.
- Embargo
- A request not to publish until a set time.
- Media kit
- Information for reporters.
- Media list
- Journalists to contact.
- Media training
- Preparing for interviews.
- Off the record
- Information not for publication.
- Op-ed
- An opinion article.
- Pitch
- A story idea sent to journalists.
- Press release
- An announcement for media.
- Coverage compared with competitors.
- Spokesperson
- A person who speaks for an organization.
- Stakeholder
- Anyone affected by an organization.
- Talking points
- Key messages.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Public Relations Specialist practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Public Relations Specialist training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.