PR & Communications Coordinator

Position Title:  PR & Communications Coordinator

Location:  San Luis Obispo, CA

Functional Area:  Marketing

Reports to:  PR & Communications Manager

Employment Type:  Full-Time

Education Required:  Four-Year Related Degree (or equivalent experience)

Experience Required:  1-3 Years

Salary Range:  $50,000 - $60,000 annual pay (hourly non-exempt) plus benefits, DOE

Organization Description:

Visit SLO CAL (VSC) is the non-profit countywide destination marketing and management organization (DMMO) for San Luis Obispo County. Its mission is to “Inspire travel and foster our unique experiences to create life-long ambassadors and economic growth for San Luis Obispo County.” Its goal is to promote SLO CAL through marketing, advertising, public relations, group sales, promotions, events and sponsorship, branding the region as a choice destination for regional, national and international travelers alike. VSC works in partnership with tourism industry-related businesses including lodging properties, restaurants, wineries, breweries, activities, local community destination marketing organizations and the state tourism organization, Visit California, to create a unified marketing approach that promotes the culinary, coastal and cultural assets of the county. For more information, visit SLOCAL.com.

Position Description:

 Are you poised, articulate, detail-oriented, passionate and motivated to excel?

Are you a problem solver who is not afraid to think out of the box?

Can you smoothly switch gears from task to task to keep track of projects and programs?

If so, the PR & Communications Coordinator position at VSC presents an exciting opportunity for a bright talent interested in a broad scope of public relations and communications disciplines. The small, dynamic team at VSC is in need of a motivated, talented, driven, passionate, detail-oriented and professionally disciplined individual to help elevate the story of SLO CAL. You will help bring to life the media strategies of VSC’s domestic and international PR agencies, collaborating not only with statewide partners at Visit California but local tourism-facing businesses as well.

Here's what your day will look like:

Public Relations and communication systems are critical to the success of VSC’s marketing and operations, and your job is to not only assist on the front-end for scheduling FAM (familiarization) trip itineraries for media, but for administrative work on the back-end, logging placements from magazines, newspapers and social media in designated reporting systems as well as billing coordination. Using your experience in public relations and administration, you will help draft pitch material for localized media. But, you won't be on your own! Internally, you will report to the PR & Communications Manager to ensure our messaging and workflow is operating optimally and in sync with an emphasis on showing value to our local tourism community.

Who are you?

• You have a strong passion for communication and an interest in telling the story of tourism
• You have solid organizational and communication skills with clearly defined experience being proactive to move projects forward
• You thrive on being efficient and use organizational processes to achieve your goals
• You have a keen eye for identifying those stories or individuals that would make for strong media angles
• You have a professional demeanor that is not only friendly, but efficient and confident
• You thrive in ambiguous situations to find a clear pathway to solutions
• You must be a team player with an openness to feedback. We are a close-knit team that places a high value on trust and continuous improvement.

Core Responsibilities:

Draft Communication Releases

• Proactively suggest story ideas and develop business story hooks and angles that progress larger PR strategies
• Maintain “What’s New” list for local businesses
• Responsible for collecting monthly calls for content from the Visit California PR portal
• Prepare written drafts for industry and business pitches for local media
• Help pull together detailed and organized research for media meetings, interviews, press conferences and speeches
  
  

Itinerary Development

• Develop a solid “draft skeleton” for FAM itinerary suggestions for visiting media based on social media research, agency information and larger PR strategy
• Collaborate on drafting itinerary schedules, anticipating the unexpected and keeping in mind a county-wide approach
• Maintain clear, proactive communication throughout the visitation ecosystem, before, during and after visit
• Organize SWAG items for distribution and on a case-by-case basis, meet media in market to distribute

Partner Relations

• Provide reliable and concise information to keep all external partners up to date on any projects assigned
• Leverage relationships with local community partners, being mindful of capacity, fairness and accuracy in communications
• Maintain communication and follow-thru with external business partners, using judgement as to when to elevate issues to additional team members

Administrative Work

• Maintain accurate records of billings and payments to and from local partners
• Maintain accurate SWAG inventory in accordance with internal SOPs
• Prepare drafts of expenses for review
• Accurately log media placements and notes on a monthly basis in CRM reporting software
• Compile formatted drafts for reporting out on a monthly basis
• Maintain and upload to CMS landing pages all relevant PR content like media kit, story ideas and press release postings

Operational Duties

• Manage priorities consistent with Strategic Direction 2023
• Meet or exceed Marketing goals with a specific focus on established KPIs
• Comply with organizational values, policies and procedures
• Assist the leadership team with the implementation of new projects and facilitate additional responsibilities, as requested
• Remain flexible to a workload that occasionally requires more than 40 hours/week of work

Preferred Skills/Experience:

• Four-year degree in communications or related field (or equivalent experience)
• 1-3 years professional experience in communication / PR (ideally in the tourism or hospitality industry)
• Knowledge of and experience with CMS, CRM, Meltwater, SharePoint, Crowdriff, ASANA
• Working knowledge of DAM systems and processes
• Strong understanding of AP formatting and keen eye for detail in proofreading and copy editing
• Experience working with agencies and/or contractors
• Strong interpersonal skills with a mindset for collaboration

Desired Traits/Abilities:

• Talent for tracking, detail-oriented, methodical and extremely organized work style
• Strong analytical thinking and drive to never lose sight of the end-goals
• Ability to pivot quickly and a tendency to thrive in a very fast-paced, ambitious environment
• Problem-solving skills and ability to propose solutions
• Ability to collaborate with others and bring forth independent solutions
• Professional, adventurous, positive and confident attitude

Visit SLO CAL, an equal opportunity employer, offers an exciting opportunity for qualified, career-motivated professionals. We provide competitive compensation and the chance to work with talented people in a successful, fast-paced and pleasant environment. We offer many premium benefits including medical, dental, life insurance, vacation time and much more. 

For more information or to apply, visit the Jobs page on the SLOCAL.com website.