Public Relations and Media Communications Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Public Relations Officers, Communications Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-PRC-029

Before you join: Participants should have experience writing workplace communications, supporting campaigns, managing social media, briefing colleagues or dealing with external stakeholders.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Public relations work often fails when communications teams respond too late, use messages that cannot be substantiated, or treat media contact as a distribution task rather than a relationship and reputation responsibility. Organisations need practitioners who can identify stakeholder concerns, frame credible positions, prepare leaders for scrutiny, and show whether communication activity changed awareness, understanding or behaviour. This matters particularly when announcements involve service disruption, policy change, workforce issues, safety incidents, regulatory attention or public concern.

This course develops the practical methods required to plan and manage public relations and media communications. Participants examine the PESO Model, stakeholder mapping, message houses, media targeting, press release writing, spokesperson preparation, social media response, crisis communication and evaluation. They learn to turn organisational priorities into clear communication objectives, create messages supported by evidence, work effectively with journalists, prepare responses to difficult questions and assess media coverage beyond simple volume or reach measures.

Teaching combines focused instructor briefings with cases from government, financial services, infrastructure, consumer brands, NGOs and corporate communications. Participants analyse communications scenarios, draft materials, practise interview preparation, respond to emerging issues and build an application plan for their own work. They leave with a reusable public relations planning pack, including stakeholder and message tools, media materials, crisis response documents and measurement structures.

The course suits communications professionals who already write business communications or support campaigns and now need a more disciplined approach to media relations, reputation management and public-facing communications.

What you will be able to do

  • Develop stakeholder maps and message houses for defined communication priorities
  • Plan targeted media relations activity using news values, editorial angles and media lists
  • Write press releases, media advisories, fact sheets and briefing notes to professional standards
  • Prepare spokespeople using interview objectives, bridging techniques and difficult-question responses
  • Apply crisis communication protocols, holding statements and issue escalation procedures
  • Manage social media communications, misinformation responses and influencer due diligence
  • Measure communication results using logic models, AMEC measures and media analysis coding
  • Produce a 90-day public relations action plan with objectives, tactics, governance and measures

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Write media materials with clearer news angles and stronger factual discipline
  • Advise executives on interview preparation and difficult-question handling
  • Build credible communication measures beyond coverage volume and reach
  • Respond to emerging issues using defined escalation and holding-statement procedures
  • Present a structured public relations plan to managers and internal approvers

For your organisation

  • More consistent public messages across media, social channels and stakeholder communications
  • Fewer factual errors and approval delays in external communication materials
  • Better prepared spokespeople during announcements, interviews and emerging issues
  • Earlier identification of stakeholder concerns, misinformation and reputation risks
  • Clearer evidence of communication contribution to organisational objectives

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can define public relations priorities, communication responsibilities and ethical decision rules.

  • Public relations remit, reputation drivers and communication risk ownership
  • Distinguishing earned, owned, shared and paid channels using PESO
  • Mapping communication objectives to business, policy and stakeholder outcomes
  • Selecting proactive, reactive and responsive public relations approaches
  • Governance roles: spokesperson, approver, subject expert and communications lead
  • Ethical judgement using accuracy, transparency, privacy and public-interest tests

Participants can identify priority stakeholders and develop evidence-based messages for different audiences.

  • Stakeholder mapping through power-interest grids and salience analysis
  • Audience personas built from needs, concerns, media habits and influence
  • Message houses linking organisational position, proof points and audience benefit
  • Framing messages without overclaiming, jargon or unsupported assurances
  • Adapting message architecture for employees, regulators, customers and communities
  • Testing messages against likely objections and hostile interpretations

Participants can plan targeted media outreach and manage journalist relationships professionally.

  • News values: timeliness, impact, conflict, proximity, prominence and human interest
  • Building targeted media lists from beat, audience, reach and relevance
  • Pitch angles tailored to reporter interests and editorial calendars
  • Press release structure: headline, lead, quotes, facts, boilerplate and contacts
  • Media advisories, background briefings and embargoes used appropriately
  • Recording journalist interactions and commitments in a media contact log

Participants can write accurate, usable media materials for external communication needs.

  • Writing inverted-pyramid releases with verified facts and quotable language
  • Crafting executive quotes that sound credible, specific and human
  • Fact sheets, Q&As and briefing notes built for rapid use
  • Plain-language editing for clarity, accuracy, tone and accessibility
  • AP Stylebook conventions applied where client or market requirements permit
  • Approval workflows preventing factual errors, legal exposure and version confusion

Participants can prepare spokespeople to communicate clearly under media scrutiny.

  • Preparing spokespeople with audience analysis, objectives, messages and proof
  • Bridging, flagging and hooking techniques used without evasion
  • Answering difficult questions with an acknowledge-answer-bridge response discipline
  • Broadcast interview preparation: soundbites, body language and remote-camera technique
  • Print and online interviews managed through attributable, on-record and background rules
  • Post-interview corrections, follow-up materials and relationship repair protocols

Participants can coordinate digital communication with media outreach and issue management.

  • Channel selection based on audience behaviour, content format and response capacity
  • Social media statements aligned with approved messages and escalation paths
  • Community management rules for complaints, misinformation and abusive comments
  • Influencer due diligence covering audience fit, disclosures and brand safety
  • Social listening queries tracking sentiment, emerging issues and misinformation
  • Owned-content calendars coordinating announcements, executive posts and media outreach

Participants can organise an early response to issues and communicate during crises.

  • Risk registers identify issues, triggers, owners, audiences and holding statements
  • Situational Crisis Communication Theory guides response posture and apology decisions
  • First-hour response protocol: verify, convene, assess, approve and communicate
  • Holding statements balance speed, empathy, facts and investigation limits
  • Crisis Q&As prepare spokespeople for casualties, blame, failures and uncertainty
  • Rumour control tracks claims, evidence, corrections and channel actions

Participants can plan inclusive communications for employees, communities and public audiences.

  • Employee communications align managers, channels, timing and feedback loops
  • Town halls, leader cascades and FAQs address change-related uncertainty
  • Community relations plans identify concerns, commitments, partners and contact routes
  • Public consultation communications distinguish information, consultation and participation commitments
  • Accessibility requirements shape language, formats, captions and alternative text
  • Cross-cultural review identifies idioms, symbols and assumptions requiring adaptation

Participants can select meaningful measures and report communication results for decision-makers.

  • Logic models connect activities, outputs, outtakes, outcomes and organisational goals
  • AMEC Integrated Evaluation Framework selects measures before communication activity begins
  • Barcelona Principles 3.0 distinguish meaningful outcomes from vanity metrics
  • Media analysis codes prominence, message pull-through, tone and spokesperson presence
  • Share of voice calculations compare coverage volume against defined competitors
  • Monthly dashboards combine qualitative insight, quantitative results and recommended action

Participants can produce a governed public relations plan for immediate workplace use.

  • Communication plans define situation, objectives, publics, strategy, tactics and measures
  • RACE planning sequences research, action, communication and evaluation decisions
  • Budgets allocate agency, production, monitoring, distribution and contingency costs
  • Editorial calendars sequence milestones, approvals, media moments and content assets
  • Risk-based approval matrices clarify authority during routine and urgent communications
  • 90-day application plans set priorities, owners, deadlines and review points

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Stakeholder power-interest mapping template
  2. Message house and proof-point model
  3. Media list and journalist contact log
  4. Press release and media Q&A templates
  5. Crisis holding-statement and escalation checklist
  6. AMEC-aligned communication measurement dashboard

Who should attend

  • Public Relations Officers — need structured methods for media engagement and reputation work
  • Communications Managers — need to plan campaigns, govern approvals and advise senior leaders
  • Corporate Affairs Professionals — need credible stakeholder and media communication approaches
  • Marketing Managers — need earned-media methods that support campaigns and brand reputation
  • Government Communications Staff — need clear procedures for public information and scrutiny
  • NGO Communications Officers — need stronger media outreach for advocacy, programmes and fundraising

Skills and tools covered

Media relations planningMessage developmentSpokesperson preparationCrisis communicationStakeholder mappingCommunication measurement

Tools and standards

PESO Model, AMEC Integrated Evaluation Framework, Barcelona Principles 3.0, Situational Crisis Communication Theory

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to introduce methods, followed by case analysis, group work, writing tasks, media-response simulations and structured peer review. Participants work with realistic announcements, journalist enquiries, social posts, stakeholder concerns and crisis scenarios. Trainer feedback focuses on message accuracy, news value, audience fit, evidence, tone and approval discipline. Each participant builds materials and decisions that can be adapted to a current communication priority, then completes a 90-day application plan.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have experience writing workplace communications, supporting campaigns, managing social media, briefing colleagues or dealing with external stakeholders. Familiarity with their organisation's services, audiences and approval processes will help them apply the methods quickly. The course assumes confidence using standard office documents and conducting basic online research. Prior public relations employment is not required, nor is formal marketing education, journalism training, media contacts or experience speaking to journalists. Participants do not need prior crisis management experience.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

You should be comfortable writing workplace communications and familiar with your organisation's audiences or services. No journalism qualification, existing media contacts or previous public relations role is required.

Bring a current communication challenge, upcoming announcement or stakeholder issue that you can use as a reference point. A laptop is useful for drafting materials, although course resources will be provided.

The course is intended for public relations, communications, corporate affairs, marketing and government communications professionals with some workplace experience. It also suits staff who support senior leaders, campaigns or public announcements.

Marketing courses usually focus on demand generation, customer acquisition and campaign performance. This course focuses on reputation, stakeholder confidence, media relations, spokesperson communications, issues and public accountability.

Participants leave with templates for stakeholder analysis, message development, media outreach, crisis response and measurement. These can be adapted for announcements, policy changes, campaign launches, service incidents and executive communications.

Each day runs from 08:30 to 16:30 and provides about 6.5 contact hours. Time is divided between instructor input, cases, drafting work, group analysis, interview and issue-response simulations, and application planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

Related courses in Public Relations & Communications