PR & Corporate Communications Specialist

Cruise Planners is the largest franchisor of home-based travel agencies across the country that independently book cruises, tour, and land vacations. Cruise Planners has achieved Top Producer status with virtually every cruise line, tour, and resort company. Cruise Planners has been named the No.1 Cruise Tour / Travel Agency by Entrepreneur Magazine for the past 10 years and recently featured in Entrepreneur as one of the top 30 franchise innovators in technology. Cruise Planners positions franchise owners for success by providing them with innovative marketing, booking and lead-generating tools as well as professional development and hands-on training with the industry’s top executives. Cruise Planners Home Office has won awards such as Coolest Offices and Top Places to Work in South Florida by Sun Sentinel and South Florida Business Journal. 

**Candidates must be authorized to work for ANY employer in the United States. We are unable to sponsor or take over sponsorship of an employment Visa**

Job Summary

• Cruise Planners is looking for a PR-savvy media and writing professional to proactively tell the Cruise Planners story for the purposes of attracting new franchise prospects and establishing Cruise Planners as an authority in the travel trade and consumer vacation industries. This includes proactive PR (media pitching and follow up) as well as responsive PR, drafting responses, press releases, blogs, etc. and creating visual assets associated with Cruise Planners’ public relations, social media and marketing efforts.

The items listed below are intended to provide an overview of the essential functions of the job. This is not an exhaustive list of all functions and responsibilities that the position may be required to perform.

Responsibilities

• Serve as primary point of contact for all media inquiries, and coordinate response with executive team and/or direct response
• Work with various media outlets (print, online, broadcast) and journalists (both locally and nationally) to pitch and publicize Cruise Planners’ franchise model, company highlights, executive team and travel advisor network.
• Write effective press releases and a high volume of creative media pitches in AP Style – reacting to media queries and also proactively planning for longer PR plans.
• Think creatively to produce compelling and newsworthy content for a variety of digital mediums, including, but not limited to social media, blogs, printed marketing collateral, digital signage, SEO-rich website copy, paid media, by-lined articles, awards and more.
• Create social media assets and content that stimulate engagement for corporate, franchise recruitment and travel advisor posts. All projects should be content rich and help drive engagement focused on potential franchisees, current franchise owners, travel clients and the media.
• Support crisis management both internally and externally via email communications, intranet updates, reactive media relations and media talking points/prep.
• Collaborate across all departments at Cruise Planners to ensure content is created and repurposed effectively and efficiently.
• Assist in developing Cruise Planners’ evolving PR plans/content strategy and content calendar working several months in advance.
• Maintain PR plan to effectively research, write and produce content as needed.
• Use Cision Database for media relations, research, pitching and monitoring of media coverage.
• Support our network of home-based travel advisors by creating PR templates for them and provide guidance and coaching to travel advisors on best practices for these resources. May have to present a few times a year in webinars.
• Research and stay abreast of new trends in travel, franchise business and mainstream media to incorporate into new and exciting weekly content.
• Capture company events for PR and internal communications purposes such as holidays, special events/celebrations to showcase the company culture of Cruise Planners.
• Embrace new digital products and innovative storytelling styles with a vision of future audience trends.
• Draft and create educational PowerPoint presentations about the latest trends in various fields of interest.
• Write talking points for executives, spokesperson or travel partners as assigned.
• Adhere to Cruise Planners brand guidelines in all communications.
• Maintain online media room and digital asset manager as a robust archive of assets, including visual aides.
• Update CP Genie (Cruise Planner’ intranet) with up-to-date press releases, news stories, photos & agent templates.
• Manage Cruise Planners’ Travel Ambassador Program and create blogs on corporate and franchise sites to share to social media.
• Coordinate and schedule photo shoots for media distribution and assist in directing photo shoot and creating shot list.
• Work with agents to prep them for tv & print interviews to ensure they are brand consistent and represent Cruise Planners effectively.

Competencies

• Outstanding verbal and written communication skills, excellent interpersonal skills. Strong knowledge of AP style, grammar, copyediting and SEO-keyword writing is needed.
• Proven media relations results from working at or with a PR agency or in-house PR experience preferred.
• Media relations examples/portfolio and writing test will be required.
• Excellent editing skills, attention to detail, organized, creative, ability to think quickly and react appropriately in any setting.
• A writing machine – adept at churning out beautiful prose quickly and identifying a compelling, timely and relevant story.
• Socially Savvy: Experience with popular social media websites as they pertain to businesses, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, etc.
• Ability to work creatively and effectively in a fast-paced, collaborative team environment, providing and receiving creative direction and constructive feedback with direct interaction on a regular basis with department heads.
• Photography Skills preferred
• Hard working, resourceful, reliable, creative, and organized with the ability to meet tight deadlines and achieve goals.
• Operate a personal computer and use MS Excel/Word/Outlook/PowerPoint and required programs.
• Adapt to changing priorities and perform basic task work to meet deadlines.

Requirements

• 3-5 years of experience working in Journalism, Advertising, Public Relations, social media, Video Production, Communications, Digital Media and/or Marketing.
• Travel/Tourism/Hospitality industry experience preferred.
• PR or marketing agency experience preferred including media pitching, copyediting, copywriting, and video production.

This is a hybrid role (Remote: Mondays and Fridays, Onsite: Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays)

Cruise Planners provides equal employment opportunities (EEO) to all team members and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin, age, disability, genetic information, marital status, or status as a covered veteran in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws. Cruise Planners complies with applicable state and local laws governing nondiscrimination in employment in every location in which the company has facilities or team members. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment.