Top 12 Communications Specialist Skills to Put on Your Resume

In communications, a sharp skill set turns heads and opens doors. Below, you’ll find the top 12 skills every Communications Specialist should highlight on a resume—clear, current, and ready for real-world hiring screens.

Communications Specialist Skills

1. Copywriting
2. SEO
3. Photoshop
4. InDesign
5. Public Speaking
6. Social Media
7. Analytics (Google Analytics 4)
8. CRM (Salesforce)
9. Video Editing (Premiere Pro)
10. Email Marketing (Mailchimp)
11. Blogging (WordPress)
12. Media Relations

1. Copywriting

Copywriting means crafting persuasive, clear text that moves people to think, feel, or act—aligned to a target audience and a brand’s voice.

Why It's Important

It powers messages that land. Strong copy attracts attention, builds trust, and drives action across channels—from web pages to social posts to press quotes.

How to Improve Copywriting Skills

1. Know the reader: Build simple personas. Mirror their language, needs, and objections.

2. Trim the fat: Short sentences. Concrete words. Kill the jargon.

3. Headlines first: Test multiple options. Promise value. Spark curiosity without clickbait.

4. Tell a story: Problem, tension, resolution. Human details beat vague claims.

5. Blend in SEO: Work in relevant keywords naturally. Keep readability high.

6. Edit hard: Read aloud. Cut redundancies. Tools like grammar checkers help, but your ear is boss.

7. Seek feedback: Swap drafts with peers. Ask for clarity and impact notes.

8. Practice constantly: Daily reps—subject lines, product blurbs, summaries. Volume builds precision.

How to Display Copywriting Skills on Your Resume

2. SEO

SEO increases the chance your content shows up when people search. It’s part research, part structure, part patience—and it thrives on useful content.

Why It's Important

Visibility. Traffic. Relevance. With solid SEO, your messages reach the right audience at the exact moment intent is high.

How to Improve SEO Skills

1. Keywords that match intent: Map primary and related terms to pages. Avoid stuffing. Write for humans.

2. Quality content: Solve problems better than competitors do. Depth wins. Keep it scannable.

3. Mobile-first: Fast, responsive pages. Clean layouts. Thumb-friendly navigation.

4. Speed matters: Compress images, lazy-load media, trim scripts. Faster pages rank and convert better.

5. Backlinks: Earn mentions with standout content, digital PR, and thought leadership.

6. On-page basics: Clear titles, meta descriptions, headers, internal links, and descriptive alt text.

7. Structured data: Add schema markup where relevant to strengthen context for search engines.

8. Measure and refine: Track rankings, clicks, engagement, and conversions. Iterate regularly.

How to Display SEO Skills on Your Resume

3. Photoshop

Photoshop enables image editing, compositing, and visual design—useful for campaign creative, social assets, and sharp brand visuals.

Why It's Important

Words pull, visuals stop the scroll. With Photoshop, you shape imagery that carries the message further.

How to Improve Photoshop Skills

1. Core tools first: Layers, masks, selections, adjustments. Muscle memory reduces friction.

2. Typography: Pair fonts wisely, respect hierarchy, and balance legibility with personality.

3. Photo fixes: Color correction, retouching, cropping for composition—clean, consistent outputs.

4. Color theory: Contrast for readability; palettes that match brand mood and accessibility.

5. Audience fit: Design for the platform and the people. Test formats and aspect ratios.

6. Experiment: Try new techniques weekly. Recreate designs you admire to learn the moves.

7. Feedback loop: Share drafts with designers. Study critiques. Refine relentlessly.

8. Stay current: New features roll out often. Fold useful ones into your workflow.

How to Display Photoshop Skills on Your Resume

4. InDesign

InDesign is the go-to for page layout—brochures, reports, magazines, one-pagers—where grids and typography do the heavy lifting.

Why It's Important

It turns long-form content into something readable, organized, and on-brand, which strengthens credibility and comprehension.

How to Improve InDesign Skills

1. Foundations: Grids, master pages, styles, bleeds. Structure saves hours.

2. Text mastery: Paragraph and character styles, hyphenation, optical alignment, and anchored objects.

3. Templates and libraries: Build reusable components for speed and consistency.

4. Organization: Layers, naming conventions, and linked assets to prevent chaos.

5. Design principles: Hierarchy, contrast, alignment, white space. Keep layouts breathable.

6. Advanced features: GREP styles, nested styles, data merge. Automate repetitive work.

7. Preflight and export: Resolve overset text, missing links, color profiles; export with correct presets.

8. Community and critique: Share files with peers, review pro templates, and study what works.

How to Display InDesign Skills on Your Resume

5. Public Speaking

Public speaking is presenting ideas out loud, with presence and clarity, so audiences not only hear you—they remember.

Why It's Important

From town halls to media briefings, it shapes perception, builds trust, and moves stakeholders toward action.

How to Improve Public Speaking Skills

1. Audience intel: Context, needs, objections. Aim the message where it matters.

2. Rehearse with intent: Record, review, refine. Tighten intros and transitions.

3. Engage: Stories, questions, quick polls. Keep energy moving both ways.

4. Visuals that help: One idea per slide. Big type. Fewer bullets, more signal.

5. Delivery: Pace, pausing, posture, eye contact. Vary tone to avoid the monotone trap.

6. Feedback: Ask for blunt, specific notes on clarity and impact. Iterate.

7. Continuous learning: Watch skilled speakers. Borrow techniques, then make them yours.

How to Display Public Speaking Skills on Your Resume

6. Social Media

Social media is the ecosystem where brands and audiences trade attention, ideas, and sentiment—publicly, fast, and often.

Why It's Important

It offers direct lines to communities, instant feedback loops, and flexible formats for storytelling at scale.

How to Improve Social Media Skills

1. Set crisp goals: Awareness, engagement, leads, support—define the win and track to it.

2. Know the platforms: Tailor content to where it lives—shorts vs. carousels, stories vs. threads, X (formerly Twitter) vs. LinkedIn vs. TikTok.

3. Create magnetic content: Hooks up front, strong visuals, clear CTAs. Batch-produce to stay consistent.

4. Community management: Respond quickly, escalate gently, and reward advocates.

5. Posting rhythm: Test timing and frequency. Build a calendar. Repurpose smartly.

6. Analytics: Watch reach, saves, shares, CTR, and conversion. Cut what underperforms, double down on winners.

7. Stay current: Features change fast. Experiment early when new formats drop.

How to Display Social Media Skills on Your Resume

7. Analytics (Google Analytics 4)

Google Analytics 4 tracks behavior across sites and apps using events, giving you a unified view of audience, content performance, and outcomes.

Why It's Important

Data separates guesswork from strategy. With GA4, you see what resonates, where users drop, and which channels actually convert.

How to Improve Analytics (Google Analytics) Skills

1. Set foundations: Configure GA4 properly—data streams, enhanced measurement, and key events.

2. Define conversions: Mark critical events (sign-ups, downloads, purchases) as conversions that tie to goals.

3. UTM discipline: Tag campaigns consistently so channel performance is crystal clear.

4. Segment smartly: Build audiences and comparisons (new vs. returning, organic vs. paid, region, device).

5. Explorations: Use funnels, pathing, and cohort analyses to uncover friction and retention patterns.

6. Ecommerce events: For stores, implement item views, add-to-cart, checkout steps, and purchases for full-funnel visibility.

7. Dashboards: Create concise reporting in GA4 and, if needed, external dashboards for stakeholders.

8. Governance and privacy: Align with consent, data retention, and IP/privacy settings. Trust is a metric too.

How to Display Analytics (Google Analytics) Skills on Your Resume

8. CRM (Salesforce)

Salesforce centralizes audience data, campaign activity, and interactions so you can personalize outreach and measure impact across the lifecycle.

Why It's Important

It keeps messages targeted and timely, supports segmentation at scale, and makes reporting credible.

How to Improve CRM (Salesforce) Skills

1. Customize for comms: Fields, page layouts, and record types that match your audience and content workflows.

2. Integrate: Connect email, forms, social, and ad platforms so data travels in both directions.

3. Automate with Flow: Use record-triggered flows for follow-ups, routing, and alerts. Migrate legacy Workflow Rules/Process Builder.

4. Data hygiene: Validation rules, required fields, duplicate management, and regular audits keep reports honest.

5. Segmentation: Build dynamic lists and campaigns by persona, lifecycle stage, engagement, or geography.

6. Training and adoption: Short playbooks, role-based dashboards, and ongoing enablement make the system stick.

How to Display CRM (Salesforce) Skills on Your Resume

9. Video Editing (Premiere Pro)

Premiere Pro lets you cut, color, and polish footage into a story that sticks—backed by sound, motion, and timing.

Why It's Important

Video carries message and emotion in one package. It boosts reach, retention, and response across platforms.

How to Improve Video Editing (Premiere Pro) Skills

1. Speed up: Learn shortcuts, custom workspaces, and proxy workflows for smoother edits.

2. Tell it clean: Storyboards, three-act structure, purposeful pacing. Cut anything that doesn’t serve the story.

3. Color and sound: Lumetri for exposure and grade; clean audio, noise reduction, balanced levels, thoughtful music.

4. Transitions with intent: Use cuts and simple dissolves. Fancy effects sparingly.

5. Captions and accessibility: Add burned-in or sidecar captions. On-brand graphics and lower thirds.

6. Platform formats: Export aspect ratios and bitrates suited to YouTube, LinkedIn, Instagram, or TikTok.

7. Feedback: Share cuts early. Fresh eyes save time later.

8. Keep learning: New features (auto reframe, speech-to-text) can shave hours off edits.

How to Display Video Editing (Premiere Pro) Skills on Your Resume

10. Email Marketing (Mailchimp)

Email marketing turns audience data into timely, personal messages that inform, nudge, and convert—at relatively low cost.

Why It's Important

Direct line, measurable outcomes. You own the channel, which makes it durable and dependable.

How to Improve Email Marketing (Mailchimp) Skills

1. Segment deeply: Behavior, lifecycle stage, industry, interests. The tighter the segment, the stronger the message.

2. A/B test: Subject lines, preview text, send times, layouts, CTAs. Keep winners, retire laggards.

3. Design for mobile: Short copy, big buttons, single-column layouts. Load fast, read faster.

4. Automation: Welcome series, re-engagement, post-event follow-ups, and transactional enhancements.

5. Deliverability: Warm IPs, authenticated domains (SPF/DKIM/DMARC), list hygiene, and clear unsubscribe options.

6. Measure what matters: Opens (directional), clicks, conversions, revenue per send, and unsubscribe rates.

How to Display Email Marketing (Mailchimp) Skills on Your Resume

11. Blogging (WordPress)

Blogging on WordPress blends editorial planning, SEO, and design into a steady drumbeat of useful content.

Why It's Important

It builds authority, captures search demand, and feeds social and email with evergreen assets.

How to Improve Blogging (WordPress) Skills

1. Plan the pipeline: A living content calendar with topics, owners, keywords, and due dates.

2. SEO basics: Keyword research, descriptive slugs, meta data, internal links, and structured headings. Use an SEO plugin to guide optimization.

3. Readability: Short paragraphs, subheads, lists, and strong intros. Add images, charts, or short clips.

4. Performance: Compress media, cache smartly, and keep themes/plugins lean for speed and Core Web Vitals.

5. Accessibility: Alt text, proper heading order, contrast, and keyboard-friendly navigation.

6. Promotion: Repurpose posts into threads, carousels, and emails. Cross-link related content.

7. Analytics: Track traffic, engagement, and conversions. Update top posts regularly to keep them ranking.

How to Display Blogging (WordPress) Skills on Your Resume

12. Media Relations

Media relations is the art and system of earning coverage by providing timely, relevant stories and reliable access.

Why It's Important

Credible third-party validation moves opinion. Strong relationships turn news into narrative.

How to Improve Media Relations Skills

1. Target precisely: Build beat-specific media lists. Study past coverage before you pitch.

2. Make news, not noise: Clear angles, data, human impact, and crisp quotes. Respect deadlines.

3. Be present where they are: Engage thoughtfully on social, share useful context, and don’t overpitch.

4. Relationships first: Offer background, exclusives, or early access when it truly fits. Follow through.

5. Speed and accuracy: Respond fast, confirm facts, and provide assets (images, b-roll, bios) upfront.

6. Monitor and measure: Track sentiment, share of voice, message pull-through, and outlet quality—not just volume.

7. Crisis readiness: Keep holding statements, spokespeople, and approvals prepared before you need them.

How to Display Media Relations Skills on Your Resume