Ronjini Joshua is the CEO and Founder of The Silver Telegram, Host of The PR Playbook Podcast and founder of The Social Equity Council.
Sometimes what seems obvious to the practitioner is not so obvious to the customer or client. Recently, I’ve sensed that many clients and potential clients are blurring the lines between public relations (PR) and marketing and missing the mark on the benefits and opportunities that each provides.
Moreso, I hear PR as a term that is interchangeable with marketing and that’s not really factual.
Not Siblings, More Like Cousins
While PR and marketing are alike in many ways, the two practices serve their own functions. It is true that they’re both communication practices that can be used to educate potential customers about products and services, however, marketing is typically positioned on the selling aspects of the brand.
In contrast, PR is focused on building trust and credibility and conveying information with a more educational theme. This is why leveraging public relations tactics is better for building thought leadership through things like writing blogs, publishing contributed articles and speaking on panels—all a part of the PR toolbox.
How PR And Marketing Differ
It is most clear to see the differences between marketing and public relations when you are dealing with business development and lead generation. Think of public relations as the vessel to drive traffic, interest and credibility to the brand versus marketing content, which may be brochures, case studies and other materials to drive home the sale.
Effectively, marketing and PR can be used in tandem to create a more dynamic communications program—one that streamlines and uses consistent messages for your key audience so that trust and reputation are built into the sales process.
Often we see clients who wonder why PR isn’t driving direct sales. While some PR can drive sales (like product reviews and positive feature articles), it is more common that it is a piece of the business development puzzle that establishes strong messages and relationships between the brand and the target audience.
The Value In A PR Strategy
As the role of the media and the digital media landscape changes, I have been increasingly speaking to PR-led strategies that incorporate mainline brand vision and mission messages throughout all communications (including sales, marketing and social media). The truth is that a strong business development strategy is one that is led by the storyline.
Public relations strategy and tactics primarily focus on building reputation and trust. As there have been shifting perceptions of the media, PR professionals have been increasingly tapping into marketing and social media to further educate target audiences. This shift underscores a growing audience desire for authenticity and genuine communication.
There are some marketing strategies that are PR-led instead of sales-focused, and both of these can be effective in different ways. My recommendation is to incorporate both styles and streamline the storytelling and message so you create a selling profile that is based on trust and credibility.
Times You Want To Use PR Instead Of Marketing
There are definitely times when you will find the need to focus on a more PR-led strategy. These may include reputation management or crisis communications situations where you want to mitigate risk by being educational, concise and focused on the truth. There is no room for fluff, sales or marketing when managing a crisis. The typical response is to identify what has happened, create a concise position statement and provide a solution.
While marketing and advertising are quite effective during product/service launches, I find that a companion PR program is always a good idea so that you can establish that sense of trust and credibility alongside creative marketing ideas. The combination of PR and marketing can be lethally good.
All this to say that while they may come from the same family, PR and marketing perform functions that are independent and dependent on each other and worth a look on their own.
An integrated communications approach is the best of all worlds where a strategic press release can create traffic to a targeted landing page; where you have a lead-generating download and then you follow up with a creative email campaign that ends in a sale. The result is always better when working as a team.
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