Public Relations VS Marketing

Public relations VS marketing, it’s easy to get confused between the two. Many think that public relations (PR) does marketing for a company, but this isn’t necessarily the case. While the PR and marketing team(s) may sometimes seem like they do the same thing, they have different functions.

What are public relations?

So when it comes to Public Relations VS Marketing, you must understand what each one is. According to the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), “Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.”

PR handles all aspects revolved around media and relationship building to reduce the risk of negative publicity. Simple put, anything that has to do with the image of the business, public relations takes the reins.

What does PR do?

PR is much more than just combating a negative Google review. PR must help with more complicated things, such as securing media events and generating buzz around a product, service, or company.

There are many different tasks that PR works on daily:

Press releases: Any time there is a new product, service, or announcement from the company, a press release must be created and released. Sometimes press releases are also created to combat negative feedback and help salvage the company’s reputation.
Securing speaking opportunities: Booking top executives for speaking engagements can help bring awareness to a company and showcase different products and services. This is done through pitching stories about the company to different media outlets.
Speeches: Whenever there is a speaking engagement, the PR team will put together speaking topics and briefing on the event to whoever is speaking. This helps keep the speaker on task and hitting all the positive points to help maintain a positive reputation with the public.
Building relationships with influencers: The use of social media influencers has grown tremendously. Finding the right influencers to help promote the company can really boost credibility and grow social media.
Reputation management: When there is bad media, they brainstorm ways to recover the company image and then execute the plan.
Organizing their own event: They could put together their own event for special public outreach.
Counsel management: Help management decide on policies, communication, and courses of action when it comes to public interactions.
Company language and policies: Company policies and language must be clear so that all employees understand what is necessary for success.
Market research on messaging: By understanding current trends and best practices, the PR team can tailor their messaging.

The importance of public relations in a company

It is essential to have PR in any company, and with good reason.

Increases brand credibility: Gaining positive publicity will help establish your company as a thought leader in your industry. This will also help you build your brand image.
Improves brand awareness: Being found on different media outlets will help give your brand exposure to more audiences.
Creates a positive image for the brand: Consistent positive PR and proper crisis management will help shed a good light on your company.
Reach your ideal customer/buyer personas: Creating a strong online presence in the right areas allows you to really get to your ideal customers.
Increases website ranking: Whether it be SEO or in domain authority, securing more visitors to your website will increase your chances of ranking on the first page of search engines.
Influences how people think: Having smart phones allows people to gain quick access to the internet. It is important to be able to influence how people feel about your product, services and company. Being able to manage negative feedback can help you gain customers.

What is marketing?

Now that you understand public relations in public relations VS marketing, you must understand the basics of marketing. The American Marketing Association defines marketing as “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.”

Basically, marketing is the process of being able to attract people to your company’s product(s) and/or service(s).

What does marketing do?

Marketing is a process- marketers must research, promote, sell and distribute a company’s products or services. Being able to connect your ideal customers with your product takes time and skill. There are several different types of marketing, which is why many companies hire someone who specializes in one type.

While listing every single thing each type of marketer does would be long, this is a comprehensive list that hits the high points of marketing:

Listen to consumers: Your customers may want another product/service or may have great feedback on how to make yours better.
Research the competition: Knowing what the competition is doing will help you understand what is already working.
Track trends: Tracking trends within your ideal customer base is important to see how to better improve or market your product/service.
Keep up with the newest marketing ideals: Marketing changes all the time. There are algorithm updates, best practices, new tools, and more that marketers must stay current with.
Create advertising campaigns: Whether it is a new product/service or regular campaign, marketers must perfect their messaging, create graphics, nail email funnels, and perfect their landing pages for optimized sales.
Perfect supporting material: Whether it’s brochures, website pages, hook magnets, or FAQs for the sales team, marketers must create these using brand guidelines.
Buy advertising slots: Whether a marketer uses Google Ads or social media ads, advertising spots ars.
Optimize websites and blogs: Being able to correctly optimize a website and blog will increase the company’s odds of ranking to help organic traffic.
Create buyer personas: Companies must understand who they are selling to in order to create engaging sales copy and know where their consumers are.
Analyze traffic and ROI: Whether it is website traffic or ad traffic, marketers must understand where they are attracting customers from and what is giving them the best return on their spend.
Perfect emails: Creating the right funnels, email sequences, and landing pages can help convert potential customers or current customers into sales.

The importance of marketing in a company

Without marketing, there will be no sales. No sales means no money. No money means no business.

Effectively engages customers: Using social media properly can help you gain traction and followers. Building a relationship with consumers is critical for any business.
Boosts sales: By utilizing different ways to promote your business, you will be able to increase your sales.
Gives you insights to your business and consumers: Understanding your consumer will help you be able to get their pain points and tailor your product/service around their needs.
Increase brand visibility: Correctly optimizing content helps your company be seen on the top pages of search engines.
Solidifies your brand: Helps communicate your brand to your consumers so they are able to connect easier and be more willing to purchase.
Generates traffic: Whether it is organic or paid traffic, your business can be seen easier and make sales.
Helps your business automate: Having funnels and other automatic marketing tools (like social media schedulers) allows your business to streamline its marketing efforts and be more efficient.
Cost effective: Marketing has been proven to be cost effective and a business can engage in many marketing tactics that cost little to no money.

Public relations vs marketing- the main difference

While PR and marketing have some overlap, they have one big difference. PR is focused primarily on keeping a positive reputation for a company, while marketing cares more about promoting and selling products/services.

Because of this difference, they will have different success metrics to determine if they are correctly hitting their goals. In addition, they can have different target audiences. Since marketers are doing their best to nail their customer’s needs to produce a sale, PR’s audience is a range of publics (sometimes the consumer, but can be media, employees, investors and so on).

PR and marketing are both important

While some companies try to combine PR and marketing or have little spend on one or the other, they are both equally important. In fact, this blog on public relations VS marketing has shown how each has its own purpose that is necessary for a successful business.

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