Part 2 of PR vs. Marketing
Kimberly Ellis| December 12, 2024
In Part 1 of PR vs. Marketing, we touched on the nuances of public relations. In Part 2 we will focus on marketing. As you read in the previous article, public relations’ primary focus is on managing an organization’s reputation and building relationships with various stakeholders while marketing is often used for promoting and selling products or services.
So, what differentiates marketing from public relations? First, marketing has a more immediate focus on measurable results like sales, conversions, and brand awareness. It is typically easier to measure, using metrics such as sales figures, ROI, website traffic and click-through rates.
Second, marketing is a powerful tool that helps inform PR strategies providing data on consumer preferences and behaviors.
Advantages of marketing
So, what does a CEO of a company gain through marketing? Whether it is digital or traditional marketing, there are opportunities to:
- Create brand awareness to enhance recognition of a company’s brand, logo and image and increase its familiarity.
- Support brand management by controlling how the public perceives the company brand thereby strengthening its image and reputation.
- Create a competitive advantage that highlights a company’s unique strengths and features allowing it to stand out from competitors.
- Increase customer acquisition by effectively promoting services or products.
- Develop customer loyalty through consistent marketing that fosters brand loyalty.
- Produce target audience insights and data by identifying the needs of key stakeholders and creating content that resonates with them.
Marketing tools
At its essence, marketing is about telling others about your services, products and projects that solve a need for individuals, communities, industries or the common good. The most common marketing tools include:
- Utilization of content marketing to attract target audiences with engaging content on issues they want to hear or learn about.
- Use of lead generation to attract consumers and convert them into people interested in the company.
- Creation of email marketing to help target potential or current customers with brand messaging.
- Launch of PPC or Pay per Click campaigns that allow a company to pay each time a user clicks on an online ad.
- Development of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) that improves a website’s visibility on search engine results pages.
- Deployment of traditional marketing including print ads, billboards, direct mail, face-to-face promotions, and television and radio commercials.
- Production of video marketing to deliver a higher level of engagement and promote website content.
Working together public relations and marketing can help create and maintain a positive brand image, build trust with the public and play a crucial role in managing a company’s reputation.
