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Marketing and public relations typically aim for the same goals, such as business development, increasing sales, and recruiting employees. When done well, both work together to increase visibility and shape the perception of your brand in the marketplace.
However, the mindset required to succeed in each of these areas is very different. Recognizing this fundamental difference can help companies adjust their PR and marketing strategies to get more out of both.
Comparison of earned media and owned media
PR and marketing are both creative fields, but they are very different when it comes to issues of timing and control over content.
Marketers are used to having complete control over both timing and content. They typically focus on “owned media” such as a company’s website, videos, and social channels, or paid media such as social media ads, sponsorships, and traditional advertising. Marketers use their expertise to help clients shape content and decide when to publish it for maximum performance.
PR, on the other hand, involves working with independent news organizations. earned The media depends on PR professionals’ ability to present their clients as interesting or noteworthy enough to garner coverage. News organizations typically determine timing and have ultimate control over content.
Understanding what news organizations want and when is essential to a successful PR campaign. It’s not necessarily something marketers spend time thinking about. In fact, good marketers are often so immersed in direct interaction with their clients’ brands and their customer bases that they find it difficult to mesh with the disparate perspectives of news organizations.
In other words, marketers are generally proactive. They develop and execute strategies based on timelines of their choosing. Great marketers may create content in response to news events, but actually creating content requires a different kind of expertise. in news.
A good PR firm will also be active in strategy and outreach, but a good PR firm will have the extra provision to respond when needed. Experienced PR professionals are skilled at recognizing moment-to-moment opportunities and guiding clients through moment-in-the-moment actions without straying from the core message.
The resulting press materials may be completely different from the content and messaging of your company’s marketing channels, but both can perfectly reflect your brand. One side is simply filtered by the media’s own needs and expectations.
The key to successful marketing and PR collaboration is recognizing that each (and the company’s leadership) is a distinct discipline with its own best practices and a unique role to play in a comprehensive external communications strategy. It’s about recognizing.
Related: Do you need a PR or marketing expert? Here’s the difference
Building media relationships and building marketing assets
Many companies offer both marketing and PR to their clients. But for companies to do both effectively, they essentially need to treat marketing and PR as separate entities, giving each their own responsibilities and dedicated resources. Often this is not the case.
Especially when it comes to PR, a little bit doesn’t go a long way. When an editor or producer works with her PR agent to produce multiple articles a year, it builds trust and makes journalists more willing to pitch. PR firms spend a lot of time cultivating new connections, maintaining existing connections, and leveraging those relationships to get coverage.
For marketing companies focused on important deliverables, such as a new website, networking and collaborating with news outlets typically isn’t a top priority. Although there are certainly exceptions, many full-service companies surprise their clients with marketing and are satisfied with their relatively modest PR results.
why is that? First, it’s easier to ignore PR than marketing. Everyone will notice if your company has a terrible website, but they won’t necessarily notice that your company isn’t covered in the press. As a result, some organizations tend to put PR on the back burner.
To do the right PR, drive traffic, and drive traffic to the great website your marketing team has built, you need to explicitly dedicate resources to earned media, whether it’s an external PR firm or an in-house team. there is. If PR is just an add-on to a marketing strategy, marketing departments and agencies can’t really be expected to build the relationships needed to generate press coverage on top of coverage, which takes a lot of value off the table. It will be left on top. Other mission-critical responsibilities.
Related: Should I start with PR or marketing?
Conflict and collaboration between marketing and PR companies
Magic happens when both a PR firm and a marketing agency work perfectly together on behalf of the same client. When a marketing firm working with a client produces great research, language, and insight as part of a marketing campaign, it helps us think more clearly about how we position the firm in our work. , can create more value for media stakeholders. And the audience.
Similarly, when a PR team delivers media coverage that exceeds a client’s expectations, it creates momentum that spills over into everything the client is doing on the marketing side. Social media, email marketing, and conferences were all suddenly performing better than expected, as they were all used to share and reference high-quality media coverage in notable outlets.
The best approach is for PR and marketing to communicate frequently and closely follow each other’s activities. They should not try to control each other and instead look for ways they can help each other. PR campaigns are often powered by great marketing assets, and press coverage often leads to great marketing content.
Two companies at the top of their game competing against each other works like jazz, with the give and take amplifying the ROI of both investments. It’s great that marketing and PR can inspire each other through completely different perspectives.
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