Public Relations (PR) and Marketing are two important strategies. Companies use both to promote their products or services and connect with their customers. Although Public Relations and Marketing have similarities in tactics they both focus on achieving different goals. PR and Marketing are often confused by people. Nevertheless, they certainly have differences and are not the same.
Marketing focuses mainly on selling products or services. PR focuses on creating a positive image for the company. PR in metrics focuses more on reputation and public opinion. Marketing focuses on sales and returns on investment.
What is PR?
Creating a positive public image for a company, organization or individual is the goal of PR. It focuses on building relationships between the company and the media. The functions of PR are reputation management, media relations, and brand journalism. They must also deal with negative presses and limit the damage.
What is Marketing?
Marketing is used to sell products or services. It can also find ways to deliver value to the company’s customers and audience. Marketing has many different strategies. For example, you have content, email, social media, or influencer marketing.
These different types of marketing can be used. This allows the audience to learn about a product or service that solves a problem. After this, a relationship can be formed with the company. The goal is for the audience to become customers of the company.
The difference between PR and Marketing:
The daily activities of marketing and PR professionals can be very different. Write press releases or tell positive stories about the company. Build relationships with the media if you want to work on Public Relations. Plan product launches, set up marketing campaigns, and conduct customer research to work on marketing.
The audience reached is also different. As a PR department, reach out to different audiences depending on the company’s needs. Create positive outreach with the media, company stakeholders, or employees. In the marketing department, try to focus on reaching customers and prospects.
The goals that both departments have in mind are also different. When working in PR, create a positive image for the company. Build positive reactions with different stakeholders. In marketing, focus on reaching customers and prospects and increasing the company’s sales.
As a PR professional, measure success by looking at positive reactions for the company. As a marketing department, look at the sales goals of a product or the return on investment of a recent campaign.
In conclusion, the success of both departments depends on each other. For example, it will be harder to increase a sale with low brand awareness. Social media marketing is used in both departments. Use social media to build brand awareness, but also to conduct a targeted marketing campaign. Align both strategies to maximize efforts in both areas and build positive relationships with target audiences.