Understand how is PR different from marketing

For beginners, you need to be able to distinguish your PR strategy from your marketing strategy.

Though both of them have many similarities, there are differences in the goals of these two departments.

To explain you with an example, some motives of your marketing campaigns would be to establish your brand, get new email subscribers, or drive sales.

While you ultimately want your PR strategy to result in revenue, the primary goal of these efforts will differ from that of your marketing strategy efforts.

There isn’t necessarily a quantitative impact on sales from public relations. It’s more of a big-picture strategy.

Your PR efforts would aim to make the reputation of your business better. You may already be doing this with things such as:

• displaying customer testimonials
• encouraging customers to review your products
• leveraging social proof

However, these campaigns would be marketing-oriented.

To improvise your reputation through PR, you’ll focus on things such as press releases and guest-speaking engagements at industry events. These are indirect strategies to promote your brand.

With a marketing campaign, you’d run a promotion on one of your distribution channels. Do you see the difference?

Ultimately, your PR efforts will still support sales.

People don’t always buy products. They buy brands.

That’s why PR is so important.

If a customer buys your products as a result of one of your marketing campaigns, that person has already established a connection with your brand through your PR efforts.