Public Relations vs. Marketing: Understanding the difference

Often the lines between public relations and marketing blur, and often most people from outside the industries have a harder time understanding the differences between the two areas. So, we at The Square wanted to provide clarity to better understand the two, how your company benefits from both to then recognize the current needs in your organization to reach your goals in 2021.

First things first, what is public relations?

PR focuses on the creation and maintenance of a positive reputation of a company, brand, or individual.

Second things second, what is marketing?

Marketing focuses on driving sales through the promotion of products, services, or ideas.

So far so good?

Breaking Public Relations down:

Goals — Creating brand awareness and selling a company, brand, or individual by managing its reputation in the media through different channels of communication.

Metrics — Some metrics PR pros use are the number of references generated in the media, the positive tone of these references, and buzz generated around the brand, company, or individual.

Some daily activities — Defining key messages for the company, brand, or individual, creating communication strategies, creating a crisis management plan, pitching journalists, writing press releases, and managing all media relations for the client.

Breaking Marketing down:

Goals — Reaching out to key targets to carry out sales and generate revenue through a product or service of a company.

Metrics — On the other hand, some metrics the marketeers use are around Return on Investment (ROI), sales goals, and if social media channels or website increase traffic after the promotion of the product or service.

Some daily activities — Creating and executing advertising campaigns, securing advertising opportunities, industry research, and developing marketing materials.

Although PR and Marketing are two completely different fields of work, they do need to work hand in hand to achieve set goals and reach the company’s overall metrics. For example, if the product or service the marketing team is trying to sell has barely any brand awareness, there will be no sales. In which case, the PR team can create buzz and introduce the brand to the desired targets to generate brand awareness to result in sales.

We hope you can now better understand public relations and marketing and can define your strategic goals for each team!