In many organizations PR and Marketing are not created equal. Oftentimes PR reports to Marketing. Why? If you are a public relations professional you know how much your expertise impacts marketing strategies, especially due to the evolution of the digital landscape. You know where PR and Marketing Meet.
How PR and Marketing are Tied Together
Marketing will handle advertising, design, and copywriting for campaigns. PR creates stories and messaging from information and research. Then a publicist or media relations professional will pitch those stories to generate awareness for the brand, product, or individual. PR can do the job using stories on tv, radio, print, and online media. But, if many people are not watching television news sources, listening to talk radio, or reading newspapers, how does the message get out? According to the Pew Research Center, the largest audience on cable or network news is around 7.5 million for evening, network programs. Everything else is well below 5 million viewers. Radio World reports that radio listenership is struggling since the pandemic began. There have been multiple reports on the decrease in traditional newspaper and magazine readership. Media is more digital and online and this is where PR and Marketing meet.
Digital PR and Why Marketing Needs Us
Public Relations professionals have become much more active creating content for social media and websites. Content driven social media campaigns are a combination of design efforts from Marketing and writing from the PR department. The snappy copy produced in Marketing is fine for advertising. But PR people know how to pitch an angle and write the appropriate copy to go along with it. Also PR people build relationships, which we know is critical for growing a loyal and engaged audience.
Teamwork Leads to Success
So what does it look like when these two departments meet on equal footing? In an ideal world a team that includes marketing and pr will get together to plan a campaign. Tasks will be delegated and a structured, executable campaign will result. Marketing will handle the images and copy, hashtag and competitor research. It will also have developed a value proposition and target customer(s). PR will write blogs, articles, and social media copy. These professionals will plan a media strategy that includes social platforms and content, plan events, and train spokespeople.
Like me, some PR people are full on Marketers. In the end we all are determining what motivates people and why they do what they do. In a sense, people watching and that’s the fun part.
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