Often times, marketing and public relations get lumped into one category. While the two categories have been growing more and more similar with the Internet and companies being able to do their own marketing and PR, there are still a few differences to keep in mind. Also important to remember is the existing differences between advertising, PR, branding, and marketing. These four components of business are all interrelated and need to work together to ensure that a business is successful. In order to understand how to use each of these components, you must first understand how to identify them.

Marketing is more closely related with selling than public relations. While the ultimate goal of both marketing and PR is to gain customers and business, PR is more focused on the relationship aspect of the buying process that a buyer goes through. Moreover, PR helps to maintain the relationships with current users and new customers, whereas marketing is primarily focused on gaining new business. PR also helps to maintain and build relationships between the company and the public.

Some state that public relations is all about building relationships. While that is true, PR also has a dual purpose in a company: to help maintain relationships, as noted above. Once marketing has helped to instill recognition of a company in a buyer’s mind, it is PR’s job to foster these relationships and ensure they continue to grow in a positive manner. This can be done through communication, honesty, and engagement of those audiences.

Reading materials from other blogs to see what my take on this was, I came across a few things that made me wonder: ‘What is the difference between marketing and PR?’ Other bloggers were stating that the difference between the two were that marketing asks buyers to take an action, whereas PR does not. (I disagree.) Some were stating that marketing has nothing to do with relationship building. (I disagree here, too.)

So, what does differ between PR and marketing? I think perhaps it boils down to the bottom line: marketing aims to increase sales and overall company performance. While that is an outcome desired from having great PR, that is not what drives companies’ PR. We do PR because we want to have another side to our companies that customers can see, talk to, and engage with. This PR side of our companies is a more personified and honest interpretation of our company that does away with the advertisements and marketing seen in our other business objectives. While we would love for this tactic to earn us more business, we know the ultimate PR goal is to build relationships with our customers, potential customers, communities, and general public.

Marketing, on the other hand, is looking to convince customers of something, whether that be that our company is awesome or that our competitor is not; we are trying to force-feed customers and buyers the beliefs we want them to hold. This is more difficult than what PR does, which is to allow customers to make their own interpretations of our company (with a little help). We want to put our company in the best light, but there is only so much we can do without reverting back to marketing or advertising. With public relations, customers are given more to go off of, and can create a message or idea of their own in terms of what our company means to them.

Public relations, then, is seen as more credible than marketing. When a customer comes to a conclusion on their own, it is easier to believe and it makes more sense to them than the overdone methods of advertising and marketing. There is a very fine line between marketing and PR that is being ever blurred with the available online tools. The Internet has made it easy to perform tasks that were once labeled marketing and are now classified as PR, such as distributing press releases to the public.

When it comes down to it, customers will embrace the company they like more. Getting a customer to like your company more cannot easily be done with marketing, though it is possible. It is easier for them to like your company when they hear about you from someone else (PR), when they read about you in a newspaper article written by the paper’s staff (PR), when they see your press conference on the news (PR), or when they see the news at your awesome fundraiser event (PR).

What do you think the difference between PR and marketing is?

I recently read the Marketing Gurus by Chris Murray (highly recommended), and a topic that really stuck out to me was the concept of renovating a business, product, idea, solution, etc., instead of innovating a completely new one. The latter route seems to be the more popular of the two. The book review that this concept came from is a few years old (2004), and was written by Sergio Zyman titled Renovate Before You Innovate.

Here are some reasons I gathered from the book (and from my own experience and education) that help to reiterate this point:

- Companies often times look at only innovating a new product. What they do in turn is ignore (or forget) that innovation means revamping and creating anew to benefit customers, consumers, and the business. “When it comes to identifying organic growth opportunities, an amazingly large percentage of companies are one-trick ponies, focusing only on coming up with new products, excluding anything else. What’s worse, the emphasis is often on quantity over quality.”

- Customers are the only thing that matter. No matter what you tell them, what you sell, or what you do, nothing matters but what they think. As such, it is important to take into account the following benefits that your product offers your customers: (you may remember this from your marketing or consumer behavior classes)

1. Emotional benefits – how your product or service made them feel.
2. Functional benefits – what makes your brand superior over your competitors, in their minds.
3. Attributes – the things that benefit the above benefits.

- Horizontal growth is less productive and beneficial to a company than vertical growth. Spreading your resources thin can make it hard to do business. “Trying to grow a business through innovation means spreading resources horizontally, developing new brands, new customers, and new directions. It’s a tremendously risky and expensive path to take.” (pg. 270)

Overall, there are many reasons to renovate something you have to make it better instead of spreading yourself, your brand, and your company so thinly. Instead, build your brand and products vertically, ever improving their quality. While the concept of “new” can generate you some buzz, longer lasting buzz will be generated when you show buyers that you are dedicated to creating a better product from what they’ve already fallen in love with. Lastly, create effective measurements so you can see where your renovations have been successful and not.

At any size, public relations is essential for a company’s success. As a small company, PR can seem daunting and a luxury for larger companies who can afford it, are already experiencing some WOM (word-of-mouth) or buzz, and who are already making profits. While it may be easier to perform PR tasks with larger budgets to play with, public relations is something small businesses should definitely partake in.

PR may seem like an expensive, unreliable source of advertising, but it very different; PR is not advertising at all, nor should it be seen as an alternative to advertising tactics. Public relations is what its name entails: relations with the public. It is a more honest and sincere interaction with buyers and the media. It can be a place for you to share another side of your company outside of the self-promoting advertisements you may use, which can cost much more than PR efforts.

The key to PR is to really convey yourself and your brand to someone else who will in turn talk about you to another person. It may seem like you are trying to convince them to like you (which may be the case), but it comes from their own interpretations and understandings of who you are that they begin to talk about you. Similar to high school gossip, which can be good and bad, real life companies, the media, and buyers will talk about you in both a good and bad light. Your task is to ensure you respond to what is said, encourage the good to be shared over the bad, and to be mature about it. Like the high school gossip that got a rumor started, your reaction can greatly influence its lifespan, believability, and overall ‘success’ as a rumor. (By success, I mean the impact it has on your reputation, its reach, and success in terms of expected results.)

As a small business, it is your responsibility to encourage the generation of publicity around your company. Media and potential buyers can’t really know much about you unless you help encourage the spread of your company’s buzz. This can be done by including a few things that are cost effective:

1. Press releases. Though press releases are cost effective and often times free to distribute, the main thing to remember is that there is much more to PR than just the press release. A press release can help your SEO (search engine optimization) efforts on your website and on other online press distribution sites, but that’s about as far as it will go. To get media attention and further coverage of your story, you need to connect with the media, referencing the press release that you sent them.
2. Your blog and website. Websites and blogs can be a great place to share information with buyers. This can also be the place where you can list your press releases that have been optimized for the Internet, further increasing your keyword traffic. Moreover, a blog can be a place where you can begin the relationship building process with your buyers by offering them something of value (which is key), encouraging them to participate in the blog, and also helping them to better understand your position. Unlike bigger companies who may not take advantage of this free resource, you can further advance your brand and image by being a personified company with something to offer to buyers and other bloggers. This is a great tool to get connected with others in the industry who blog as well, and can help you build your network as a company or business professional.
3. Social media tools. Along with blogs, these are great tools to use to grow your network. Use these free resources to get connected with others in your industry and with buyers alike. This can be another place for you to offer things of value to your followers, such as tips, resources, and relevant offers from your company. There is a fine line here that defines advertising and PR; many followers of companies online are not looking to be advertised to, but to offer something of value to someone who follows you, such as an offer or sale, can be beneficial if implemented correctly. Use these tools to give your company and brand a face and personality.
4. Customer service. This means paying attention to your buyers online who are responding to your content, sharing your content, or ignoring your content. There are lessons to be learned from each of those situations. Did someone share your content because they were mentioned in it, or did they share it because there was something great and of value there that they wanted others to experience? Take note of that and further improve your efforts in the future. Customer service also means taking responsibility and being a responsive company.

   As publicity grows around your company, it becomes ever more important to monitor what your buyers or potential buyers are saying about your company. This allows you to respond and potentially diffuse a bad situation and potential crisis. Moreover, offering great customer service for buyers who purchase your goods or services (or even return your goods and services) can help to encourage positive WOM that can further enhance your company brand and image. A little bit of attention can go a long way, and customers will share their experiences with others.

5. Media alerts and other invitations to cover. These, like press releases, are only as successful as you want them to be. If you send a media alert out, be sure to follow up with them to remind media about your event and to ensure that you get some sort of a response. The important thing here is to get a reply, even if it is a declination. This can help you plan for your event and to incorporate the media that will be present. Use these alerts to, well, alert the media of your event. This can be an invitation to the media to attend and cover your event with the hopes of further generating some publicity.

Overall, remember to listen to your customers, monitor your online brand, and utilize some of the free resources available to you as a small company. The above tasks are first steps in helping your company’s PR efforts to begin. There is much more you can do, and much more to the aforementioned steps than simply creating a blog or writing a press release; it takes persistent efforts and time to ensure your strategies work and to help ensure success.

As an employee of a small business, this blog has greatly helped to encourage people in my industry to get in touch with me, reach out, and to share my content with others. I made it easy for the content to be shared with the social media buttons, and I also made sure that my content is valuable and of a high quality by sharing what I know and what I’ve learned.

Are you a small business? Have your PR efforts proven to be successful?