Debra Wheeler is a Broker Associate for Re/Max in Akron, OH. She’s dealt with marketing and PR types and has herself done a bit of both. She contributed most of this post, and I’m grateful!
So. What’s the difference between the marketing and public relations functions?
Simply stated, marketing people focus on people they DON’T know; PR people focus on people they DO know.
| Marketing People | PR People |
| Don’t know the audience | Do know the audience |
| Deal with large groups | Deal with one client at a time |
| Deliver a message to the audience | Create a relationship with the client |
| Not usually out there in the audience | Often seen at events; accessible |
| Create brands | Communicate brands |
This may be somewhat over-simplified for readers, but the bottom line is that the PR person talks about you, the client. Here’s a diagrammatic look, though still over-simplified:
(The marketing person doesn’t know the audience directly and personally.)
- Marketing Client –> hires Marketing –> reaches out to audience without engagement
- PR Client –> hires PR –> establishes relatiionship with client; reaches out to audience with engagement or direct contact
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June 8, 2009 at 12:00 pm
How can a marketing person be effective if they don’t know the audience?
Does a PR person only deal with one person when they get newspaper articles published for their clients? Or do you meant that PR people only deal with individuals as clients and don’t work for companies?
Perhaps our definitions of marketing vs. PR are different, I can’t find much I agree with, but maybe I’m looking at this from a different point of view.
June 9, 2009 at 5:24 am
Aiiiigh! I’ve been caught writing unclearly again!
I’ve put some adjustments into the article.
June 9, 2009 at 2:39 pm
Dear Dr. Ron, I’m still not sure I agree with your assertions about Marketing vs. PR.
I understand concepts better when someone gives me an example, so maybe I can communicate my ideas better by giving an example.
One of my favorite marketers is Proctor and Gamble. (provider of all types of personal products) One of their very popular products is Tide.
TV ads, print ads, web newsletters, etc. will extoll the benefits of using Tide – cleaner clothes, stain removal, good smelling clothes, fluffy clothes. All BENEFITS of the product aimed at getting you to BUY Tide. These ads are marketing efforts.
Tide is currently running a commercial telling of the Tide truck that travels to sites of disaster. This huge trailer pulls up to the location of a fire, flood, tornado, etc. and helps people get clean clothes. It’s one of those things you never think of – if you’ve been displaced by some disaster, how do you get clean clothes? But the Tide truck comes to help people with this chore. People are interviewed about how important it is at a time like this to have clean clothes.
There is no mention in the ad about how well Tide cleans your clothes. This is PR. It creates a good feeling about Tide products.
At the end of the commercial there is a call to purchase the product to support this good deed. But my guess is that Tide will continue to run this program anyway. It’s way too good a PR move! Everyone that gets their clothes washed by Tide will be a forever customer. There might be a local tv news story or newspaper articles about the Tide truck that will further positively influence people within the area.
There is a pretty close relationship between marketing and PR. This PR dovetails into a marketing plan. I think marketing and PR have to work together.
There isn’t a separation due to the size of the audience, no one from P&G is in the room, this is a national effort. Marketing isn’t CREATING the brand, PR isn’t communicating the brand.
Marketing is selling the benefits and providing a call to action. PR supports the marketing effort by making you feel good about the company, the action, or the product.
Here’s another example –
Chemical company ABC has a chemical leak. ABC may not want to start a marketing compaign right now, but they will sure as heck ramp up the PR efforts. PR might show how they are mitigating the damages, helping those effected, might even try to show how a particular product helps us in our everyday life.
Now hopefully this will reflect back in a positive way on sales. (Which may have tanked and any improvement will be welcomed)
The purpose of both marketing and PR is to increase sales. They just go about it in slightly different ways. Marketing is about benefits of buying and a call to action, PR is about providing information or giving a good message to bolster those markeing efforts.
June 9, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Forgive me if I’m being dense, but I don’t really see from the example how we differ. Though I could say simply that Marketing deals with the brand and PR with the events. Even that doesn’t differ with what Debbie said before; it just puts on a different twist.