It's sunday evening and I have a few thoughts.

If Marketing uses PR as an aspect of it's promotions, how much of PR is used in marketing promotions and does this mean the two disciplines are coming together?

The main pie in Marketing is in it's use of advertising which is paid for while PR is said to be third party endorsement.

Advertising focuses on bringing a product or service to the attention of potential and current customers. Marketing uses advertising as it's key strategy to get value in return. The needs of the potential customers are researched and marketing deals with how to meet those needs with particular products and services.different approaches are used for different products. These paid for approaches include: brochures, commercials, direct-mailings and personal contacts.

PR uses communication techniques to promote goodwill between an organisation and it's publics. It is an on going process and does'nt just happen when there is a new product/service. These publics include stakeholders, customers and employees. There is more to an organisation than getting returns for sale. There is the need to make sure the organisations vision, mission and strategies are communicated to the staff.Staff have to be kept up to date on changes in organisational flow as this will give them the confidence to face customers and be the best they can be.
PR is broader in the promotional aspect of it. A company's reputation is enhanced, protected and promoted all round. With regards to promotion, PR seeks to promote an entire package; the company using the media, newspapers, magazines, word of mouth. Though PR sometimes aims at promoting a particular product or service, there is more of a longterm objective in terms of influencing people's opinions, views and arousing interests for these goods.

There is indeed a bit of a gray area as regards whether the two disciplines are merging or growing apart, however though there seems to be a blur, Marketing and Public relations are really two distinct management functions.

Shizzle being PR?

The effects of New Media on Marketing and PR

Another similarity between Marketing and PR is the increased use of new media to transmit messages to the audience as opposed to just sticking to the more traditional methods like direct marketing and advertising. Marketing and PR brands have to work hard to keep their brand one step ahead of the rest. One of the ways they can do this is to keep up to date with the rapid technological changes that allow them to target consumers in new and ingenious ways.

According to David Meerman Scott in his book- The New Rules of Marketing and PR,the new rules are all about breaking the rules and creating new roles in traditional functional areas.

We're now in a content rich,internet driven world. No longer are PR practitioners limited in where and how they direct their knowledge and perception management skills. Mobile phones, emails, news releases online, blogs, podcasting, viral marketing are all tools used by both to send messages out in a much faster way.

The frustration of relying exclusively on the media and expensive advertising to deliver an organisations messages is long gone. Mainstream media is still important but today smart marketers craft compelling messages and tell the world directly via the web.

The tremendous expense of relying on advertising to convince buyers to pay attention to your products is yesterday's headache.

E-Business is Big Business

An example is Tesco (a department store in the UK)'s e-commerce site which made £447 million in online sales in 2002,up to 26% in 2001. This led to a thirty-fold increase in profits from £400,000 to £12.2 million. Tesco's web shopping site processes around 110,000 weekly orders(Source:Ukonline for business)

Market research

The internet is great for looking at competitors websites and as a tool for customers surveys,market analysis and business reports

Promotion

Customers can find out about services and products via the website.

Search engine optimization

Getting in a good position on a search engine is vital.you need to optimise key words on the site and ask other websites to link through to your site-hyperlinks boost search ratings.The surest way of controlling a position on a search engine is by paying.

Overall, there is no doubt that online media is a major platform in reaching a wider audience. PR has been slow to champion online methods unlike advertising and marketing agencies who were quick to recognise the advantages of the online media and use it as a channel to reach consumers.

According to Simon Collister of Edelman PR agency, the threat to the PR industry is in measurement and evaluation. PR needs to go down a conversational route and see how word of mouth can be measured by getting clients/customers to talk with each other.

In all, the method used to reach consumers is based on the clients overriding strategy.

Key concepts/tools in Marketing:

• Product/pricing/place/promotion/distribution/retail
• Brand management
• Marketing research
• Marketing strategy

Promotional content:

• Advertising/branding
• Direct marketing/personal sales
• Product placement
• Public relations publicity
• Sales promotion

Promotional media:

• Printing/publication
• Broadcasting
• Internet marketing
• Point of sale
• Word of mouth
• Digital marketing

Careers in Marketing include: Marketing managers, Account executives, Brand managers

Key concepts/tools in Public Relations include:

• Publicity and press relations
• Press releases
• Events
• Campaigning
• Lobbying
• Networking

Careers in Public relations include: Public relations specialists, Corporate communications director, Public relations director.

A list of PR functions include:

• Public speaking
• Attending conferences
• Crisis management
• Arranging press launches
• Event management
• Research
• Corporate identity
• Strategic planning

The main crossover areas between Marketing and PR are in promotion.Marketing promotions will usually include advertising space that is paid for,while PR often generates free media coverage through comment in the press. PR can be applied to every aspect of the marketing mix though it is not as 'in your face' as marketing but more subtle. Both are dedicated to the company's bottom line.

Firstly,lets look at some definitions of Marketing and Public Relations.

Do you honestly think there's a difference between Marketing and Public Relations?

Are there merging...growing further apart...what do you think?

Is there even a clear demarcation?

According to the UK's Chartered Institute of Marketing(CIM):Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying,anticipating,and satisfying customer requirements profitably.(CIM,2001)
The American Marketing Association(AMA)'s definition is Marketing as a process of planning and executing the conception,pricing,promotion and distribution of ideas,goods and services to create exchange and satisfy individual and organisational objectives.(AMA,1985)

A definition that includes the important elements of both the AMA and CIM definitions,but still embraces the evolving relationship orientation,is offered by Gronroos(1997):

Marketing is to establish, maintain and enhance relationships with customers and other partners, at a profit, so that the objectives of the parties involved are met.This is achieved by mutual exchange and fulfillment of promises.

Public Relations on the other hand according to the Chartered Institute of public relations(CIPR)'s definition is about reputation. The result of what you do,what you say and what others say about you.http://www.cipr.co.uk/
PR is the discipline which looks after reputation with the aim of earning understanding and support and influencing opinion and behaviour. It is the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an orgainsation and it's publics.

According to Amanda Barry(2002), Public Relations is fundamentally the process of managing how,when and in what way you communicate, so that you may ultimately influence the behaviour, attitude and perceptions of those important to you.

PR is quite often confused with marketing, however the fundamental ways in which they work are very different. it's true that both are methods of communication. It's also true that both seek to influence the minds and attitudes of others. But, they take different approaches.

Marketing is interested in the market-consumers and demand. Public Relations is interested in relationships -reducing conflict and improving cooperation.

Marketing in my experience is more of a direct sale for profitability, finding the need and selling the benefits of a product/service to meet that need in order to gain. People involved in marketing are direct sales people like marketers,customer services officers.

Public relations is more than anything the management of information to gain mutual understanding. The management of information may inevitably result in a sale of some sort but it is not always a direct exchange process. Public relations practitioners may work in-house for organisations or for consultancies.

I will start this comparison by looking at the possible similarities first and reasons why the two may be said to be merging.