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.