BACKWhen Worlds Collide — the Wonders of PR and Marketing
When we hear the word ‘marketing’, it’s often hand-in-hand with ‘sales’. We tend to forget that PR and marketing don’t mean one and the same, but rather that PR falls under the broad umbrella of ‘marketing’. An umbrella with many different facets, marketing is made up of varying elements, from pure marketing, digital marketing and advertising to social media and PR. All of these facets drive trust, connection, and loyalty towards a brand. While clever PR creates the connective tissue to building a narrative and content development, it’s when exceptional marketing and high-quality PR come together, that a brand’s identity blossoms.
In brand we trust: delivering reliable content
Trust in a brand comes from consistent messaging and knowing the market. In an ideal world, social media posts, organic media coverage, influencers and bloggers should all say the same thing — which in turn builds the reliability and trust in your brand and what it delivers. What makes it even more powerful is when the organic media coverage offers the same message as the paid. That’s where PR helps fill in the gaps.
It’s about having a message and sticking to it. Marketing and PR aren’t separate entities of a singular organisation; they’re an interwoven pathway of communication that leads to the end of the brand marketing rainbow.
Reading the room: knowing your brand and personas
Building a brand and customer persona takes time and effort, and with each painstaking persona crafted, it’s important to utilise it to the best of its capabilities. Believe it or not — that counts for PR as well. Only this time, your brand persona takes on a focus of understanding things from a journalist’s perspective. Collaborating your marketing and PR teams to create a brand persona helps you ensure that you’re reaching target audiences and media channels appropriately and with a cohesive and united vision for your brand.
The dream team — how bloggers and influencers build brand credibility
Traditional advertising tends to fall short these days for a myriad of reasons — namely, a cluttered market and the tendency for digital marketing to allow for personalisation. When something is featured without payment, the cut through is much higher. However, this isn’t the case with a sales pitch for PR and marketing teams. Customers have started looking towards their favourite bloggers and influencers as reliable and trustworthy sources of information.
When connecting with the myriad of bloggers and influencers out there, it’s important that you find someone who aligns with your brand values and vision. Connecting with likeminded bloggers and influencers reinforces your message and builds trust in a brand.
Brand in mind: delivering a marketing strategy that puts the brand first
When it comes to marketing, it’s all about the bigger picture. It’s about creating a memorable campaign that allows you to connect with the consumer. Digital marketing is about driving acquisition and sales, but they do this by knowing where to put the campaign. PR is about reinforcing the marketing campaign message and giving it credibility to your consumers as an unpaid feature. The strategies set in place may be different, but the goal should remain the same — that is, getting your brand name out there.
When the stars align — how PR and marketing deliver the right message
The recurring theme must be clear by now that establishing a proactive public relations team and processes works to create high impact content that your audience can trust. Delivering consistent messages throughout all marketing facets and knowing your audiences throughout all processes ensures that you’re getting the right message across. It’s about looking at your company pipeline and workflow to understand the best ways each department can benefit from aligning themselves with each other.
Marketing and PR might not be the same things, but your business can certainly benefit from them working together in a complementary fashion.
