Marketing and public relations

Marketing and public relations go hand-in-hand and have a direct impact on your business. Public relations or PR exists to enhance the reputation of a company. Marketing exists to enhance the sales of and growth of a company. Both areas want to gain exposure for the company through different methods.

What is Public Relations? In order to explain how PR and marketing work together, you need to understand how each one works individually. Starting with PR. The PR department generally has skilled publicists that work hard to protect the reputation of a company. The job of a publicist is to show the company in the best light possible. When a problem arises, it is the job of the PR department to fix it and make the company look good. Several people call publicists reputation protectors.

A PR individual is in charge of various responsibilities. Most PR individuals will talk to upset clients or customers and rectify the situation. PR individuals need to have excellent communication skills as they are in charge of convincing reporters they have a good company and it deserves to have a story published about it. PR individuals must also have creative writing skills since they are in charge of writing press releases for the company. PR individuals also spend countless hours networking the company at various events.

If PR is done correctly, the company will receive an increase in interested parties, which may lead to an increase in sales. PR individuals can gain credibility and become experts in their field from handling their position well.

What is Marketing? Marketing on the other hand is quite different from PR. The goal of marketing is to increase awareness about a company, service, or product and increase in sales and total revenue. Awareness about a specific product or service is generated through various advertising methods such as billboards, newspaper and magazine advertisements, online marketing campaigns, direct mail pieces, and other methods.

A marketer wants to sell the product or company to an interested party. It is not their responsibility to fix situations that show the company in a bad light. For example, if your company is a toy manufacturer and you have a toy recalled, the marketing department is in charge of informing the public of the toy recall and is in charge of finding a way to make back the money they just lost. The PR department will handle the poor publicity that comes with the recall and ensure the public this is a one time thing and the company will do everything possible to rectify the situation.

 When marketing is combined with PR, it can lead to the best end of the deal for both departments. PR will generate interest and marketing will sell the product to interested parties. While both areas are time consuming, they can have a large impact upon a company if they are strategically planned. Here are some ways to make marketing and PR work together to build up your company:

The first step to begin with is to create marketing campaigns and PR campaigns that correspond with one another. It is simply a matter of corresponding your goals and utilizing the resources you have at the company. A marketing department may be able to generate awareness about the company and book a speaking event at a conference, but the PR department usually has better speakers to talk about the company and touch on the product or service information at the same time.

The second step is to work together to come up with creative story ideas. While marketers are trained to think about pitching a service, product, or company, PR people know it is important to come up with a great story pitch and avoid self-promotion. If a press release is sent to the news media and it is found to be self-promoting or an advertisement, the news media will stop reading your press releases and they may even ask you to stop faxing them news releases. Before marketing and PR decide a new product or service needs to be promoted, they need to assess a few questions. First, find out what makes this is story, how is this different from other stories being pitched to the news media each day? How will your information benefit the news media and society? Is this an entertaining story, informative story, or a marketing ploy?

The third step you must take is to make sure you are reaching the correct target audience. For example, if your company sells make-up for women, you don't want to target men in their 70's. A make-up company will want to target women between the ages of 20 and up. It will really help your PR strategy and marketing plan if you can work together and define the target audience and begin targeting the right media channels.

The fourth step is to select someone to be the "face" of the campaign. Someone from the PR department needs to be in charge of representing the company to the public. Always train at least 2 people on the subject you are marketing so they can thoroughly answer any questions from the media. Everyone knows that journalists are busy people and they lack patience. If a journalist calls to do a story and they cannot get a hold of anyone at the company to fill in the blanks for them, they may not call back. Instead, they will publish the story `as is' or they will toss it aside and move onto the next story.

 The fifth step is to have patience. Marketing and PR strategies will not happen overnight. Media kits are a great resource to have ready when the phone starts ringing and media members want to run a story. Every press release should include some contact information and links to the web site or individual web pages that discuss the situation in more detail. Journalists like to have URLs to refer to in their articles and the more information you provide, the better your chances are at getting the information published. Make the web site easy to navigate not only for members of the media but also for customers and clients. PR individuals will be in charge of browsing the media to find popular stories that are related to their company, product, or service. For example, there could be a string of violent crimes happening across the state. If your company teaches self-defense courses, now is the perfect time to market. PR individuals need to write a creative press release that piggybacks on the existing problem and provide individuals with solutions. If the story is considered newsworthy, it will be read by journalist and they may even call someone at the company to be an expert witness in a news article.

Several companies offer corporate public relations and marketing experience. They will design strategies to fit the needs of their clients and will ensure an increase in news exposure and an increase in sales. For companies that do not wish to deal with the time consuming aspects of marketing and PR, hiring a corporate public relations firm is a good investment. It is still important for someone at the company to be trained in PR so they can handle speaking arrangements and network at social functions.

Over time, PR individuals and marketing professionals will build large contact lists. These contact lists will be used by companies to increase awareness about their company, service or product. An individual with good networking skills will have a large contact list and they will be hired for their reputation and contact list. PR and marketing individuals need to work under intense pressure and remain calm. Both departments are responsible for being creative and giving the company a good reputation and track record.

Every piece of marketing and PR promotion that is used needs to align with the business goals and objectives. For many, creating a campaign that is centered around the goals of the company is an easy task. The goal gives them the initial cornerstone they need to start building the rest of the campaign. PR individuals want to make the company look good while a marketer wants to gain exposure to more people and build the customer database. It is quite easy to make the different departments align strategies and work together to create a unique marketing and PR strategy.

Most PR individuals and marketers go to school and have similar majors. Marketers and PR individuals both take communication courses and learn various skills. Marketers and PR individuals must be excellent public speakers, and have good writing and verbal communication skills. These individuals will be in charge of networking the company at various events and gaining awareness at these events. Some companies provide in-house training for both their marketing department and the PR department. Having in-house training is a smart idea because it gives the individuals time to become familiar with the company and find ways to provide professional answers to questions from the news media.