Is PR the same as Marketing ?
Very few people are aware of what Public Relations actually does therefore it is often confused with marketing or even Advertising. It can be argued that PR is an essential part of the marketing mix but in terms of delivering results - it hold's its own. There are however a number of reasons why PR and Marketing are so similar and the foremost reason is that they have common goals. Goals like Image building and brand recognition, promoting a product, and persuasion in order to induce belief or action. In a nutshell however, they both try to communicate the desired message.
Apart from the fact that PR uses different tactics and methods in order to achieve its goals they are essentially two separate things. Even then there is an increasing trend in the merging of ideas between the Public Relations and Marketing industry the world-over. In most organizations the PR practitioners operate under the wings of the Marketing department. When I was working as an assistant in the PR department of a large entertainment company I learnt how dependant PR is on Marketing. All PR decisions were first approved by the Marketing division before being implemented. Also, I recently worked on an analytical essay on the PR practices of The Bacardi-Martini Company and found out during the course of my research that they don't even have a PR department and that their Marketing department deals with all PR issues and they then outsource their PR whenever required.
This in no way goes on to undermine the power of PR because the proof lies in the world around us that - PR makes people sit up and take notice! However it seems that with the increase in its popularity and the dependency PR has created. Public Relations may be taking on the duties of Marketing and bringing the two closer together.
6 comments:
I do agree that PR as an independant function is slowly and surely starting to hold its own..although it will always remain in the close vicinity of marketing as it is an intergral part of it. As time passes the kind of functions that PR performs is for sure to widen and become as important a function as marketing or advertising. I do agree with the examples you have given to elucidate your point across and it would be great if you could come up with some more views and examples to broaden this never ending debate.
Public Relations may be a profession in its own right but have you noticed how PR people shy away from calling themselves the same. In my company we have a 'image management' team with consultants and executives and the whole she-bang ... but not once do they say that they 'do PR' for our company. So maybe PR and marketing merging themselves in practice and discipline is a good thing for the 'image' of PR ?
Theoritically PR and Marketing are two seperate elements but at times the do tend to overlap. Where in some cases one can cleary make out that somehting is PR or marketing in some the line is very thin. When it comes to PR and Marketing there is no black and white, where if Marketing is black PR is white but a whole lot of grey areas, where the two seem to merge, right down to the fact that sometimes PR personal them selves consider them marketing people not PR. Many companies have a single department for both Marketing and PR, not realizing that they are two seperate entities.
Good thoughts and fantastic research is the result of all this output.keep growing!
MITRA
I completely agree that,thoguh PR forms an essential part of the marketing mix and has the similar goals, it has fundamental differences. Its been noted thet expenditure of the marketing activites is being reduced by 30% in terms of advertising and this extra budget of 30% is being channelised to the PR activites. An intersting thing to note here would be the rising trend of PR activites being conducted by Universities in oversees markets, as compared to the traditional methods of direct mailing.
...i think...PR n markitin r not interrelated ...they hav d same goalzz...but r diff in most wayz .....but lately PR has gone BIG....!!
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