PR vs Marketing: What's the Difference?

So, as a second year PR student I can’t claim to have a huge amount of experience in the topic of roles and responsibilities of both Marketing and PR, and the overlap between the two. However, I can say that after two years of studying the matter, I find that more and more the lines between the two are blurred and warped to the point it is difficult to know when one ends and the other begins. There are on the other hand several important differences between the two, and it is important to be aware and understand these if one is hoping to get involved in a career in either Marketing or Public Relations. Firstly, let’s look at the specific definitions of the two… 

Dr. Philip Kotler suggests that Marketing is “The science and art of exploring, creating, and delivering value to satisfying the needs of a target market at a profit”. He goes on to state that it “Identifies unfulfilled needs and desires. It defines, measures and quantifies the size of the identified market and the profit potential.” (Heidi Cohen, 2011)

On the other hand, the CIPR argues that “Public Relations is about reputation - the result of what you do, what you say and what others say about you. Public Relations 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 organisation and its publics.” 

At first glance, the two seems frustratingly similar. Both Marketing and PR are focused around interacting with the public, they both require the same skills base (ie: communication skills, knowledge of the publics, ability to understand and influence an audience, the capacity of reliably sourcing and researching information in order to properly respond to it, etc.), and they often rely on the same methods and skills of doing so.

When we strip each role down to its basic functions, however, the differences become clear. Public Relations focuses of establishing an active relationship with the target audience and creating a level of trust and reliability between the company and any stakeholders – including the public, employees, shareholders, consumers, etc. It places high value on maintaining a strong reputation and image for company, striving to push it to its full potential with both internal and external communications.

Marketing however, holds more focus on devising campaigns and strategies that push a company’s image and products in order to dominate in their field. They are responsible for assessing the interests and needs of the public, and forming a dynamic marketing campaign that will suit this. This involves branding, suggestions and promotions of new products, corporate representation etc.

There are also differences in the methods and availability of communicating with the publics. On one hand, marketing has the ability to use creativity and persuasion in order to boost the business and its sales. Fact is not necessarily of high importance, it is more about saying what the customer wants to hear. Public Relations on the other hand is confined by their responsibility to represent an honest, informative but also interesting portrayal of the corporate message. Ideally they will aim to build trusting relations between the public and the company. Whilst both make effort to boost the company and its brand, they have entirely different methods of doing so.

Finally, there are variations between the two in the level of control over communication. Because Public Relations relies on the media to provide ‘free advertising’ through the publishing of information conveyed through Press Releases, they often have little control over what will actually be published. This means the actual message has the potential to be misinterpreted, twisted, or missed completely by the media. The field of Marketing does not have this issue. They most often have a budget which allows for them to produce their own advertising, which provides full control over exactly what they want to say and how.

In today’s society, the growing influence of Social media has further contorted the lines between roles of marketing and public relations. This is something that, it can be presumed, will only continue to grow more prominent as more and more people rely on sites such as Facebook and Twitter. However, it is important to remember that although Marketing and PR appear similar and share many values and responsibilities, they differ in their methods and fundamentals which ultimately stands them apart as separate jobs.

Anyway, I hope this helps all those out there who are as frustrated by the blurred lines of the twin worlds of marketing and PR! Any questions, feel free to ask as always.

Thanks for reading, over and out.