Should You Start With PR or Marketing? Find out more.

Even if you’ve got an amazing product or service as an entrepreneur, guess what? You still need to connect with customers and also get some sales under your belt. There’s debate, although, about whether you should focus on PR or marketing first. In most cases, it’s wise to concentrate initially on public relations.

What Is Public Relations?

The term ‘public relations’ (PR) is a strategic communication process which builds mutually beneficial relationships between organisations as well as their publics.

PR professionals assist a business or individual with cultivating a positive reputation with the public through a number of different unpaid or earned communications. These include:

• Traditional media,
• Social media, and
• In-person engagements.

These professionals also assist clients with defending their reputation during a crisis which threatens their credibility.

Why Is PR Important?

PR is one of the most efficient ways of building on marketing strategies as well as creating a rock-solid online reputation. Companies have caught onto that are investing a good amount of time as well as effort into remaining on top of their PR strategies. As a result they’re seeing even larger returns with better ROI.

Whatever the industry, trust plays a huge role when it comes to deciding on the success of a business. In the absence of trust, a company leaves potential sales on the table. In order to bridge that trust-gap between a business and its would-be clients or customers, the organisation can hire someone in public relations who works on increasing:

• Their credibility within their given industry, and
• Their overall reputation.

This is often accomplished through thought-leadership pieces, influencer connections as well as networking strategies.

PR Isn’t Completely Divorced From Marketing

PR isn’t complete separate from marketing.  A business that enhances its reputation through a range of unique PR practices makes it extremely likely that new potential customers will easily find their way right to its door. Customers and clients will have gain more options to connect with the company through its business stories as well as press releases.

Marketing is the whole system of developing products or services and then communicating their benefits to customers in order to entice them to conduct purchases. Public relations is a component of a company’s marketing plan which emphasises the promotion of goodwill with the public in addition to the support of the company image.

The relationship that exists between marketing and PR is a fantastic example of how silos have no place in the modern business world. Certainly there are a number of distinctions between them, however smart brands will focus more on how they work together as opposed to on how they differ.

Get in touch with the Digital School of Marketing

If you are keen to discover additional information about Digital Public Relations then you need to do our Digital Public Relations Course. For more information, please follow this link.