Public relations (PR) and marketing both boost brand awareness and build relationships with customers. However, they differ in their overall goals, target audiences, tools, and success metrics.
Here, we’ll compare PR vs. marketing, including their similarities and differences. We’ll also delve into how leveraging PR and marketing can boost your revenue by intertwining your public perception and marketing efforts to increase sales.
Table of Contents
- What Are Public Relations?
- How Is Marketing Defined?
- Public Relations vs. Marketing: Key Differences
- Public Relations vs. Marketing: Similarities
- How Are PR and Marketing Typically Measured?
- A Day in the Life of a PR Expert
- A Day in the Life of a Marketing Specialist
- How To Determine if Your Business Needs PR or Marketing
- Marketing vs. Public Relations: Key Takeaways
What Are Public Relations?
Public relations is the process of managing a brand’s public image by building long-lasting relationships with customers, media outlets, investors, and employees. Global PR spending reached $19.5 billion in 2023 and is expected to continue growing in the following years. This reflects the growing investment in PR as a key component of brand strategy.
The primary types of PR include:
- Media relations
- Community relations
- Public affairs
- Crisis communication
- Social media communications
- Internal employee communications
- Strategic communications
PR activities can be conducted by in-house PR specialists or an outsourced PR agency. For a more in-depth look at PR and what PR professionals can do for your brand, check out our article, What Is a PR agency?
How Is Marketing Defined?
Marketing is the process of attracting audience interest to buy or sell products or services through activities such as market research, analysis, and advertising. Marketing’s aim is to get consumers interested in your brand offerings and generate revenue.
Marketing activities can be conducted by in-house staff or marketing agencies following the 4P principle:
- Product: This refers to any item or service you sell to meet the needs of your consumers. Your marketers must know about the product’s entire life cycle and how to use it at every step.
- Price: This is the amount your customers pay for your offerings. It reflects value based on supply costs, competitors’ prices, and seasonal discounts. Your sales team can lower the price to make it accessible to more consumers or raise it to evoke a sense of luxury or exclusiveness.
- Place: This determines where your product or service will be sold, whether it’s a brick-and-mortar store display, a web page, a smartphone app, or a TV show. The aim is to position your item before potential customers’ eyes and grab their attention.
- Promotion: This includes all marketing activities that show your target audiences why they need your offerings and why they should pay the designated price.
Common types of marketing include:
- Email marketing
- Search engine marketing
- Influencer marketing
- Outbound marketing
- Inbound marketing
- Social media marketing
- Advertising
Is PR Part of Marketing?
Yes, PR is considered a part of marketing, though it has distinct functions and goals. PR supports marketing efforts by shaping public perception. This enhances brand credibility and trust, which helps amplify marketing campaigns.
When PR and marketing strategies are leveraged effectively, you establish a favorable image, build emotional connections with audiences, and drive sales. Even in times of crisis, you can protect your reputation and mitigate potential damage to marketing efforts.
Public Relations vs. Marketing: Key Differences
PR and marketing are overlapping disciplines that serve distinct purposes within a business strategy. Here are all the elements that differentiate PR from marketing:
- Areas of operation
- Goals
- Target audience
- Tools
- Time frame
- Success metrics
- Legitimacy
- Influence
- Return on investment
1. Areas of Operation
PR activities focus on an organization’s external and internal communications to build relationships with media entities, key stakeholders, and even employees, shaping how the brand is perceived. PR is image- and relationship-driven, meant to increase trust, credibility, and community engagement.
In contrast, marketing focuses on acquiring and retaining audiences and performing well compared to industry competitors. It has a product- or service-driven focus, emphasizing benefits and features to attract customers.
2. Goals
The goal of public relations is to manage brand messaging and communication channels and build a positive perception of your company. It also protects your brand’s reputation during crises and mitigates any damage from issues that may arise.
The primary aim of marketing is to boost profits for your business by demonstrating how your offerings meet your customers’ needs. These campaigns are designed to create demand and achieve measurable results like sales growth and lead generation. Its core objectives are closely aligned with revenue, which is why digital ad spend is expected to exceed $800 billion by 2027.
3. Target Audience
The target audience for public relations is a large, diverse group of people that includes stakeholders, customers, employees, media outlets, and the general public. PR extends beyond immediate customers and includes all groups that have an interest in or influence over your brand’s image.
Marketing’s target audience includes anyone who makes a purchasing decision, which can include existing and prospective customers, whether business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-consumer (B2C) audiences. The primary aim is to convert interested audiences into paying customers.
Target audiences for PR and marketing strategies often overlap, but the methods in which they are captured differ significantly.
4. Tools
PR strategies use press releases, interviews, editorials, speaking engagements, business events, and other programs to achieve your company’s PR goals. They are geared toward relationship building and public perception to help your brand earn trust and legitimacy.
Marketing uses online advertising, design, content creation, search engine optimization (SEO), emails, and other similar tactics to capture audiences and reach your marketing goals. They focus on direct promotion and consumer engagement to increase revenue.
5. Time Frame
PR has a long-term view, in which your brand continuously works to build and sustain a positive reputation over many years. Media relations and corporate social responsibility power sustained credibility and goodwill. For example, more than 90% of professionals plan to issue the same number or more press releases by 2025.
In marketing, the goals are short- to medium-term, so the results can be seen within a few weeks or months. These initiatives are executed within a defined period, aiming for the quickest possible return on investment (ROI). For example, product launches and seasonal promotions lead to more sales within hours or days.
6. Success Metrics
Success in public relations is typically measured by generating “buzz,” gaining favorable media exposure, bringing positive change to your brand perception, winning awards at industry events, and similar qualitative measures.
In marketing, success is defined by specific quantitative metrics, such as increased online traffic, growth of followers on social media, improved conversion rates, and ultimately, more revenue.
7. Legitimacy
PR messages are primarily earned and voluntarily provided by trusted journalists and influential personalities in your industry. The trustworthiness of these endorsements is typically higher, as the public perceives them to be authentic and unbiased.
PR is often considered by consumers as more legitimate than paid marketing messages. Paid promotions are often viewed with skepticism by audiences, as they know the brand controls the message and is trying to sell them something.
8. Influence
PR professionals seek to influence public opinion, focusing on how the general public, media, and industry leaders view your brand. It can help your brand maintain strong, supportive relationships with your investors, employees, and community.
Marketing influences consumer behavior, such as purchasing, subscribing, or engaging with a product or service. It impacts consumers’ purchase decisions and brand loyalty, successfully converting awareness into measurable business outcomes.
9. Return on Investment (ROI)
ROI for public relations is increased credibility and trust, which are qualitative aspects that are difficult to measure. Positive perception and media coverage is reflected in sustained brand loyalty and long-term brand sentiment.
ROI in marketing involves measurable metrics like new customers, conversions, and sales. These are tangible outcomes that you can track over time.
| Aspects | PR | Marketing |
| Areas of operation | External and internal communications | Audience acquisition and retention |
| Goals | Build positive perception | Boost revenue |
| Target audience | Media entities, key stakeholders, employees, community | Target customers and clients |
| Tools | Press releases, interviews, speaking engagements, industry events, community outreach | Advertising, design, content creation, SEO, email |
| Timeframe | Long-term | Short- to medium-term |
| Success metrics | Media exposure, industry awards | Engagement, conversions, sales |
| Legitimacy | Earned media viewed as legitimate | Paid media viewed with skepticism |
| Influence | Public opinion | Consumer behavior |
| Return on investment | Positive brand sentiment | More revenue |
Public Relations vs. Marketing: Similarities
So, if public relations and marketing are different, why are the terms often used interchangeably?
The answer is simple: there’s a lot of overlap between the two. PR and marketing both:
1. Boost Awareness
Though their target audiences may differ, both public relations and marketing create awareness and spread the word about your brand and its offerings. Together, they play an integral role in ensuring that your target audience knows you exist and are trustworthy and credible.
For both, the goal is to increase visibility and keep your brand top of mind for consumers, stakeholders, and the general public. Marketing does this through paid channels and marketing campaigns, while PR leverages media relationships and organic content.
2. Build Relationships
PR and marketing efforts complement each other to create strong, lasting connections with audiences. Marketing builds more direct relationships with consumers, while PR focuses on developing long-term connections with stakeholders. Both are essential in fostering trust, engagement, and loyalty. This supportive ecosystem enhances the brand's reputation and reach.
3. Use Content
Both public relations and marketing use storytelling and quality content to engage audiences and communicate your message effectively. PR uses content to build brand reputation and create goodwill, while marketing sells products and engages audiences. A cohesive approach ensures your brand is visible, trusted, and relevant to your audience.
How Are PR and Marketing Typically Measured?
The effectiveness of your PR and marketing strategies are measured in different ways due to their distinct goals.
PR is more focused on qualitative outcomes, which can be challenging to measure with direct metrics:
- Media coverage: The number of mentions, articles, interviews, and features in media outlets.
- Share of voice: The volume of media coverage or brand mentions compared to competitors.
- Earned media value: The advertising value of earned media.
Marketing analytics are easier to measure using the following quantifiable metrics:
- Engagement: Likes, shares, comments, and other interactions on digital platforms. High engagement signals effective marketing.
- Conversions: The percentage of leads from social media, paid ads, and email marketing that convert into customers.
- Revenue: The increase in sales that can be attributed to marketing campaigns.
- ROI: The amount spent on marketing campaigns compared to the revenue generated as a direct result.
A Day in the Life of a PR Expert
Now that we have listed the major similarities and differences between PR and marketing, let’s go a little further and explore the typical activities a PR professional could perform for you on a typical working day.
Here are just a few examples:
- Preparing a speech for an industry event
- Pitching an exciting product launch story to the media
- Writing a press release about a charity event you are organizing
- Conducting media training for your in-company spokesperson and mentoring them on how to speak, behave, and dress during public appearances
- Organizing interviews with the media for your executives at an annual trade show
- Working on internal communication copy to announce a change in your organization and distributing the information via your internal company channels
- Preparing a crisis management plan for your company
- Handling a company crisis, including writing statements to media, customers, and employees
- Meeting with journalists and influencers to build and maintain business relationships
- Developing your press kit materials
A Day in the Life of a Marketing Specialist
Conversely, here’s what a typical day in the life of a marketing specialist might look like:
- Planning a social media campaign to promote a new product or service
- Planning an advertising campaign and launch timeline for your new product or service
- Buying advertising space on different channels and platforms, such as social media, TV, radio, and more, to advertise your product or service
- Conducting research on your target audiences
- Creating website landing pages and blogs with keywords that customers search for
- Drafting a weekly newsletter to send to your clients or customers
- Launching a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign
- Creating brochures to support the sales team
- Conducting competitor analysis to identify how your company performs compared to your competitors
- Defining key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure performance
How To Determine if Your Business Needs PR or Marketing
So, when it comes to marketing vs. public relations, how do you determine which kind of expert you need for your brand?
You may be thinking that you need to choose one over the other, but the truth is that investing in a combination of marketing initiatives and public relations activities is the best choice for any brand. PR and marketing complement each other by aligning target audiences, key messaging, and communication strategies to ensure cohesion.
Let’s say you run a startup that hasn’t conducted any marketing or advertising just yet, and you want to start getting your brand name out there. Diving directly into a marketing campaign without first establishing brand visibility would likely be a waste of money.
Managing your reputation and building a strong relationship with your customers through a public relations strategy before launching a marketing campaign can build awareness for your target audiences. This will encourage them to interact with your brand and take part in your marketing initiatives at a later stage.
If you don’t have an in-house PR or marketing team, you can outsource your projects to agencies that will use their extensive expertise and network of contacts and tools to plan, execute, and optimize your PR or marketing activities.
Marketing vs. Public Relations: Key Takeaways
Your business will benefit from a well-balanced combination of public relations and marketing. With effective PR strategies, you can create and maintain a positive brand perception. With streamlined marketing activities, your campaigns will drive engagement and sales.
Outsourcing the services of marketing agencies and specialized PR companies can help you with everything discussed in this article.
