PR and Brand Marketing: different perspectives, same goal

published 2001

PR is used more by brand marketers than ever before. But do marketers appreciate the differences between what they do and what PR people do and how each views the world from different perspectives?

Brand marketers...	PR people...
Deliver brand propositions	Find stories or angles
Directly reach mass audiences	Influence individuals who influence others
Seek to impact segments of the public so they behave in a desired way	Create awareness by informing and educating
Often need a result in the next quarter	Work to a longer timeframe
Are anxious if they can't control every 'touchpoint' between a company and its audiences, and have outputs guaranteed	Work best in an open-ended environment which means outcomes cannot be instantly measured.

Marketers are trained for the 'big bang' approach. Everything is planned to happen at once. The campaign hasn't worked if it hasn't achieved 'breakthrough' with its target segments.

PR, on the other hand, works best on a gradual and cumulative basis. Success is often gauged by the target segment not realising that there has been a campaign!

The moral of the story? In today's tough competitive environment, marketers need to use every weapon in their armoury. The challenge is to use advertising and PR in a complementary way and to realise they are separate disciplines that march to different drums.