The differences between PR, Marketing and Advertising
For integrated marketing to be effective there is a need to complement various communication methods to help attain the desired goal, these methods include public relations, marketing and advertising. Public Relation is the process where a positive relationship is built between the company and the public through media exposure. It is one of the most important tools for communication within any business organization that enables the establishment of a favorable and strong relationship with the public. Marketing on the other hand comprises all the activities that any company does in the process of buying and selling products or services. Various methods like advertising and promotions are employed during the marketing process (Hoopla media, 2008).
The marketing department in any organization concerns with the allocation of resources towards enhancing the sale of products and services. Marketing encompasses public relations and advertising programs that help in the process of selling products. Before marketing is done a lot of research must be done to ensure that the relationship between the company and the consumer is at its best. Advertising is the process where the public’s attention is drawn to one particular product or service through media (Hoopla media, 2008). Advertising as a component of the marketing process spreads the news about an organization, its products and services. It forms the largest part of expenses within the marketing plan as compared to public relations.
Product Publicity
Public Relation is used to display products and services with the aim of attracting public interest towards the business. The process of product publicity is organized in such a way that it’s useful when launching new products or giving more information about products that already exist within the market. Several promotional tools are used to create public awareness of available products. Every company has public relations department which is responsible for the full product publicity. Products can be publicized through a press release which is a statement issued to media by an organization, it can also be done through the internet and other techniques. These methods are basically used to make the public understand and accept the quality and use of the product (PR Ideas, 2006). Besides product publicity, there is also the publicity of the organization that accompanies advertising and this focuses on advertising the company.
Brand Building
A strong brand increases the level of customer’s trust towards products. Strong brand has the ability to generate more profit for the company. The value of an organization within the market is determined by its brand equity. Stronger brands have the capability of attracting larger profits to the benefit of shareholders. Public relation is utilized in brands with the aim of building clear image in the minds of the targeted consumers.
The quality of a brand is determined by whether it communicates the preferences and the core expectations of the consumers. The firm must be positioned in such a way that it captures the consumers’ mind, this can only be done through strong image brand. Usually, the brand personality is built by combining the elements of promotional mix. The brand quality must first of all be understood within the business premises before being taken to consumers. This ensures that the quality of service given to consumers reflects the strength and value of the brand to the public. Public relations will be improved greatly when trained and skilled employees are used to secure the loyalty of the brand (Tutor2u, 2010).
Third-party Endorsement
Third-party endorsement is one of the concepts that gives and adds public relations a lot of meaning and importance. It is cheap since it cuts on the costs of advertisement; the publication used gives enough information about the organization and all its products. The use of third-party endorsement has proved to be very effective when it comes to winning back the consumers’ confidence towards the organization. Majority of the consumers suggests that they do not always have confidence in most of the advertisement messages; this calls for much attention in the use of public relations to bring out the real picture of the product being advertised (Driscoll, 2010).
Third-party endorsement used as one of the strategies in marketing is often viewed by the consumers as the type of advertisement that incorporates every positive detail about the advertised product, and this must originate from an identified third-party organization (Dean and Biswas, 2001). Third-party endorsement have got great influence on the endorsed products or service and research has proved that it increases consumers trust on products hence can lead to increased sales.
The credibility of a company may be enhanced by the inclusion of third-party endorsement within their advertisements. This is because the third-party endorser is an independent source and may convince consumers to trust and drop their uncertainties about purchase of the products. Third-party endorsements play the role of attaching quality to the products being advertised. In this case Public relation is utilized to enable completion of transaction between buyers and sellers by providing complete information to the buyers. This information helps the buyers to scrutinize and evaluate the quality of products or services being offered (Dean and Biswas, 2001).
Integrating PR with Marketing
Public relation is used as a means for direct contact with the consumers through the internet and the media. Successful public relations always have great impact in the creation of awareness and reaching out to potential buyers. Using the right PR leads to publicity of the company’s products as well as boosting the marketing strategies leading to creation of new sales opportunities. Public relations are mostly focused on the media this makes it possible for the product advertisement to reach specialized journalists and targeted consumers within the right time.
Public relations enhances the techniques used in marketing products, it can be used to improve the search engine results used in the internet. This increases the level of sales owing to the fact that so many people currently use internet (PRWeb White Paper, 2010). The integrating of the marketing communication within a business is considered advantageous since it serves as a strategic tool within the organization. The communication process involves the use of public relations which serves effectively in relaying the right information about organization and its products. Public relations offer some uniqueness in the marketing field because of its ability to capture interest and attention of the consumers. The drama it portrays together with the information it carries acts as automatic attraction to the audience (Haris, 1998). This makes public relations to be considered as one of the most important aspects in the integrated marketing.
PR Advertising and Promotion
Public relations uses several tools for advertisement purposes, these tools include mobile marketing, use of special events, audiovisual materials, news and public service activities. Public relations have the capability of creating strong impact on public awareness at the lowest cost possible. When utilized correctly PR can be a powerful tool for an organization especially in improving and building the brand name. It is often used to promote the company by wooing investors and improving product publicity. Sales promotion is used by organizations to improve on the sales of products that experience low customer turnout.
The use of public relations in advertisement assumes the fact that consumers always go for what they think is best owing to the type of advertisement they are exposed to. This means that most of their decisions on purchase of products are basically based on their perceptions other than reality. They tend to go for a product based on its exposed impressions that they have either experienced or heard from others. All these factors that add on to the value of the product are portrayed through communication that tends to deliver the true information to consumers (Duncan and Moriaty, 1997). However, advertisement and promotional activities must be handled well as marketing communication tools since they help in creating and building organization’s brand name.
PR and Print, Broadcast and Internet Media
Public relation is used through different mass media channels to publicize different products. Most organizations use press release which is either a written or recorded statement to announce the launching of a product or promote third-party endorsers who are capable of attracting the attention of the media. Press releases have for a long time formed part of the strategies used in integrated marketing. Most of the consumers find it easier to find more information about products online, internet has of recent emerged as one of the preferred means of communication between producers, sellers and buyers (Duncan and Moriaty, 1997).
Print and Broadcast when utilized correctly tend to improve the impact of Public relations campaign on the sales and marketing of products. The use of PRWeb enables both small and big businesses to communicate effectively to the public about their products and services. The internet has further increased the visibility of product news by using search engines such as Google and Yahoo (PRWeb white paper, 2010).
References
Dean, D. and Biswas, A.(2001). Third-Party Organization Endorsement of Products: An Advertising Cue Affecting Consumer Pre-purchase Evaluation of Goods and Services. Journal of Advertising, 30, 41-57.
Driscoll, M. (2009). Public Relations and advertising. Web.
Harris, T.L. (1998). Value-added public relations. The secret weapon of integrated marketing. Lincolnwood:NTC Business Books.
Hoopla Media. (2008). The Differences between PR, Marketing and Advertising. Web.
Duncan, T. (1997). Integrated marketing communication. (Paper delivered as part of the course in Integrated marketing communication at RAU.) Johannesburg.
PR Ideas. (2006). Product Publicity. Web.
PRWeb White Paper, (2010). Integrating Marketing and PR for SEO Success. Web.
Tutor2u. (2010). Building a brand. Web.