It’s a relationship like any other. There’s plenty of rough patches mixed with periods of total bliss, where both parties feel integrated as one. But this union isn’t about marriage—it’s about the relationship between public relations and marketing.
The debate about PR and marketing and who treads on whose turf and which function gets more respect has been going on for years. But, according to Steve Cody, managing partner of PR agency Peppercom, the backbiting has been subsiding.
The reason? “Social media is really knocking down a lot of walls,” says Cody. “Even though they know nothing about social media, CEOs see their competitors with it, and they want to achieve the greatest ROI using one-to-one communications. The don’t care about a PR/marketing divide—they want the best way to reach the target audience.”
A study released last week by PR software maker Vocus largely backs up Cody’s theory. In March of this year, Vocus surveyed 966 public relations professionals about their perceptions of integrated communications. The findings show that the lines between PR and marketing are blurring, particularly as social media becomes more prevalent in the communications mix.
However, the study also found that turf battles still exist, caused by “organizational structures” and “functional silos” within the organization (see chart that highlights those findings). “Make no mistake, PR and marketing have been siloed from each other and in some cases still are,” continues Cody. “But I think this is now the exception and not the norm.”
PR VS. BRANDING
Exception or not, Deborah Radman, a senior consultant with more than 30 years in the business, sees a hot-button word—branding—as a culprit in the PR/marketing disconnect. “Even though it’s been around for a decade now, branding as a catchword is hot now,” says Radman. She believes that many marketers have fallen in love with building an iconic brand, yet fail to take the emotional connection between a brand and stakeholders into account. “It’s the emotional aspects that sets brands apart from competitors,” she says. And what function can best ignite stakeholder emotions? That’s right, public relations.
Enduring feelings on the part of customers, continues Radman, eventually lead to long-term trust and reputation building, which should be a key part of any organization’s business strategy. Yet Radman believes that often PR is still considered a “bolt-on” to marketing, and not an integral part. And that, she says, is a mistake. “Looking for a quick hit that scores with consumers is fleeting,” says Radman. “Without relationship building, a brand will fall flat.”
Yet to build trust and reputation along with a brand, there has to be good alignment of PR and marketing. While the Vocus study found that marketing and PR have formalized working relationships (78% of marketing and PR professionals say they report to the same boss; 77% of the same group report formal working relationships to create a common communications strategy), 67% say they hold cross-functional meetings only “sometimes.”
BRIDGING THE GAP
That is not the case at technology products and services company CDW. Alignment between marketing and PR, says Gary Ross, director of corporate communications at CDW, starts with both sides helping each other toward business goals and objectives. “That’s what we’ve been fortunate enough to do here,” says Ross. “It’s common sense, but I think it’s easy for some organizations to get bogged down in silos.”
Because of good alignment, PR within CDW is definitely not treated as a bolt-on to marketing, as Radman put it. “People within the organization come to us to get PR programming now,” says Ross. “They want to know that they are getting their fair share of PR.”
But Ross says that while the line between PR and marketing is blurring, PR must maintain its distinctive voice. “There’s a certain kind of tone in marketing initiatives that just doesn’t work in PR,” he says. “PR can’t sound like content in a brochure, and we need to ensure that we look at integrated campaigns through the PR lens and sometimes remind marketing that messages must be tweaked to fit the PR voice.”
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SOCIAL MEDIA PIECE
Still, Cody believes that social media may ultimately force true integration of PR and marketing. On the other hand, Radman’s take is that social media is all about relationship building, and thus should be more in PR’s realm.
“Social media revolves around honest and open communications—that scares marketers used to more traditional approaches,” says Radman. “PR is skilled in dealing with that open environment.”
At CDW, social media responsibilities are dispersed among both PR and marketing, and it seems to be working. “Like a lot of organizations, who owns social media is evolving organically,” says Ross. The company, he adds, has a social media committee that is exploring the responsibility issue.
WHAT IS WORKING
Ross cites three key factors in successful PR/marketing alignment at CDW::
• Organizationally, the PR and marketing functions are one—a trend revealed in the Vocus study.
• Both functions have equal input in the annual planning process, and work closely together toward business goals.
• PR is aligned with other parts of the business, with sales being a key relationship.
Despite optimism for better PR/marketing integration, Cody says the problem is not going away anytime soon. “There are always problems where turf, budgets and people’s careers are on the line,” he says. PRN
[ Editor’s Note: This article is the first in a series exploring the relationship between PR and marketing. Look for Part 2, featuring perspectives from marketing executives, in an upcoming edition of PR News.]
CONTACT:
Steve Cody, [email protected]; Gary Ross, [email protected]; Deborah Radman, [email protected].