what is the difference between marketing and PR?

Answer 1

Marketing is really a very broad term for the strategies and tactics used to sell a product/service/company - determined very simply as the 4 P's of marketing (Product, promotion, price and place) .

PR is a tool used as part of a much broader marketing strategy. PR involves developing the reputation of the company/brand to all of its publics - including customers, the media, government etc. The aim of PR aims to creat goodwill between the company and its publics. This includes a) what you do b) what you say c) what other people say about you.

PR professionals are there to manage the reputation of a company/brand, whereas a marketing professional would be there to manage a broad range of activities including PR.

It's quite common for people to get PR mixed up with Publicity. Publicity is one method of PR where a companies uses outside sources to generate media coverage- i.e. Press

To sum up:
Marketing = The Chartered Institute of Marketing define marketing as ‘The management process responsible for identifying , anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitability’

PR = The various ways a companies/brand reputation is communicating to its publics

Publicity = Non-paid, non-personal communication to promote the products, services, or image of the company.

Answer 2

In a nut shell... Marketing is about selling and PR is about having a good public image/perception.
When you market something you are trying to get people to buy it and this involves things like how a product is packaged, price, usefulness availability, advertising etc to get as many people as possible to buy the product. In turn the marketing function can be affected by a companies "Public relations" [PR].
Public relations is the interaction of the entity with the customers, community, other businesses and even Govt and how those other parties view the business. Aspects of public relations include how well the business handles complaints/ warranty claims/product defects, level of customer satisfaction, whether other businesses think its a good business to deal, sponsoring worthy courses/charities etc.
If the business cant make its product seem better than the competition then it may well rely on its public reputation to help sell product.

Answer 3

I think the real significance is that with marketing the more you spend the more you can do, & you have control (think direct mail). With PR its less you in control and word-mouth, good press relations etc can make a huge impact without your direct involvement and big budget.

Think of the PR around the first million $ website page - huge PR - on very little marketing.

Oh and marketing people wear M&S suits, PR gucci!

Answer 4

In the business world it is widely accepted that Marketing and Public Relations (PR) are very closely linked and sometimes nearly indistinguishable. That said though there are instances where these two aspects can be clearly identified.

Marketing refers to the ability and tactics of an industry to advertise and sell its product/service.

Public Relations refers tot he ability of an industry to appeal to the public.

As you can see both are closely linked yet different.

If company A sells computers, its advertising the product would fall under Marketing, the same company donates these same computers to a school as an educational tool, this would fall under Public Relations.

The main difference is that Marketing is trying to sell the *product* by making it desirable while Public Relations is trying to sell the *company* by giving it a more acceptable public image.

Answer 5

they are very close brethren, but marketing deals with products generally (eg a train journey, at 10 in the morning for oap's) and PR is more about company image Joe Blogs inc stated today in a press release that it would only buy wood from sustainable forests. PR is linked to brand image (a good company= a good product) and can add perceived value to the customer, value to the customer is one of the key aspects of a marketing strategy.

Answer 6

Put simply, marketing is the selling of goods or services in a cost effective way. PR is the manipulation of people's perceptions of said goods or services.

Answer 7

None actually. Nowadays, when you describe one from the other, you get the same "words"/ "description". This is because, PR has now changed into something that could be interrelated to marketing and even advertsiing.


Mary
http://gbwatch.com/

Answer 8

PR is part of marketing. Marketing departments have product marketing amd marketing communications. MARCOM does the image, collateral, ads, shows, logo, slaes presentations, etc and PR. Product marketing does the research, defines the product and market segment and business plan, crunches numbers.

Answer 9

PR is just one segment of marketing. In marketing there are many strategies used to sell a product or service. There are price strategies, promotional strategies (PR, Advertising, Sponsorship), product strategies (packaging, benefits, features) and distribution strategies (where to sell, who to transport). PR is just a strategy used to increase brand image for a company to increase sales.

Answer 10

I think...marketing is getting in touch with people who might employ your company for specific projects and pay you money for working for them. Any positive result that comes out of your talks becomes a Sales Lead and is passed onto the Sales Department.
Whereas...Public Relations is about presenting the image that your company wants the world to see.

This is a good question and I'm waiting for answers to confirm what I just said...or not!