To the untrained eye, advertising, public relations (PR), marketing and branding could seem like one and the same.  

But while these different disciplines do have elements of crossover and the digital age introduces new tactics that blur the lines, it’s important that businesses and decision makers understand what makes each area unique in order to ensure impactful results.  

What is marketing? 

The term “marketing” is a catch-all phrase that encompasses various strategies to promote products or services in order to meet the needs of customers and ultimately, boost sales.  

The purpose of marketing activity is to help drive brand awareness, build a customer base, help generate sales and activate business growth.  

There are several tactics that can be deployed by marketers in order to achieve their goals across paid, earned, shared and owned (PESO) channels. Some of these tactics require specialists, and businesses need to understand the different aspects of marketing to get the best results.  

Confused? Don’t be. We’ve split out the core specialisms below to make things easy, starting with our favourite, naturally… 

What is PR?  

Anybody working in the field of PR has undoubtedly failed at some point in their career to succinctly explain their role to friends, family or someone they’ve just met. 

That’s because public relations, similar to other marketing disciplines, has multiple offshoots that require slightly different skillsets, from stakeholder management (such as clients, C-suite executives, other marketing professionals and audiences) to strategically planning messaging and distilling brand identities to help inform a media relations approach.  

Adding to the confusion is the lack of cohesion between different employers when applying roles to their internal hierarchy. For example, in some agencies, a PR Executive may be somebody right at the beginning of their career, whereas in other places they may be on the highest rung on the ladder.  

But what does PR do? 

PR feeds into the marketing machine by protecting and enhancing the reputation of a business.  

This means proactively managing relationships with the public, clients and the media. PR is about using targeted communication strategies in order to get ahead and cement your position as a market leader.  

What is advertising?  

We’re bombarded with adverts seemingly at every moment of our lives – whether we’re watching TV, driving past billboards, waiting at a bus stop or even scrolling through social media.  

Anybody who’s seen Mad Men will be able to tell you that advertising is “bought” communications activity that specifically targets customers (whether B2B or B2C) to promote a product, service or increase brand awareness.  

Advertising is about strategically using your business’ money to get your messages in front of the perfect audience; all with the hopes of converting prospects into paying customers. Whilst words are important, a knock-out ad uses clever wordplay, imagery and videography to grab potential consumers’ attention. 

What is branding?  

If PR is what you’re saying, branding is who is saying it. As branding expert David Brier puts it, “If you don’t give the market the story to talk about, they’ll define your brand’s story for you.” 

Put simply, a brand is the overall identity and perception of a company or product in the minds of consumers.  

Branding includes the likes of logos, design, tone of voice and even the values of a business. In order to make sure you’re in control of your brand, it’s important to understand that it permeates every single customer touchpoint: from customer service to social media, from product to press release – which is why it’s crucial to uphold brand consistency to maintain customer loyalty.  

Multiple moving parts make up a larger strategy 

The overlap caused by each of the marketing disciplines may not be the most helpful when trying to explain what your job is to friends and family, but each one contributes to a company’s overall communication strategy and, ultimately, success of a sales pipeline – no matter what the industry or sector may be.  

We might be PR specialists, but our expanding expertise covers brand and advertising too – from delivering tone of voice workshops to placing key advertorial in targeted press, we can get your marketing strategy in front of the right people. 

Realised there’s something missing from your marketing strategy? Get in touch to find out how we can help.