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The Differences Between Marketing, Advertising, and PR (Public Relations)?

corybrodeur

Perhaps your are looking into going into one of these fields, or just plain out don't know what each does. The biggest thing is, you aren't alone. People tend to lump them all together, so today I clear the air once and for all with the differences in each.


The diffrence between Marketing Advertisment and PR Public Relations

Marketing

Lets clear the big one first. The best way I have found to define this is:

 

"Marketing is the process of getting potential clients or customers interested in your products and services. The keyword in this definition is "process"; marketing involves researching, promoting, selling, and distributing your products or services."

 

So with that, this definition encompasses the whole process of research, development, selling, and shipping the product. This has the widest definition and even seems like it includes advertising. Well it does, to a part, but advertising has become such a valuable part in the marketing process that it has branched into a discipline of its own. But marketing isn't just advertisements, it's so much more, there is:

  • Market Research

  • Brand Management

  • Digital Brand Manager

  • Product Management

  • Content Marketing

  • Content Writer

  • SEO Management

  • Marketing Analyst

  • Social Media Manager

  • Digital Content Specialist

  • Direct Marketing

  • Mail Marketing Specialist

  • E-Mail Marketing Specialist

  • eCommerce Marketing

  • Data Analysist

So on and so fourth with different degrees to the job.

The Biggest Difference is going to be (the job obviously and) how they interact with the consumer. Marketing is the planning of the product, how it should look, how to define the

product and deciding things such as the 5 P's (product, place, price, promotion, production). These things will be decided based on how they want the consumer to see the product (it's affordable or it's high price but luxurious). Marketing is shaping the product to a type of message, then advertising acts as a megaphone to the message. There whole goal is to inform the audience of something, whether it's a new product or that the company is good (building brand image). So we basically covered it but lets still cover:


Advertising

Like we mentioned above, Advertising's main focus is to inform the audience. Through pre-planning and collaboration with the other parts of the company, Advertising sees the message they want to put out and begins to plan a way to shape possible advertisements around that message.


An easy example would be a car company that wants consumers to see them as more green. The Marketers figure out how to package the new cars to seem more green, and the advertisers now have the job of informing others about this.

They might make ads touting how well the car's emissions are, or perhaps a feel goof commercial that buts the company in a better light showing their commitment to going green. The most important aspect of this is that Advertisers are sticking to a clear message and that their other ads they put out follow the same message.


Some jobs as an Advertiser could be:

  • Media Planner

  • Copywriter

  • Marketing promotions specialist

  • Media Buyer

  • Promotions Director

  • Promotions Management

  • Graphic Designer

  • Advertising director

It's important to note that Advertising can be in-house, meaning that the company has their own advertising department, or it can be done out of house through Advertising firms.

 

Public Relations

Public Relations is the most different from the two. While Marketing and Advertisements are more behind the scenes, Public relations are a lot more direct.


Wendys twitter showing Public Relations Example
A great example of interacting and making you think about Wendy's

From Investopedia "Public relations (PR) refers to managing how others see and feel about a person, brand, or company." Public Relations is supposed to come off more organic, an advertisement to consumers can feel like they are speaking to you while PR is suppose to feel like the consumer is interacting with the brand. This can be done in many ways, such as the newer trend on interacting with brands on social media. But that's not the only thing they can do.


Jobs PR can do:

  • Publicist

  • Managing Social Media

  • working with News outlets to promote stories

  • Hosting/Sponsoring events

  • Press releases

  • Speech Writing

  • Crisis public relations strategies

  • Responding to negative opinions online.

There are a host of things a PR specialist can do. The hands on interaction with consumers is vital in this day in age for fostering "good will" or essentially showing the public your

company is good. It is important to engage with with people who were dissatisfied with your brand as to salvage the relationship. You can possibly take a disgruntled customer who might never shop with you again, and turn them into someone who feels respected by the company and gain their devotion.


Public Relations requires a different set of tools to do the job and typically people tend to take a Communications route in college to be better suited.


 

A Different way of explaining it- Earned, Paid, Shared, Owned Media

For the more unknowing, I feel these are good break downs to the three different jobs, but to make it more technical, you can break down the type of media you put out into the different categories.

If you want to learn more, SpinSucks has a great article on it that describes it better. I will be making a post on the subject later, but for now we will keep it simple!


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