A year ago, I took part in StartupChats - a Twitter community where the host Tweets a series of questions over an hour and the participants answer each one. At the end of the StartupChats session, Jasmine Williams, freelance coach, speaker, copywriter, and consultant asked guests, including myself, “…Fellow experts @profeshsam @krusk @ktetylr_ - what's an unpopular opinion you have about marketing/storytelling that other marketers might not agree with?”

This is when I realized that when it comes to marketing, there are some hills on which I will die. 

The same thing happened again later, when the kind and talented Elissa Riddel, Head of Marketing for JJC, incorporating Jill Health, Jack Health and Cover Health brands, asked LinkedIn, “Is there still an unspoken rule that brands don't bid for their competitors' name on Google? Or am I abiding by some long-forgotten code of chivalry that no one else follows?”

I replied with some long-winded tale about being against the competitor-style bids. Many other marketers commented that it’s key to their strategy.

I love these questions. I realized from these questions that I have a lot of opinions when it comes to marketing. Marketing opinions I feel very strongly about. Hills I would die on, if you will.

Public Relations and Marketing are Separate, though Partner, Functions of a Successful Marketing Strategy

First and foremost, the 'hill' I find myself discussing most with clients is that public relations (PR) and marketing are completely separate functions. PR is focused on building and maintaining relationships with customers, employees, investors, and the public at large. At the same time, marketing focuses more on promoting a company's products or services to potential customers.

While we rely on one another to successfully launch a campaign that leverages both our capabilities, we exist without the other entirely, as well. We have separate skill sets and targets that enable our success.

What is Public Relations?

Public relations is a strategic arm of a business that manages how information about a company is disseminated to the public, especially in the media. Public relations can be pre-emptive or reactionary in nature. Public relations can be built-in to the company, typically under a communications team or an agency outside the organization.

How do B2B Companies use Public Relations?

Public relations is used to drive media interest and brand awareness for business-to-business (B2B, also known as organizations selling their products or services to other companies, rather than individuals) companies. The goal is to get people interested in your company and have the media keen on publishing new announcements, due to the success of your prior announcements. Public relations will be leveraged to drive press campaigns around big company announcements, such as:

• Funding or raise announcements - these are typically driven by the venture capitalists or investors of a company as well as the internal leadership and marketing team
• Product launches - these are typically driven by the internal team, with product and engineering at the forefront
• Partnership campaigns - these are typically driven by the marketing and product teams
• Stories - timely, relevant, or trending content that relates to your business or your business can be quoted for

How do B2B Companies use Marketing?

Marketing is used to drive top of funnel growth, sales pipeline, and deals for B2B companies. There is an overlap in the brand awareness, top of funnel growth, and positive relation of messaging and association of the brand. Marketing within a company is used primarily to gather traffic, leads, and sales pipeline, as well as closed deals and potential upsells, from the target customer market.

Public Relations and Marketing have Different Goals and Objectives

One of the primary reasons why PR and marketing are separate divisions is because they have different objectives. Marketing is focused on increasing sales and revenue by promoting products and services to potential customers. PR is focused on building and maintaining relationships with various stakeholders, including customers, employees, investors, and the public at large.

From a partnerships perspective, PR works to build trust, credibility, and goodwill for their organization, which can help improve the company's overall reputation and brand awareness and create a positive public image. Marketing is designed to leverage this brand awareness to build top-of-funnel growth and revenue generation.

PR does not necessarily track against revenue. When a release is launched, the goal is brand awareness with marketing tracking growth in traffic from these news sources to the company website to track the cost per click on the campaign investment. It is marketing's goal from there to convert this traffic, though the targets for a news release and marketing customer targets will often vary greatly, making this a challenge.

PR and Marketing have Different Target Audiences

Marketing primarily focuses on reaching potential customers, with a side target of speaking to potential investors, employees, or job hunters. PR is looking to reach media sources, with a side target of potential customers, investors, and employees or job hunters. The overarching goal of driving brand awareness and positive association with the company through messaging is aligned, but their target audiences differ. Though PR activities may generate revenue-driving activity and marketing may generate interest from media sources, it is not the main goal of either.

Partner marketing strategies are when both capabilities and targets shine. Companies want to announce that they have partnered their products or services to drive interest and awareness, plus new business opportunities, in the form of customers and investors. This type of campaign relies heavily on marketing and PR to combine their efforts for success - and often involves these teams from both companies.

In standard campaigns, marketing teams often reach out to relevant content, press, podcast or other influencers and hosts to feature the company on various channels. Marketing teams usually have a limited network or relationships with media for larger news converge. Press teams have this leverage.

The Shared Story: Needs of Public Relations and Marketing

All companies want to be in the media. When your company is interested in sharing a story or being quoted in a feature piece, you’ll be competing against hundreds or thousands of other voices that want to be featured. Often, companies request to be featured in publications but do not have a story to share with the media. Public relations and marketing usually come together to create the messaging that will work best.

Media is interested in stories that are:

• Topical
• Trending
• Appealing to their specific audience
• Exclusive to their publication

Best practices for a story pitch are to offer one of all of the above when trying to access large media outlets or participate in content. Your company is the most exciting thing to you - how do you make it the most exciting thing to everyone else?

Best B2B Public Relations Firms in Toronto:

Some of my favourite public relations agencies include:

• Boulevard PR: A full-service public relations agency focused on the technology industry. They help clients grow their businesses through a mix of public relations, content development, social media, and integrated marketing strategies‍
• Talk Shop: A full-service integrated communications agency with expertise in public relations, social media, digital marketing, influencer relations, branding and creative execution.

Public Relations and Marketing are most Successful when Paired Together

If you want to share an important message broadly and attract investors and media, you need to integrate a press team into your approach. Marketing should be involved if you’re looking for general top-of-funnel awareness and growth on off-page channels for linkbacks and referral traffic with your target market. Both teams should partner up when building campaigns with partners, new product launches, or important announcements to create and execute a robust and effective plan. Ensure your internal and external arms of the marketing and public relations functions are in communication to work together. With these items in mind, your marketing and public relations teams will work incredibly well and create strong campaigns for your company.