Marketing and public relations have historically been categorized as two completely separate disciplines. Marketing was the act of paying for exposure. Marketing tactics included activities such as placing an advertisement in a magazine, sending postcards to prospects or paying for your organization’s name to appear on a banner or poster. Public relations, on the other hand, only included earned media, or promotional opportunities that were secured by encouraging journalists to include your organization in an editorial story. Times have changed, and marketing and public relations are now so intertwined that it is hard to distinguish the two.

Traditionally, marketing and public relations departments have acted independently. The marketing department was tasked with providing support to the sales team, setting them up to find new prospects, leads and customers. Public relations professionals solely worked on projects involving the media, public speaking or community relations and generally involved communications to the masses.

Marketing and public relations now go hand in hand. In the age of content and inbound marketing in which companies and nonprofit organizations are increasingly seeking to provide quality information to prospects, leads and customers, marketing and public relations tactics are being used together to increase sales and donations. Rather than treating the two practices separately, marketing and public relations professionals are now joining forces and many practitioners are studying both disciplines to provide clients with support aimed at increasing leads utilizing a variety of channels.

Need more information about business marketing and business public relations or nonprofit marketing and nonprofit public relations? Contact Point Taken today!