Marketing = PR

As I’ve discussed before, marketing has slowly changed to involve many PR tactics. Previously, marketing meant ‘brand’ and PR meant ‘media and public relationships.’ Now, consumers, stakeholders and organizations want participation, interaction, involvement and relationships.
Marketing has developed into something more than just advertising, and PR has become more than mainstream media audience. Together in the online world, marketing and PR have helped to establish and sustain relationships and reputation between organizations and stakeholders. The use of the web allows companies to establish transparency and loyalty to their costumers and stakeholders because online, ‘you are what you publish.’ To some, this can destroy reputation but to others it can enhance reputation. As the media landscape is ever changing, I believe that traditional media needs integrate new forms of social and online media in order to improve brand reputation and customer relations.

Tradiational vs. New media landscape

As social media platforms like facebook, linkedin, and twitter become increasingly popular, many organizations are utilizing them in order to build brand identity and reputation. The problem with traditional forms of media is simply the lack of personal connections and interactions. As the landscape changes from traditional media to new media, the influence of personal contacts on the internet continues to grow. Organizations now have the capability to interact one-on-one with consumers and stakeholders 24/7. This new approach will help to enhance customer relations and customer service which will inevitably improve relationships and trust….and subsequently the organization’s brand and reputation. Web features such as wiki’s, blogs, flickr, twitter and facebook have made it much easier to broadcast and promote individual and organizational brands as nearly 2/3 of the world’s population participate in social network sites and web activity.

Convergence of marketing, PR & Technology

There has certainly been a noticeable convergence of Marketing and PR & Technology. In past years, PR and marketing in the offline world have been completely autonomous entities: Different departments hosting different people with different skill sets. However, with the growing use of the web and technology Marketing and PR have grown to be synonymous and complimentary of each other. This is especially noticeable in the online world. Statistics show that people spend nearly 33% of their time communicating online. It is evident that there has been a move towards businesses operating and socializing on the web, and therefore, Marketeers and PR’s utilize technology in order to build a brand identity and sustain valuable relationships that will benefit the organization and its publics.