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How Connected should PR efforts be to Marketing efforts?

Because Public Relations is Media Relations…

This series revisits the basics of branding and marketing by answering questions marketers, entrepreneurs and small business owners face when growing their business. I hope this series provides you with knowledge to think smarter and a nudge to make stuff happen.


How Connected should PR efforts be to Marketing efforts?

Public Relations plays a role in marketing efforts as it relates to awareness, influence, and credibility.

Let’s be clear, for the most part, retail brands view Public Relations as Media Relations. Brands seek to use traditional media (print, television, radio) and non-traditional media (digital, blogs, social media) to generate brand awareness, influence brand consideration, and add brand credibility.

Every Starbucks retail marketing promotion we did included a Media Relations activity to build awareness and to influence customers. For example, with every Holiday promotion, Starbucks revved up its publicity engine by getting national media and local media to run stories about the return of Egg Nog Lattes to Starbucks.

Starbucks would send Baristas to television stations and radio stations to do on-air tastings of holiday coffee drinks. Newspaper journalists would be treated to special tastings inside a Starbucks. This was in addition to any standard media release highlighting new news going on at Starbucks during the holidays.

Today, Media Relations activities include digital journalists and raving Starbucks fans who blog and tweet about Starbucks online.

All of this activity is to drive awareness of new Starbucks news with the hopes that the media will share this new news with their readers and viewers. If the media shares this news, then readers and viewers will be influenced to consider visiting Starbucks.

Traditional and non-traditional media have significant influence in getting a brand into a consumer’s consideration set because of greater credibility. The power of a third party endorsement almost always outweighs any marketing activity a business can do.

People expect a commercial and print ad from a brand to be boastful. When any boastful claims come from a third party source, people are much more apt to believe it because it’s a message from a third party and not directly from a brand’s marketing department.


REVISITING THE BASICS | archive

#01 | How Should a Brand be Defined?
#02 | What’s the Difference between Branding and Marketing?
#03 | Is there a Difference between a Company Name and a Brand Name?
#04 | Does every Brand need a Unique Selling Position?
#05 | Do Consumers Really Feel Emotional about Brands?
#06 | How should “Brand Personality” be Described?
#07 | Are Taglines Important? Why or Why Not?
#08 | Are Logos Important? Why or Why Not?
#09 | Can a Brand be Built without a Large Budget?
#10 | Why is a Brand Style Guide important?
#11 | What are Key Components to Include in a Brand Style Guide?
#12 | How Rigid Should a Brand Style Guide Be?
#13 | The Brand Style Guide is Built. Now What?
#14 | What Matters Most to Consumers: Brand, Price, or Convenience?
#15 | Does a Company’s Mission Statement Play a Role in Marketing the Brand?
#16 | How can Business Operations Support the Brand Promise?
#17 | How do you get Employees to “Live the Brand”?
#18 | Do all Marketing Activities need a Strong Call to Action?
#19 | Do Brands need to be Marketed Differently Depending on their Stage of Life?
#20 | What Role does Promotion Play in Effective Marketing?
#21 | How Connected should PR efforts be to Marketing efforts?