Traditionally, marketing is used to boost sales through brand visibility and PR centres on managing a company’s reputation by fostering bonds. However, the line between marketing and PR is becoming increasingly blurred.
Both industries overlap, mainly because PR is tilting towards digitalisation. Just like digital marketing, PR professionals must now use SEO, social media, link building and blogs with the hope of generating leads and boosting brand ranking within its target audience.
With this comes a shift in the way marketing works too, with much more emphasis on analytics and integration, without losing the strategic focus. Marketing is also being integrated into the wider business with expectations to buy-in to the strategy, take collective ownership of campaign themes and messages, and get behind content ideas that can be repurposed for every channel and across every phase of the funnel. Marketing must integrate but it mustn’t disintegrate.
With audiences at the forefront of multiple channels, the strategy and story are applied equally to every tool and every campaign, and a roster of content is developed and constantly repurposed to suit every channel and assist at every stage of the funnel.
So, the thinking needs to be bigger and bolder. More people across the business need to be involved in the strategising. The resulting story must have real resonance. And thought must be given to the way it will play out across every channel.
In order to have your story reach a broader audience, you need to use as many (relevant) channels as possible. Having separate PR, digital and content teams, they must all working together in harmony to drive engagement and increase your search engine ranking quicker.
More than ever, recently, audiences are moving towards more emotional narratives. PR is changing, but its core value still remains the same. No matter the platform being used, a story with a soul is important, creating original and unique content that connects to the public.
For more information on how you can adopt an integrated marketing strategy, you can find tips, a detailed whitepaper and informative infographic on skoutpr.com/integration
