Once considered something requiring a huge budget, PR software and social media have provided marketers of smaller businesses with direct access to their target audiences. In this post, we look at how the lines between PR and Content Marketing have blurred and what it means for marketers on a limited budget.
For many MarComms professionals working for small or medium-sized organizations, Public Relations can seem daunting. It has traditionally been the one element of marketing that companies routinely outsource to specialist agencies, believing it to be beyond their in-house capabilities.
But, in today’s world of hyper-connectivity, many elements of PR are now within reach for MarComms professionals as part of their day-to-day content marketing activity.
So, how has this happened?
First, let’s look at some broadly accepted definitions for Content Marketing and Public Relations:
Content Marketing
Content marketing is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.
Public Relations
Public Relations is when a business or individual attempts to cultivate a positive reputation with the public through various unpaid or earned communications, including traditional media, social media, and in-person engagements.
The biggest difference between the two disciplines is that PR usually involves other people carrying your story further, rather than any direct communication effort you might engage in yourself.
The potential benefits of effective PR are attractive for businesses of all sizes. If your message is repeated or even endorsed by influential third parties, your company or brand stands to benefit from significantly enhanced reputation and credibility.
But there is a catch. PR requires engagement and interaction with third parties such as journalists, industry experts or social media influencers. As such, it requires relationships. If your company is small or relatively unknown, these relationships might feel out of reach.
It is for this reason that many companies engage PR Agencies, in the hope of gaining access to their ‘little black books’ of media contacts. This concept of specialist PR professionals ‘selling in’ stories to influential journalists is at the core of traditional public relations.
But, while PR Agencies can undoubtedly boost your chances of coverage in your target media outlets, the cost for small businesses is often prohibitive, leading to many looking for alternative solutions for their PR strategies.
A blurring of the lines between marketing and PR
The good news for small businesses is that it has never been easier to bring PR in house.
While previously viewed as separate disciplines, the lines between Content Marketing and Public Relations (and, indeed, advertising) have blurred in recent years as new channels open up providing marketers with direct access to their target audiences.
The internet, powerful PR tools and mobile technology have meant it is now possible to communicate with media and consumers more easily without the need to pay vast sums on advertising, or engage professional PR assistance.
What it means for smaller businesses
In truth, PR and content marketing have always overlapped. PR is simply the creation of content, and the distribution and promotion of that content. The issues of the past were about access.
Now, by using do-it-yourself PR tools such as media contact databases and press release templates, and following social media trends, MarComms professionals can concentrate on their content, rather than worrying about how to access journalists.
Even with traditional PR, the content was always the key. Now, smaller companies become passionate subject matter experts, participating in industry conversations and telling their stories widely, knowing they have the tools to target relevant audiences themselves.
In our latest guide, How to Create a PR Plan, we explore how you can bring your PR in-house and combine it with your other marketing and communications efforts.
