How is marketing and PR different?

Today, businesses are aware of the importance of branding to develop business activities. Marketing and PR are two indispensable tools to help businesses achieve that goal.

Many people think that PR is part of Marketing and Marketing is a part of PR and identify these two activities together.

However, this does not mean that there is absolute harmony between the two activities. Here, there is always a certain degree of difference or it can be said that the "competition" between PR and Marketing especially when there is a question arises: Which activities will dominate tomorrow or contribute More for the company?

Distinguishing between Marketing & PR?

Below will give the most basic different factors to help you understand what is marketing and where is PR:

The goal between Marketing - Public Relations

Marketing promotes the operation of bringing products from manufacturers and distributors to customers.
PR helps an organization and its community interact, mutually.
The short-term goal of marketing activities is sales.

The short-term goal of PR activities is to understand each other or the location of that organization in its customers or community.
The goal of marketing is purely for profit.
The absolute goal of PR activities is the love and positive view of the public towards the company.

PR & Marketing Measurement

Sales or the increase of sales is a measure of the success of marketing activities.
The measure of the success of PR activities is the opinion from the community or the evidence of support from the public.

Today, both Marketing and PR are in their brilliant growth stages and have had a significant impact on the business world . Some reward companies and organizations use only one of the two tools. Others use both. The extent to which these organizations use and how they are used differs greatly depending on the goals, stature and history of each organization.

However, there are some basic similarities between PR and Marketing:

If it is a non-profit organization such as services provided by the government or public health programs, etc. The basic goal of these activities is to serve the community. In these organizations, PR activities are a more important means because building relationships with the community is really a top priority. It probably won't have a marketing department at all because the organization doesn't need to "sell" anything or it may have a small friend whose job is to encourage the community to use its services. function.
If it is a trading company and profit is the top goal, then marketing or business department plays a more important role. PR in this case is second and active to support and develop marketing efforts. For a small business, there may not be a separate PR department, but only a few people in charge of this work under the Marketing department . For large businesses, PR and Marketing activitiesclearly divided and the importance of these two activities is reflected in the development of the company, including policies within the enterprise or excellent staff (staff personalities). For medium and large businesses, marketing activities will help increase sales of sales or use of services and directly contribute to the company's profits, while PR activities will link, create The relationship with the community (through the press, radio, TV ...) aims to gain public support for the company's activities (including sales).

In Vietnam, the number of small and medium enterprises accounts for the majority of the proportion of businesses across the country (about 80%), PR and Marketing activities are combined and considered as one.

In recent years, PR activities have been interested by businesses as well as enterprises.

However, in our country there are only a few complete marketing training universities such as National Economics University, Ho Chi Minh City Marketing Institute , PR activities are almost none, only training sessions to invite foreign experts. about teaching, not trained properly. Some successful PR activities in Vietnam, such as Huggies diapers, have organized a widely publicized PR program, which has been advertised quite aggressively, “Active Huggies Baby” or Unilever, campaigning for the “Send a uniform gift” program. go to school but you don't use anymore for OMO washing powder "for girls in remote areas or Viettel Mobile with the charity program" For the poor ". These programs are charitable, serving the community and have enlisted the sympathy of the public.

Recently, when Chinsu soy sauce products of the company were exported to Europe, there was an incident in soy sauce containing no carcinogens, 9 times higher than the permitted standard and almost immediately. On the ad pages of our country's newspapers all the words occupy one page as follows: “ Commitment to pay 1 billion for anyone who finds a bottle of Chin-Su soy sauce that does not meet the standards of the Ministry of Health About the 3-MCPD ”. The results of this effort are not known but it is clearly a remarkable move in the effort to regain customer trust as well as Chinsu has made a breakthrough breakthrough in marketing in general and PR in particular. in the Vietnamese market

In short, Marketing and PR activities are different but they complement each other. Marketing focuses on the market including customers and their needs to make a profit for the company. PR activities focus on building relationships to increase cooperation between the public and businesses. , reduce the "confrontation". A good PR activity can create a good marketing environment.

Honesty is the leading factor in both activities. PR is not only Public Relations but also Performance and Recognition. A good relationship is always based on facts. The clever and effective application of these two activities is the key to the success of the business not only in terms of profit but also in the long-term reputation.