Role of Public Relations in Marketing

Public Relations and Marketing

        This is the field most commonly confused with PR – not unreasonably since marketing refers to PR in its texts and practice as part of the marketing mix. To marketing practitioners and academics, public relations are one of the four Ps – product, place, price and promotion – which make up a successful marketing campaign. This is not incorrect – public relations can play an essential role in creating successful products – if the other elements are right, of course. The use of public relations to promote goods and services is sometimes called marketing public relations (MPR). There is some dispute about how useful this term is, but it could reduce the confusion caused by using the same term – public relations – to describe promoting products andplanning strategic communications.

Marketing is not a direct function of PR but like advertising both functions go hand in hand in the interest of business. PR will help to assess the customer attitude toward a product and also the public attitude to the company producing it.

The following is the role of PR in marketing:

1. Marketing is concerned with customers but a public relation is concerned to a much wider range of stakeholders than customers above. However, a PR effort is directed towards winning customer’s goodwill on a long term basis.
2. In total marketing efforts public relations can play an increasing role by helping in organizing exhibitions and fairs, press relations and producing films and bringing out literature that is persuasive
3. Normally negative feedbacks are ignored by marketing people as it is unpleasant in its implications. Market education can be an important PR contribution on which the success of marketing efforts, sales promotion and advertising campaign depend.
4. Public relations seek to optimize the market response by bringing about harmony between the organization and the public at large. The basic tool of public relations is communication which helps to understand and appreciate the forces in operation in the market place.