Comparing Marketing and Public Relations

In the article, Nonprofit Marketing with a Purpose, the author makes mention of the common goal of marketing being to increase awareness. In comparing marketing and public relations this one goal is shared. In both situations they are trying to create greater awareness and knowledge of a program, organization, or cause within a community. Both PR and marketing seem to go about increasing awareness in the same ways – researching the audience and/or product, dividing said audience into subsets of potential consumers/funders, developing ways to reach the audience, gearing programs towards the audience and promoting the programs and services being offered. Both philosophies of study rely on these tactics to get people interested in their organization or product with no real variation in how it is accomplished.

It seems like even the authors of this week’s readings had a hard time differentiating between public relations and marketing – often combining the idea of promotion and publicity with researching and defining an audience for a product or service. Does this mean that there is no separation between the two? The Guide to Marketing the Arts seems to imply that they work hand in hand if not as the same arm of an organization. The “basics” that are highlighted – product, price, place, people, and promotion are all in some way important in public relations as well.

So if the two philosophies are similar then why do organizations usually separate the two and does this mean that public relations are merely a part of marketing? And if so, wouldn’t it make sense for marketing and PR to be a single department that could combine resources and ideas? After perusing this week’s readings I’m not so sure that the two departments are mutually exclusive as they appear to be attempting to do the same thing in virtually the same way.