It is not uncommon for one department to be little more than the subdivision or tool of the other. To the chagrin of many PR professionals, it is almost invariably PR that it is the absorbed department, coming under the control of Marketing.
Gregory (2006a) regards this as a problem in establishing better regard for the value of Public Relations. She comments:
“...for many marketing people public relations is all about getting free ‘publicity’ in the media to support the promotion of products and services to consumers.”
Marketing and PR as Rivals?
Gregory’s comment is made in the context of a brief review of the relationship between marketing and PR. She describes it as ‘fractious’ (Gregory 2006a), a view supported by others who have termed it a ‘Power struggle’ (Oliver 2006) and ‘Adversarial’ (Theaker 2006). Marketing and PR can tend to encroach on each other’s territory, and compete for their organisations regard or resources. Marketing may historically have been the more valued function; although PR is gaining higher status, marketing still receives larger budgets (Kitchen 1997, cited Theaker 2006).
Duties of Marketing and PR
Separation of the duties of PR and Marketing can be difficult, depending on how they are organised. Hallahan (1992, cited Grunig and Grunig 1998) proposes six possible arrangements for the two functions in a business: (1) celibate (Either PR or Marketing exists), (2) co-existent (operating independently), (3) combative (operating at odds), (4) co-optive (one function usurps the other), (5) coordinated (the two functions independent but working together) or (6) combined (the two functions share a single unit). If combined, PR and Marketing form a single ‘communications’ function; If PR is then the responsibility of a marketing manager, it would be more likely to be relegated to a supportive tool of that department.
Defining Marketing and PR
Theorists propose that the lack of an agreed definition of PR contributes to its identity issues and continual overlapping with other disciplines like marketing. Marketing definitions are consistent, incorporating profitability and the customer, e.g. the CIM definition;
'Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.' (CIM 2006)
By contrast there are various definitions of PR in circulation. The following example is just one of many, and not one has been accepted as the definitive definition.
‘Influencing behaviour to achieve objectives through the effective management of relationships and communications.’ (DTI and IPR 2003, cited Edwards 2006 pp 6)
This difficulty of providing an agreed definition does also illustrate just how broad PR’s remit can be, and how many different roles practitioners may fill. This factor allows for blurring between other disciplines.
To confuse matters, Marketing PR is thriving, and agencies operate Marketing campaigns centred on PR techniques.
PR was identified as the type of marketing activity that offered the best return on investment for start up for small to medium enterprises (Financial Times, cited Pritchard et al 2006) and a marketing communications campaign was PR weeks’ ‘Campaign of the Year 2006’; The ‘Nintendogs’ launch campaign by Cake Group.
However most PR practitioners are anxious to highlight this as just part of their remit- marketing and related services remains a very small part of what PR actually is and what it can do.
Chartered Institute of Marketing CIM (2006) accessed 08.01.2007
Edwards, L. (2006). ‘Public Relations origins: definitions and history’ in ‘Exploring Public Relations’. R. Tench & L.Yeomans (Eds.). London. Pearson Education
Gregory, A (2006a). ‘Management and organisation of Public Relations’ in ‘Exploring Public Relations’. R. Tench & L.Yeomans (Eds.). London. Pearson Education
Grunig, J. & Grunig, L. (1998). ‘The relationship between public relations and marketing in excellent organizations: evidence from the IABC study’. ‘Journal of Marketing Communications’ 4 141-162
Oliver, S. (2001). ‘Public Relations Strategy’. London. Kogan Page Ltd.
Pritchard, M., Fawkes, J. and Tench, R. (2006). ‘Role of the Public Relations Practitioner’ in ‘Exploring Public Relations’. R. Tench & L.Yeomans (Eds.). London. Pearson Education
Theaker, A (2006). ‘Consumer Public Relations’ in ‘The Public Relations Handbook’. Theaker, A (Ed.) Oxon. Routledge
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