This circumstance has become predominant within today’s society. In fact, it has been stated that marketing and PR are so close, that they often become allies on the battlefield of customers minds. However, it has also been stated that the lines that differentiate between marketing and public relations have blurred or even have disappeared completely.

In order to answer the questions posed within the scenario, it is important to have a strong grasp of what marketing and public relations actually entails. To begin, it is clear that marketing aims at an exchange, usually one that involves money. More specifically, Webster’s dictionary has further associated it as a function that “identifies consumes needs and wants and offers products and services to satisfy those demands.”  Marketing focuses upon gratifying these needs, which, in turn, produces some kind of transaction that delivers those products and services in exchange for something of value.

Conversely, it is this notion of exchange that allows marketing to distinguish itself from public relations. In effect, public relations has been associated with measuring awareness, controlling reputation damage and maintaining mutually beneficial relationships. Evidently, none of these objectives are directly linked to sales.

One could conclude that marketing is focused on a demand for a product and on promoting sales and encouraging consumers, whereas PR aims to create a positive image of an organization. My question now is, upon hearing these definitions, is it safe to conclude that marketing focuses on exchange relationships with one public, while public relations covers a broad range of relationships with numerous audiences?

 It should also be indicated that the agendas of public relations and marketing are different. For example, marketing is interested in the market, or more specifically in transactions between consumers, while public relations is interested in relationships. What is important about this distinction is that, in many cases, good public relations will create a healthy environment for marketing, and thus, good transactions. Therefore, it is as though PR is almost being used as a management function.

Furthermore, through contrasting them once more, one is able to recognize that marketing adds value by increasing profits whereas public relations adds value by decreasing the expenses that are necessary when issues are ignored. Therefore, this concludes how they work best when they are treated as distinct management functions.

I believe they would work well as a team because both marketing and public relations are very similar in structure. For instance, they both have an aim on identifying audiences, segmenting those audiences and are focused on setting objectives. In order to achieve their goals, organizations should make use of both functions. Both marketing and public relations adds its own special, but complimentary, contributions to building and maintaining the relationships necessary for an organization to thrive. For this reason, I believe an organization can’t get by without using both. In fact, as marketing and public relations become more aggressive and communicate with more publics, they often end up talking to the same publics!

Well that’s all for now. Off to marketing class… oh wait… or is it public relations?

P.S. Who would you hire?

Merely a few days ago, word was announced that the President’s annual speech would be aired on January 25^th and February 2^nd. Although, January 25^th coincided with American Idol (that show is STILL on?!), the major problem occurred as February 2^nd was supposed to be the series premier of the final season (the sixth) of Lost.

People were going nuts! Twitter and Facebook pages filled up with comments from tons and tons of people indicating their complete devastation regarding the fact that they would have to wait 7 more days (oh no!) to find out what happened to Jack, Kate, Lock and the many other characters they had grown to love.

Nonetheless, a few days later, Barack Obama took time to overlook the issues surrounding the economy, forgot about the 2826255 issues concerning Iraq and the ongoing war, and pondered about the scenario… and decided to postpone his speech. 

Although different televisions clips, radio announcements and websites are currently indicating a multitude of different information, the last statement confirmed is that Obama will be postponing his speech until another day in the near future – BUT it will not be held on the second of February.

There is no doubt that this was a great move on Obama’s behalf. His Twitter account was being filled with millions of comments about viewers’ disappointment of the original proclamation that they would have to wait. However, now he is only receiving positive feedback. For instance, co-creator and executive producer, Damon Lindelof, upon hearing about the recent update, tweeted, “Groundhog Day is OURS!” and preceded to ask his followers to  tweet your thanks to @BarackObama.

Although I feel the President (and his PR staff) handled the situation wonderfully, I am still weary on the situation itself. What is the world coming to? We are going to postpone a presidential speech so we do not have to wait…7 days… to see a television show?
 
I do understand that all of those involved with the show would be affected if it was postponed. Since the middle of November, I do not believe any of us can admit to watching television for more than ten minutes without seeing the promos for Lost’s first episode… and the words February 2^nd attached.

Overall, I’m still iffy on the whole scenario but it definitely announces to the world how effective social media has become within today’s society. It also exemplifies how on the ball Obama is and how much he cares about his target audience. He is well-aware that many of the people that believed in him (and evidently voted for him) are also the same people that wish to watch Lost. For this reason, he communicated perfectively – effectively and without hassle.

Overall, one can indicate that belief in Obama is not “Lost.” Oh, and to all of you ‘Lost’ watchers…. Enjoy your show…. On February 2^nd!