Advertising, Communications, Marketing & PR: What's the Difference?

Advertising, Communications, Marketing, and Public Relations (PR), they always get lumped together. So what is the difference?

Although I have a marketing degree, when I first embarked on my college career, I had no idea what the difference was. Perhaps it was my brain just jumbling things up, but I couldn’t get it straight to save my life. I’d Google the differences constantly only to find paragraphs upon paragraphs on lengthy and complex definitions. I never felt like I could get a clear, plain, definitive answer. It wasn’t until about a year ago when I took a PR class that it was spelled out to me in the simplest of terms. It’s as if a light bulb went off in my brain and I finally got it.

So if you are anything life myself and need a little more clarity, this is for you.

In order for any business to thrive, all departments must come together and work side-by-side. Because they often work together, people tend to get advertising, communications, marketing, and PR mixed like myself.

Advertising, communications, and public relations are all strategic tools that fall under the marketing umbrella.

Let’s break each one down in three simple sentences.

Advertising

Advertising is about putting a spotlight on something, typically a product or service, to attract interest and gain public attention. The goal is to sell products and/or services in order to generate revenue and grow a business. Advertising is as aimed to bring awareness to a brand utilizing strategically thought out and attention-grabbing ads.

Communications

Communications is about generating a message. Communications professionals create unique and engaging content that is clear and concise to help an audience better understand a product or service. The goal with communications is to construct compelling messages that will draw attention.

Marketing

Marketing is about promoting products and/or services to a target audience. By identifying customer needs, marketers are then able to develop products and/or services to satisfy those needs and retain customers. Through both traditional and digital marketing strategies, a marketer’s objective is to identify an ideal consumer and draw in their attention to a given product and/or service.

Public Relations

Public relations is about building mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics. Within the PR industry, it is important to maintain a brand’s image and protect the organization’s reputation. PR professionals can do this by strategically planning for public opinions and issues that may have a lasting positive or negative impact on a brand.

Are you still a little confused? Let's break it down even further.

Marketing sets the stage with the overall strategic plan to promote a product or service which includes:

• Defining what the goals are and the overall vision.

• Identifying performance metrics that can be measured and tracked.

• Market research on the industry, competitors, consumers, etc.

Some helpful marketing tools include:

• The 4 Ps / The Marketing Mix: Product, price, place, and promotion are key elements that explain how marketing interact with the business.

• SWOT Analysis: Evaluates external and internal strengths, weaknesses opportunities, and threats of a company.

• PESTLE Analysis: Looks at the big pictures of the market analyzing political, economic, social-cultural, technical, legal, and environmental factors.

• STP Model: Segmentation divides the audience into smaller categories, targeting deciphers the segments worth targeting, and positioning compares the product or service in the given segment to competitors.

Then under the Marketing Umbrella:

• Communications creates a compelling message. It is how a brand wants to communicate their mission and tell their story.

• Advertising designs attractive advertisements to draw people in. These can include brochures, flyers, newsletters, billboards, TV commercials, web page pop-ups, yard signage, and more.

• Public Relations focuses on building key relationships and planning for unforeseeable issues. PR professionals work to maintain a positive public image and shape public perception utilizing tools such as press releases, livestreams, social media campaigns, infographics, and more.