Thought I could avoid this controversial topic of ownership, but why not further stick out the neck after blogging here that “Public Relations Drives Marketing?”
The hackles most raised by that post were those of Mr. Mark W. Schaefer, blogger extraordinaire at {grow}. Yesterday, Mark returned the favor while leading a Webinar on B2B blogging I attended.
To the question posed by the audience “Who owns blogs, public relations or marketing?” Mark prefaced his answer with “My PR friends are going to kill me…marketing owns blogs!” He suggested public relations can draft content all it wants, but marketing owns the strategy.
Because I tweeted the Webinar (can’t sit idle during those things) at #b2bblog, others weighed in. @NEMultimedia said “I see PR and Marketing as two sides of the same brain.” @X_youarehere said,” No 1 owns communications, but there are many…change own to coordinate.”
I concur with that statement Mr./Ms. X with a change from “coordinate” to “lead or direct.” We’re at a crossroads, and this ownership question continues to rear its ugly head. I report to a client’s brand marketing team, and I direct strategy and content for landing pages, blogs, social media, and more. While I don’t own it, I certainly collaborate with marketing.
I vow, as of today, never to claim ownership of blogs, social media or other; rather, I’ll claim partnership. In Mr. Schaefer’s defense, he did respond to my tweet questioning his marketing-owns-blogs statement saying “we can agree to disagree only if he’s right.” (No way, dude, we both are! There, how’s that for starters?)
What’s your contribution to this discussion? Let’s establish future guidelines for all of us.
Readers own a blog, especially on the “World Wild Web” ~ because if the content doesn’t resonate they are gone in a click with almost nanosecond attention spans => Others, who think they own it, simply suffer the burden of technical support, content development and content management ;-)!!!…
David Bookout
Hah! You’re dead on, David!
Ha! I knew this was coming. In fact, when I answered that question in the webinar I had my dear friend Jayme in mind! I think your statement above supports what I am trying to say:
“I report to a client’s brand marketing team, and I direct strategy and content for landing pages, blogs, social media, and more. While I don’t own it, I certainly collaborate with marketing.”
So …
a) PR (you) reports to marketing, not the other way around. Companies exist to serve customers, and marketing exists to attract, retain and increase profitability from customers. In the end, all other functions in an organization support this basic strategy.
b) You say here that you don’t “own” the blog, which is exactly what I said. You do direct the content, which is entirely appropriate because you have the best skills to accomplish that. However, I’m sure everything you write is consistent with the brand strategy articulated by marketing, which was another key point in the webinar.
So I really think we are closer to agreement than you would like to admit. We’re saying the same thing. You’re a top notch professional delivering great results for your customer. That’s what counts!
Shoot. Must I agree? So much more fun to have friendly banter about this topic.
OK, you win half a point on this round…well, maybe an entire point. We’re saying the same thing; yes, we are.
Thanks for keeping the discussion lively, Mark!
(Anyone wanting to hear what Mark said on the fab Webinar he presented B2B Blogging Basics, Best Practices, Blunders visit this link at MLT Creative, hosts of the Webinar. You may need to go to http://www.mltcreative.com to access the Webinar.)
Jayme,
I looked up the difference between PR and marketing, and I definitely see how they’re different, but the two roles are so vital to a brand’s identity, I don’t see how they can be separated or how one is more important than the other.
The way I see it, PR is the management of New England Multimedia’s public face and reputation, while Marketing turns our public face and reputation into sales. True?
If so, I’m led to ask:
Why aren’t PR and marketing combined into one position?
Michelle Quillin for New England Multimedia & Web Consulting
https://twitter.com/NEMultimedia
Hi, Michelle! Thanks for coming by to voice your questions, opinions and then answer your own questions!
In my 26 years in public relations, the two disciplines have always been separate; in fact, PR has only been invited to the table in the last ~12 years or so. Marketing is lead-gen oriented to benefit sales; public relations manages messaging to external audiences that position thought leaders, products/services, institutions, companies, etc. with key audiences (i.e. media, bloggers and now directly to consumers via social media) with the expectation of influencing opinion.
I’ve always had a difficult time explaining what we in PR do; social media has confused and blurred any concrete definition.
While I don’t do marketing in an analytics and number-crunching way, I do blend marketing with my PR offering, and the service I deliver is marketing public relations. I orient to lead gen; I’m fully aware of reputation management; I collaborate with marketing; and, yet, I’m autonomous from marketing.
A bit challenging, eh?
Scott Quillin (New England Multimedia’s founder and technical/creative director) & I just talked about this, and he shared some insight on this topic with me, while answering my question.
Scott says that the answer to the question I posed is both price-driven and brand-driven. There are different skill sets for PR and marketing, he says, and while a “lower level” brand may have to combine the two roles and blur the lines, at the “higher level,” combining PR and marketing into one role devalues the inherent worth of each to a brand that needs both skill sets.
Scott also believes that neither of the two is “more important,” but which one takes the lead at any given time depends upon what’s happening in the market.
He gives the example of the Pittsburgh Steelers and what they’re facing right now with the trouble Ben Roethlisberger and Santonio Holmes have gotten into. He says, “The Steelers are experiencing a PR nightmare (their brand is taking a hit), but their brand is getting plenty of exposure. There’s no strategy needed to get the Steelers brand on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN News, ESPN Radio, NFL Network, and the thousands of other sports and news networks. They don’t need to buy advertising time on these channels; they’re getting the first 15 minutes of coverage on all of them. How many billions of dollars would the Steelers normally have to pay to get that kind of marketing coverage? But while the public relations nightmare has given the Steelers brand plenty of exposure, at what cost to a team historically known for having players and coaches with high standards and character?”
Scott went on to add, “You don’t want marketing handling public relations. Marketing is about strategy; PR is about relationships and image. You can do both, but at what expense to the client? At a small level, no negatives. At a higher level, HUGE ramifications.”
At first I fought for the dual-role position for PR and Marketing, but when he used the Pittsburgh Steelers story, I got it. :o)
Michelle Quillin for New England Multimedia & Web Consulting
https://twitter.com/NEMultimedia
Great feedback from you both, thank you.
Where I differ with Scott is in re that “marketing is about strategy while PR is about relationships and image.” I wrote a blog post recently, “PR Drives Marketing.” Of course, it got many heated comments. I’m serious when I say this…I’ve been in many conversations and on teams with marketing folks for client projects where marketing is turning to me to deliver the creative campaign strategy for a launch or event or big idea, for example.
With a PR concept taking the lead, each discipline feeds off the other to deliver results and ultimately achieve communications strategy aligned with business goals.
Finally, I’ve not met anyone who wears both a PR and marketing hat in one role; unheard of. If there is such a thing (probably in a smaller company without budget to afford both?), I’d hasten a guess it’s a failure.
Thanks, Michelle!
Jayme,
Thanks for the quick reply!
You said, “I’ve always had a difficult time explaining what we in PR do; social media has confused and blurred any concrete definition.”
Social media is what brought me into this arena in the first place — hence my confusion about the lines between PR & marketing. And now I’m having an identity crisis! 🙂
Thanks to you, Mark and Scott for the mini-education; I look forward to learning more.
Michelle Quillin for New England Multimedia & Web Consulting
https://twitter.com/NEMultimedia
What this blog is forcing me to do is return to the basics to define public relations. If you look through some of the archived posts, you’ll see references to the books written a decade ago by the “masters” in the field — Thomas Harris, Bob Dillenschneider, and others.
My quest in doing that is to ensure that the definitions I share about my beloved profession are on track. Now, these questions about ownership, social media, where we all sit and at what point in the strategy continuum are somewhat complex, yet entirely exciting.
We partner, we collaborate, we require all disciplines to deliver strategy, execute results-oriented tactics aligned with business goals.
Again, thank you, Michelle!