People buy from brands they trust. Advertising can tell customers what you sell, but trust usually comes from what others say about you: a journalist quoting your founder, a trade publication covering your launch, a local paper reporting on your community project. That is the job of public relations, and it works best when it is planned alongside marketing.
01Public relations vs marketing#
Marketing promotes products and services to drive sales. Public relations builds and protects a favourable reputation through strategic communication. They overlap, but their goals and tools differ:
| Aspect | Public relations | Marketing |
|---|---|---|
| Goal | Build trust and credibility | Promote products and drive sales |
| Main channel | Earned media: press coverage, reputation | Paid and owned media: ads, email, website |
| Audience | Public, media, stakeholders | Target customers and buyers |
| Measured by | Coverage, mentions, sentiment | Sales, ROI, conversion rates |
Digital channels have blurred the line. PR now includes influencer relations and social media reputation, while marketing borrows PR's storytelling to position the brand.
02The core parts of public relations#
03Media relations#
Relationships with journalists sit at the centre of PR. Offer reporters useful stories, data and expert comment, target the outlets your customers read, and make it easy for them to cover you. A press release is one tool, but a well-timed pitch to the right reporter usually does more.
04Community relations#
Engaging with your local or industry community strengthens loyalty. Sponsorships, charity partnerships, volunteering and corporate social responsibility programmes show what the brand stands for, and often earn local coverage.
05Crisis management#
Negative stories spread fast. A crisis plan protects the brand when something goes wrong:
- 1
Listen: use social listening and media monitoring to spot issues early.
- 2
Communicate openly: address concerns with a clear, honest official statement.
- 3
Engage stakeholders: respond to customers and partners directly and follow up.
06The role of PR in a marketing strategy#
07Earned media#
Earned media is coverage you don't pay for: articles, reviews, interviews and mentions by third parties. Because someone independent chose to cover you, it carries more credibility than an ad. Track it through media mentions, referral traffic and spikes in branded search.
08Brand equity#
Consistent messages across every channel, and stories that connect emotionally with your audience, build a reputation that outlasts any single campaign. PR keeps that story consistent.
09PR tactics that support marketing#
- Speaking and events: industry events and panels position your leaders as experts and create coverage opportunities.
- Press releases: useful for genuine news such as launches, funding or research, distributed to relevant outlets.
- Thought leadership content: articles and blog posts that answer customer questions and show expertise.
- Expert commentary: offering quotes and data to journalists working on stories in your field.
| PR tactic | Marketing benefit |
|---|---|
| Press releases | Brand awareness and media exposure |
| Social media PR | Reputation and engagement |
| Event sponsorships | Visibility and credibility |
| Expert commentary | Authority and backlinks from publications |
10How PR supports SEO#
Coverage on respected publications often includes a link to your site. Those editorial links are among the strongest signals of authority for search engines, and they send referral traffic of their own. Brand mentions also help AI assistants recognise your company as a credible source. This overlap is why digital PR has become a core part of link building.
11How to measure PR in marketing#
- Media mentions and the reach of the outlets that covered you
- Referral traffic from coverage
- Links earned from editorial coverage
- Social engagement and sentiment
- Growth in branded search
PR builds recognition, trust and audience engagement over time. Brands that plan it alongside marketing get more credibility from every campaign they run.
FAQFrequently asked questions
They are separate disciplines that work best together. Marketing drives sales through paid and owned channels; PR builds reputation through earned media. Many companies run PR inside the marketing team.
Links inside widely distributed press releases are usually treated as advertising, so they carry little SEO value on their own. The value comes when a release leads journalists to write their own coverage that links to you.
Digital PR uses PR tactics, such as data stories, expert commentary and outreach to online publications, to earn coverage and backlinks that improve search visibility.
