The differences between advertising and PR continue to blur.
by Jeff Li
Back in days, large firms would have a PR department which manages the firm’s reputation and handles the press releases and other serious stuff; then there is the marketing department who handles all the ads that goes on T.V shows or radios or billboards. Today, the line between PR department and marketing department continues to blur. The reason for this merge between the two department falls heavily on the development of social media and internet. Customers are no longer accepting traditional advertising methods, they don’t want to be shout at. Rather, today’s customers want their opinions to be heard. Today, customers trust the peer reviews on a products or services than the statements that companies made on their website or ads. Therefore, in order for today’s marketing to succeed, its all about the content that are put out from the company. The content that a company create must represent the company’s core value and be demonstrated in a creative way.
Firms today need to have one united voice between all the channels that they release their content. They can no longer afford having one group of people managing one channel and another department managing the other while these two department never meet or discuss. Each content that is sent out today, whether through press conference, T.V ads or social media advertising have to have an aligned meaning.