How Are Public Relations Specialists Different From Digital Marketers?

There are many different ways to promote your business. That’s why the term ‘marketing’ has become so broad in the modern world. We have digital marketing, traditional marketing, social media-specific marketing, and of course, public relations. If you’re trying to grow your travel or lifestyle business, you need the right marketing assistance, but it’s not always easy to determine which marketing strategy is right for you. As such, we decided to compare public relations specialists and digital marketers to find out what the differences really are.

Public relations specialists are experts in dealing with the media

PR consultants should be experts in the way they deal with media outlets. While digital marketers focus more on online methods of promotion, a PR pro utilises media coverage as a strong means of communication.

This often means getting stories or written content published through reputable media outlets in order to strengthen your brand. Travel and lifestyle PR agencies also work with companies to create and maintain a positive image in the eyes of consumers, who can be influenced by what they read or hear in the news about a company's products or services.

So, it could be contacting a local news outlet to run a story on your new product launch. Or on the other side of the coin, a PR consultant can also use the media to help repair damaged reputations.

PR agencies focus on brand awareness and building reputations

The goal of a branding campaign is to create a consistent brand image. While digital marketers also work on branding, a PR company makes this a much stronger focal point. This can be accomplished by using a variety of media, including social media, print ads and commercials.

For example, let’s consider you run a travel-based business and want to be seen as more environmentally friendly. Your PR agency can use a range of different media sources to share stories and build your reputation as a green business. As such, consumers start to recognise your brand as more sustainability-focused. However changing the narrative of your brand takes time. PR is not an overnight strategy or a quick win, which is why we work on 6-12 month retainers at a minimum.

PR consultants work on outreach and messaging

PR pros work with journalists, influencers and potential clients to create content that is distributed to a wide audience. They'll help you create the messaging used in your PR campaigns, and they may also assist in generating the content on your behalf.

This is perhaps one of the most crucial differences between public relations specialists and digital marketers. PR specialists work to push your business into the public eye, so it’s a more outward form of marketing. Digital marketers find ways to bring more people to you, so this is more about creating inward traffic.

PR agencies use their networks to gain access to media outlets

A PR professional usually has relationships with journalists and other influencers, who are always looking for sources for stories. This could be through a range of media outlets including local TV news, newspapers, industry-specific magazines and publications, online resources, podcast interviews, and even social influencers.

This networking skill is perhaps one of the best tools in a PR pro’s arsenal. It’s all about finding the right place to promote a client’s products, services or brand in general, at the right time. So, when it comes time to issue a press release or promote a new product or service, your PR agency should find the best places to promote your new offering.

Digital marketers improve your online presence

So, let’s look at digital marketers now. It’s true that some of the functions certainly overlap. And there is nothing wrong with using traditional PR in addition to digital marketing. We like to think about marketing as an umbrella, and PR is one of the panels in the umbrella. However an umbrella is no good unless all of it’s panels are in place. The first point is that digital marketers work to improve your online presence. They generally aren’t too concerned with other forms of media such as news, magazines or other publications.

There are multiple strategies used to improve your online presence, such as SEO, paid advertising and social media. Typically, the work will be very targeted because a digital marketing expert wants to reach a specific audience. Comparatively, PR consultants also need to target their work to the right audience, but it is generally done on a more broad scale.

Digital marketers used paid advertising methods

It’s not that a PR agency would never suggest that a client uses paid advertising. It’s just that their focus is usually elsewhere. They have relationships with media outlets and publications that usually don’t require a fee. PR agencies primary goal is to secure earned media. That means we compel a journalist or editor to write about your company or brand and the fact that we don’t pay for this service, or have any control over what the journalist writes, makes it far more credible than advertising. Digital marketers, on the other hand, often use paid advertising methods such as pay-per-click ads on search engines or social media. So, when you hire a digital marketer, you might find you need to set aside additional money each month for a paid advertising budget, depending on how your agency structures its fees.

Digital marketers focus heavily on search engines

Digital marketers rely on their skills to create original content that attracts traffic from search engines. They use a variety of tools, including blog posts and infographics, to achieve this goal. This side of their work is known as SEO (search engine optimisation) and is designed to rank your website higher on search engine result pages and drive more traffic to your website.

In many ways, public relations specialists don’t need to worry about this. They deal with media outlets and publications that already have a wide reach with your target audience. There’s no need to spend money trying to rank on search engines when these source media outlets already have the exposure clients are looking for. This means that one of the many benefits of working with a PR agency is that your SEO will improve, as will your domain authority and Google ranking.

Looking for public relations specialists you can trust?

If you feel that PR is the best fit for your company’s marketing needs, we’d love to hear from you. As trusted public relations specialists, we excel in helping lifestyle, travel and adventure brands, companies and individuals reach a wider audience. If it’s time to showcase your business to the world, Roam Generation is here to help. Contact us today!