What’s the difference between public relations, advertising, and marketing

How do you tell someone the difference between what you do in public relations versus a marketing or advertsing career path?

 In a nutshell, public relations can be defined as managing relationships. According to the Public Relations Society of America, "Public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other."

 Someone might say isn't public relations identical to marketing a client's reputation? The difference between marketing, advertising, and public relations is what is being promoted, audience reach, and the main purpose.

 Advertising promotes either brands, products, or services. The audience reach is a specifically targeted audience. The main purpose of advertising is to persuade a consumer to buy or use a service.

 Departments in advertising are broken down by account management, the creative department, production, and the media department. These core departments in advertising work together to create an advertisement.

 Marketing on the other hand promotes sales. The audience reach is consumers, suppliers, and retailers. The main purpose of marketing is to boost profit and sales. Marketing positions can be closely linked to sales and strategic aspects of the job.

 Public relations promote the organization as a whole or a specific client. The audience reach is all the publics. Building and maintaining relationships are essential characteristics for growing in public relations. The main goal is to develop mutually beneficial relationships.

 A key difference to remember is that public relations focuses on editiorial content for promotional activities. Alongside the implementation of third-party endorsements and earned media to create publicity. Whereas marketing uses paid-for advertising to create awareness. 

 Initially, the main difference between advertising, marketing, and public relations is the main goal and objective each job entails. Working in public relations, marketing, and advertising will also differ in how your day-to-day work life goes. For example, someone working in public relations day-to-day consists of writing press releases, media pitching, and relationship management.

 Public relations, marketing, and advertising may parallel each other in some working aspects, but if you do the research you’ll find out what truly makes each of these career paths different. 

Bio: Teruko Morishita is a senior at California State University, Northridge studying Public Relations. Her goal after graduating is to work in the automotive industry for a reputable public relations organization.