Public Relations, Marketing, or Advertising?

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key word: umbrella






Marketing and Advertising under the "umbrella" of Public Relations

“Public Relations should never be ranked below marketing or advertising within an organization. Marketing and advertising should be placed under the umbrella of public relations because they usually target only one group – the consumer.”

I agree with the above statement, Public Relations should be ranked above both Marketing and Advertising. Organizations should rank them as follows:

1.Public Relations
2. Marketing
3. Advertising


Each are very important to an organizations success, however, not all equally. Public Relations is what keeps the customer and organizations’ relationship strong. Marketing and Advertising help with that bond.

Public Relations is the values-driven management of relationships between an organization and the publics that can affect its success. Public Relations persuades, and is either an advocate for the organization or an advocate for publics that relate to the organization. Its main goal is to keep the organization happy by making sure everything is running smoothly within an organization (dealing with policies and performance).

Marketing, according to wikipedia, is the process where goods and services move from the organization to the customers. Marketing is tied closely to sales. Its main goal is focused on customers and the selling of an organizations product or service to those customers.

Advertising , according to wikipedia, is a form of communication used to help sell the goods and services to the customers. Advertising’s primary customers are consumers, and work almost exclusively through mass media outlets. Its purpose is to change opinions and make publics aware of issues and products.


Public Relations uses multiple forms of media to keep the support of each group the company or organizations success depends. They observe trends, and use those trends to help with the company’s image. Public Relations practitioners use advertising to help with pr efforts. Public Relations keeps the organization and customer relationship strong; it is what keeps the organization running.

Marketing keeps the customers wanting the products or services. Marketing works with Advertising to promote a company’s products and services for potential customers. Marketing also follows trends to see what the customer would like as products and services.

Advertising “puts the word out” for the product or service to be sold to the customer. It uses trends to sell products or services.

Without Public Relations, there would be little to no relationship between an organization and its public. Public Relations has many publics, which means many components to please. From that Marketing and Advertising of that company may not matter if the customer has little to no relationship with the company or organization.



"Public Relations: Strategies and Tactics" Eighth Edition, Dennis L. Wilcox and Glen T. Cameron

Bureau of Labor Statistics: http://www.bls.gov/oco/ocos020.htm