Maybe you’re a small business, startup or nonprofit agency. Your team is small but mighty, wearing different hats throughout the day. Your project manager is the IT guy, your HR manager doubles as the receptionist and your intern is taking sales calls. You’re not sure what the difference is between public relations and marketing, but it doesn’t matter anyway, because you can’t afford to hire someone full time. It’s OK. You’ve got this for now. You read. You research. You stay up late writing newsletters or press releases at two in the morning. The success isn’t overwhelming, but it’s good enough.
However, deep down you have this nagging feeling you could be doing more.
Even though it may not be your best skill set, you’ve taken it this far. What could an expert do for your business? Or the bigger question – who is the expert? Do you talk to a graphic designer about your brand? Give that advertising rep who’s been calling a chance? Hire a PR agency? Talk to someone about marketing? You don’t have the bandwidth to manage them all.
By working with a full-service marketing agency, you don’t have to.
Marketing and Public Relations: One in the same
This is a scenario we see all too often when talking to small businesses and organizations. Some try to separate out public relations vs. marketing, but the reality is in today’s world, they are one and the same. Think about it this way:
- You get a story in the Tulsa World, or another area publication (public relations)
- That story runs on www.TulsaWorld.com with a link to your website (inbound marketing)
- You share the story on your Facebook page (social media marketing)
- The feedback from potential clients who saw the article is positive, so you spend some money to boost the post (advertising)
- People start checking out your website and end up getting a strong sense of who you are and what you provide, which leads them to fill out a contact form for more information (branding, lead generation)
The Public Relations vs. Marketing debate
The age old question of public relations vs. marketing is becoming irrelevant as the ways in which we engage with organizations continue to converge. At Resolute, we’ve worked with companies for many years that couldn’t afford to hire a graphic designer AND an advertising agency AND a web developer AND a PR person.
In turn, those who could afford it, still wanted some help from an outside perspective. The evolution of our industry, specifically in digital, can make it difficult to stay informed and up-to-date. As a full-service marketing agency, we have team members dedicated to staying on top of these trends. We do the heavy lifting and research so you don’t have to.
A Lack of Patience and Budget Conscious
Many of our clients are the main decision makers. They want to know the campaign status, if it’s working or not, and what we’re doing to pivot our strategy. Typically, we see the most success when we know the full picture. The result is we’re able to handle everything – from picking the right designs, to ensuring the end product speaks to the overall messaging of the organization, to making sure the client isn’t wasting dollars on something that isn’t going to yield results.
Here’s the honest truth: there are convincing sales people out there who have the ability to persuade you to spend money on a bad idea. We know budgets can be tight, so the last thing you’ll want to do is burn through your marketing dollars. Don’t subject yourself to smoke-and-mirrors sales tactics, or you could be susceptible to a bad business decision.
We treat your money like it’s our own. We know the blood, sweat and tears you put into earning it. Therefore, we don’t take the time spent or the recommendations given lightly. So, stop worrying through all hours of the night about what the right answer is and get some sleep. We’re here to help you figure out the right mix to take things to the next level.
