Public Relations & Marketing Process & Big Picture

PR Definition

Non-paid communication used to build and maintain a positive organizational image

PR Equation

PR = Media Relations (MR) + Community Relations (CR)

Media Relations

Focuses on gaining publicity through press releases, media coverage, and storytelling

Community Relations

Focuses on building goodwill through outreach, events, and community engagement

PR Goals

Build trust, credibility, awareness, and support for organizational causes

PR Strategies

Storytelling, relationship building, and consistent messaging across platforms

PR vs Promotions

PR is earned and image-based; promotions are paid and sales-driven

CR Themes

Social justice, education, environment, health, food insecurity, and civic engagement

5 P’s Marketing Mix

Product, Price, Place, Promotion, and PR all interact and influence each other

Marketing Process

Research → Segmentation → Targeting → Strategy → Tactics

Research Phase

Gather information about market, fans, and organization to guide decisions

Segmentation/Targeting

Identify and select specific audience groups to focus marketing efforts

Marketing Strategy

Define goals and how to achieve them

Tactics

Specific actions used to implement strategy

Budgeting

Each tactic requires cost planning; marketing often operates with limited budgets (~5%)

Timeline

Gantt charts used to map scheduling and overlap of marketing activities

Strategic Evaluation

Measures whether overall marketing goals were achieved

Tactical Evaluation

Measures success of individual marketing actions

Evaluation Timing

Ongoing during implementation and after campaign completion