PR TIMES AFRICA PRTimesAfrica (March 2016) | Page 50

PR IS SALES
IS MARKETING
IS ADVERTISING
The lines are blurry. As a communicator you
are usually selling something – an idea, a
story, an interview to the media, a budget, a
campaign. To close on that effort – to get the
story, win the account, score a larger budget
– is a similar feeling your Marketing counter-
part has when her campaign idea is approved
or when a customer buys the product based
on her messaging. And the salesperson down
the hall from you? He is always prospecting,
aims to be in front of clients or at least on the
phone with them, understanding their pain
points and their spending limits.
These three levers of Communications – PR,
Marketing, Sales — are at their best when
they’re working together, not separately.
Most practitioners and strategists agree with
the premise, but the underlying pain points,
frustrations, budgetary constraints, conflict-
ing goals may stop the three from even want-
ing to work together. I’ve posed the question
in a previous post, Will PR and Marketing Get
Married One Day? A lot of you responded and
as a whole we’re in favor of this matrimony.
But how about we go on a few dates first?
The best communicators will be the ones who
have a firm grasp on Marketing, who partner
with Sales to help close business, and who
are pushing for consistent messaging across
this spectrum. If you shy away from Sales or
snub your nose at Marketing (that depart-
ment that steals some of your budget), then
you will be OK, possibly. That is to say, you
can get by. But to be an extraordinary com-
munications executive you need to spend
some time in their shoes. Here are three easy
things you can do in the next 30 days to nar-
row the gap and broaden your organization’s
(and your own) opportunities:
Lead a Sales Call: Try to sell something to
a client: ask your sales dept if you can sell
your company’s service or product to one
prospect. Set up the appointment, do your re-
search, lead the meeting, close the business,
send out the proposal, wait for the signature.
Sometimes you’ll be waiting longer than ex-
pected for a signed contract and that’s part
of the process and why the rewards taste so
sweet.
Be a Marketer: Sit in on Marketing meetings
and listen without your PR hat on. Under-
stand how they measure success and man-
age budgets. Ask to work on a campaign in
which you need to partner with the PR team.
It’s not always easy to collaborate and see
the other side. As a marketer, you may want
to spend more on b-to-c advertising while PR
is pushing for