. . . good PR is vital to the success of an organization.

Cessna Winslow, Assistant Professor of Communications

Sure that may sound obvious, but some businesses and institutions often confuse marketing and public relations. While the two can be intertwined, their objectives and roles are different.

I teach my students that marketing is about presenting an image in hopes of creating or fostering a belief. Public Relations is about building trust and respect. Marketing involves one-way communication and focuses on being known. PR, on the other hand, involves two-way communication and focuses on relating. While PR informs, it also seeks to be sensitive and responsive to the needs and desires of its publics.

I can market my cause or business extensively, but if I neglect PR I run the risk of being like the clanging cymbal that Paul cautions the Corinthians against. I can use endless creative marketing tactics to tell the world about my organization, but if I neglect to care about the needs of my publics, I am simply making noise. Building trust and respect must be part of my marketing efforts.

Computer giant Dell provides a case in point. After dismissing complaints of computers self-destructing and igniting, Dell learned a valuable lesson in being responsive and sensitive. Dell had a good marketing campaign and their sales reflected such. However, when word spread about exploding laptops, sales dropped. Dell realized it had a PR problem, not a marketing problem, and in 2006 responded by opening the lines of communication with a blog where consumers could openly discuss concerns and receive feedback. Dell’s efforts paid off as customer satisfaction improved.

The key, as exemplified by Dell, is to be honest, transparent, and responsive. Such measures should not be limited to external publics. Public relations involves attending to both internal and external publics. Faculty, staff, and students are examples of our internal publics here at Missouri Baptist. Our external publics include the people in our surrounding communities, alumni, supporters, and even the media . Building trust and respect within these two publics is critical to MoBap’s success and it involves being sensitive to varied needs, often employing differing tactics.

On a Public Relations Management exam we were told to address and explain the following statements:

A. If you have an internal PR problem, you will have an external PR problem.

B. If you have an external PR problem, you will have an internal PR problem.

I am pleased to say that I got that right as I knew that A is “true” and B is “not necessarily true”. Since internal publics are also part of external publics their views are shared with others. Therefore if you have an internal PR problem, you will have an external problem. However, if your internal PR is good, external assaults will likely be unable to cause internal problems. The internal publics may consider the external concerns but, having a contrary view, will likely dismiss them. In fact, they may also seek to counter the messages and help turn around an external PR problem.

So what does this mean? Quite simply, we should be more concerned with how we show love and respect to others than how we promote ourselves. Sure it’s important to present a good image and get our name out there, but we must remember that marketing is only part of the package. Public Relations is critical to the success of our image building efforts. And finally, as we relate to our publics, we need to be careful that in our quest to reach a broad audience, we do not neglect those closest to us.