Public relations and content marketing both have vital roles in any organization, but while they both share many similarities, they have some nuanced differences.

PR often focuses more on getting others to talk about your brand in a positive light, like getting a press release picked up in a popular news outlet. It usually targets people who are already aware of your brand for the purpose of building trust, inspiring positive sentiment, or doing damage control. Furthermore, it’s usually done indirectly, through media placements or other neutral outlets.

Content marketing, on the other hand, focuses on directly targeting your audience through blogs, newsletters, or videos. It typically aims to reach a new audience and build your brand’s customer base through value-additive content.

To grow your brand, you need to understand how these approaches overlap and learn how to get the most out of both.

Building Positive Sentiment with Public Relations 

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While there are exceptions, PR mostly targets existing audiences to build or maintain trust and reinforce positive sentiment. For example, consider a SaaS startup that wants to generate customer engagement by announcing an exciting new feature.

But suppose a brand is struggling to maintain a positive sentiment. For example, if a CEO of a makeup brand were to make a casual remark about beauty standards that comes off as dismissive of body positivity, it could spark a backlash from customers.

To solve this, a good strategy would be to follow PR expert Molly McPherson’s “own it, explain it, promise it” framework.

In this case, the CEO could start by writing an open letter on the brand’s blog, acknowledging (owning) the misstep and reaffirming the brand’s commitment to body positivity. Next, they could do an interview with Refinery29 — a platform known for speaking to young women — where they directly address the issue (explaining it) and announce a new initiative to regain their audience’s trust (promising it). This could include the launching of a new product line focused on inclusivity or forming a customer advisory board dedicated to body positivity.

Creating Value on Your Platform with Content Marketing 

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Content marketing is more focused on educating, entertaining, and engaging an audience, leveraging content that’s posted by the brand itself. The goal here is typically to generate leads, drive conversions, or build brand loyalty. This is accomplished by publishing content that has a longer shelf life than a typical media placement (like a blog, white paper, or social media post) — content that keeps providing value and drawing people in long after it’s published.

For example, suppose that an eco-friendly travel gear brand wants to win over a new generation of adventure seekers but faces steep competition. A strong content marketing strategy could include launching a weekly blog or video diary series featuring real customers hiking, kayaking, and sharing how the gear supported their sustainable journeys.

By creating a shared community, delivering tips on sustainable travel, and creating new products to help make adventures more enjoyable, the brand can break away from the competition and position itself as a go-to resource for eco-conscious travelers.

How PR and Content Marketing Work Together  

PR and content marketing may have different goals, but they’re both crucial if you want to cover all your bases. Every brand should try to build positive sentiment through third-party content and offer value to win customers through owned media. This way, you’re not just building a good reputation through outside sources — you’re backing it up with content that keeps your audience engaged and loyal, showing you really walk the talk.

But how exactly can these two approaches work together?

Let’s say a music instrument brand is trying to expand its digital sales. To do so, it invested time and money into developing a machine learning tool that recommends musical instruments and gear based on customers’ preferences, skill levels, and past purchases. But there’s a problem: No one’s using it.

To this end, the brand could develop a PR strategy that involves working with music industry publications like MusicRadar and Guitar World to share stories of musicians who have found the perfect gear using the tool. They could also secure live Q&A sessions with social media influencers or pro musicians to show the tool in action and build trust with potential customers. Interviews with Forbes or Wired could talk about how the tool makes the shopping experience easier.

On the content marketing side, the brand could roll out easy-to-follow tutorials and “How it Works” videos on its blog. To make it fun, it could run a challenge: getting people to use the AI tool to find their ideal instrument and share their experience online for a chance to win discounts or free gear. 

This combination of clever PR and content marketing could create significant buzz through third-party sources while offering both new and existing audiences valuable, enjoyable content on the brand’s own platform.

Presscart Has You Covered with PR and Content Marketing 

Using PR and content marketing together results in a well-rounded strategy that not only gets positive attention for your brand but also builds lasting relationships with your customers. 

Presscart’s self-service platform makes it easy to handle both of these strategies. Visit Presscart online or book a call today to learn more.