PR and Content Marketing: Differences, Similarities, & More

PR and contented selling some purpose to fortify a brand's visibility and estimation to enactment concern growth. But successful antithetic ways.

They're 2 chiseled selling disciplines with unsocial tactics and metrics. 

In this article, we’ll screen precisely what PR and contented selling are, the activities they include, and however to measurement success.

Let’s start.

Content Marketing vs. PR: The Basics 

Content Marketing Overview

Content marketing is simply a benignant of integer selling that includes creating and sharing contented to pull and prosecute a people audience. 

This contented isn’t arsenic explicitly promotional arsenic PR content. It provides high-quality accusation to conscionable the audience’s needs by answering their questions, helping them larn thing new, and/or entertaining them. 

Over time, this positions you arsenic a trusted source. And tin pb to concern growth.

Because speaking to a circumstantial assemblage is cardinal to contented marketing, it’s a bully thought to usage Semrush's One2Target to summation accusation astir the radical you privation to reach.

Open the tool, adhd up to 5 competitors’ domains, and click "Analyze."

You'll spot 4 reports:

• Demographics: Shows your audience’s age, gender, and location
• Socioeconomics: Shows your audience’s employment status, acquisition level, household size, and income level
• Behavior: Shows your audience’s interests, instrumentality preferences, and societal media use
• Audience Overlap: Shows however audiences overlap crossed competitors and which domains they visit

The insights you summation present tin pass the contented types you absorption connected and however you administer it.

For example, if information shows your assemblage is chiefly progressive connected Instagram, absorption connected creating engaging Instagram posts and stories. 

PR Overview

PR focuses connected managing your company's nationalist image. To get radical to know, make an affinity for, and spot your brand. 

You bash this by crafting stories and messages that positively power however radical presumption your business. Which tin beryllium focused connected your products, services, wide brand, oregon adjacent radical wrong your company.

And PR typically involves engaging with journalists, organizing events, and handling situation communications to guarantee the institution is seen favorably.

Like with contented marketing, these efforts tin pb to concern maturation implicit time.

Content Marketing vs. PR: Main Goals

Content Marketing Goals

Here are immoderate of the main goals contented selling focuses on:

Boost Brand Awareness

You tin heighten your brand’s visibility by consistently sharing high-quality contented connected antithetic channels.

For example, sharing an insightful infographic connected societal media tin summation brand awareness arsenic your followers stock it with their ain networks. 

At Semrush, we bash this often. Here’s an illustration from LinkedIn:

Publishing SEO-friendly contented connected your website is besides invaluable for expanding visibility. Because it tin look successful hunt results and pull much integrated (unpaid) traffic.

For example, here's a Shopify blog station that drew 201,300 integrated visits successful January 2024.

Generate Leads

Sparking assemblage involvement done engaging contented tin construe to lead generation and imaginable sales. 

How?

Users are consenting to stock their accusation (often by filling retired a form) successful speech for a well-crafted usher oregon informative webinar. And they’re much apt to bash truthful if they’ve regularly seen large contented from you successful the past.

Here’s an illustration of a downloadable usher that HubSpot uses to cod users’ email addresses and different details:

Depending connected wherever users are successful the buying journey, however acquainted they are with your brand, and the benignant of contented they’re viewing, they could adjacent marque a purchase.

Establish Authority

Sharing expert-created contented helps presumption your marque arsenic an authorization successful your field. Which builds credibility with your assemblage and tin adjacent amended your SEO performance.

For instance, publishing in-depth probe reports establishes your marque arsenic a reliable and trusted root of accusation among your audience. And aligns with Google’s recommendations connected producing quality content that’s useful, reliable, and focused connected people.

We regularly people original research similar this:

PR Goals

Now, let’s instrumentality a look astatine what you tin execute with effectual PR:

Build Brand Awareness

Many PR activities are designed to pull attraction from media outlets that tin stock quality astir your brand. Giving you much scope than you could execute done your ain channels.

For example, you could transportation a study connected a survey you conducted to publications that mightiness beryllium interested. If 1 oregon much uses it arsenic the ground for a story, it tin beryllium seen by audiences who mightiness different not person known astir you.

Protect Brand Reputation

PR aims to make a favorable representation for your institution by highlighting successes and managing antagonistic publicity. 

For example, PR efforts tin absorption connected promoting achievements similar awards done assorted media channels. Like however RingCentral does it here:

And erstwhile thing antagonistic occurs (like a merchandise recall), PR tin mitigate immoderate estimation damage.

This involves transparent connection with the nationalist and stakeholders. And taking progressive steps to resoluteness the contented and reconstruct the brand's image.

Content Marketing vs. PR: Typical Activities

Content Marketing Activities

Content selling leverages antithetic types of contented and channels to execute defined goals. Here are immoderate of the astir common:

Blog Posts

Blog posts assistance amended and prosecute your assemblage by answering their circumstantial questions and addressing their symptom points. 

They besides assistance with SEO—as agelong arsenic it’s genuinely high-quality content.

Use Semrush's AI-powered SEO Writing Assistant to guarantee your contented aligns with what readers and hunt engines privation to see.

Type, import, oregon make contented successful the editor. 

Then, participate astatine slightest 2 keywords, take your people audience, and click "Get recommendations."

The instrumentality volition analyse your text. And springiness you a people based connected SEO, readability, originality, and code of voice.

Click connected the “SEO” fastener to spot much accusation astir however your contented is doing from an SEO perspective.

The instrumentality provides recommendations astir things similar the fig of links to include, however often to usage your people keyword, and further keywords you should see successful the content.

You tin usage these insights to people hunt engine-friendly blog posts.

Videos

Videos tin pass analyzable topics successful an easy digestible, engaging format.

In fact, 92% of planetary net users watched online video contented successful Q3 2023, according to Statista.

This is wherefore galore brands present person their ain YouTube channels wherever they speech astir their products/services, industry, and related topics. 

Like ConvertKit:

Email Campaigns

Emails fto you scope your assemblage straight successful their inboxes. Making them a highly personalized mode to communicate.

You tin supply updates and exclusive contented to support your assemblage engaged.

Here's an illustration of an email update from newsletter level Beehiiv:

Further reading: How to Win People Over with Compelling Email Content

Guest Blogging

Guest blogging connected applicable websites gets your marque sanction successful beforehand of a wider audience. And helps further physique your manufacture authority. 

It tin besides pb to backlinks (links from different sites that constituent to your site). Which are a cardinal ranking factor.

Even if you aren’t capable to unafraid a backlink (not each sites see them for impermanent posts), impermanent posting is simply a bully mode to present your marque to a caller audience.

Here's an illustration of a impermanent station connected Adweek from our ain Marcus Tober:

Social media platforms let for much engagement with your audience. Which helps you make relationships.

Whether you take elaborate posts connected LinkedIn, speedy updates connected X (previously known arsenic Twitter), oregon thing other volition beryllium connected which platform(s) your assemblage prefers.

No substance the platform, it’s champion to see a assortment of station types to support your contented caller and engaging. 

For example, Mailchimp posts a premix of promotional and acquisition contented crossed platforms similar Instagram.

Webinars

Webinars are unrecorded oregon pre-recorded virtual events that tin beryllium utilized for in-depth discussions with experts, merchandise demonstrations, and Q&As.

They’re often utilized arsenic a benignant of gated content. Which tin enactment pb generation.

For example, Blinkist holds unrecorded webinars that funny users request to motion up to attend:

PR Activities

PR besides uses assorted tactics to execute its goals. Here are immoderate of the astir communal activities an effectual PR strategy uses:

Press Releases

Press releases are utilized to denote events, merchandise launches, oregon institution achievements with the media. To promote property sum that boosts marque awareness.

Here’s a template showing what they often look like:

To springiness property releases arsenic overmuch visibility arsenic possible, it’s usually champion to people them to your website and besides administer them via newswire services.

Media Outreach

Contacting members of the property straight to stock property releases, supply aboriginal entree to a report, oregon acceptable up exclusive interviews increases the likelihood of securing sum for your company.

When you spot articles with a institution CEO similar this 1 featuring Siemens CEO Roland Busch, it’s usually the effect of media outreach. 

Sponsorships fto you publically align your marque with causes your people assemblage cares about. Which tin heighten marque visibility and assistance radical link with your institution connected a deeper level. 

For instance, endeavor bundle institution SAP has respective sponsorship programs. Including for athletes.

The cardinal to sponsorships is to guarantee that you’re supporting individuals and organizations that are applicable to you.

Public Speaking

Public speaking events (e.g., manufacture conferences oregon sheet discussions) connection an accidental to stock your expertise, insights, and marque messages straight with an engaged audience.

For example, NVIDIA’s Jensen Huang gave a keynote code astatine a enactment league successful California’s Bay Area:

Industry Events

Taking portion successful applicable exhibitions, commercialized shows, and different events is simply a straightforward mode to physique marque awareness.

These PR activities supply opportunities for face-to-face interaction. Where you tin reply questions and physique relationships with imaginable partners, investors, and customers.

Partaking successful firm societal work (CSR) activities helps physique a affirmative marque image. Which tin heighten spot and loyalty with your audience.

This mightiness impact participating successful biology projects oregon foundation events. Which tin resonate powerfully with your assemblage by showing a shared dedication to affirmative change.

Brands similar Oracle person broad CSR policies and tally initiatives successful countries each astir the world:

Content Marketing vs. PR: Metrics to Measure Success

Content Marketing Metrics

Measuring contented selling efforts allows you to fig retired if you should support doing what you’re doing. Or if you request to power things up. 

This ensures your contented selling efforts enactment your concern goals.

Here are a fewer content selling metrics you tin way to measurement success:

• Organic traffic: The fig of visits that travel to your tract from integrated hunt results
• Average engagement rate: The information of radical who interact with your societal contented comparative to the fig of followers you have
• Conversion rate: The complaint of visitors who instrumentality a desired enactment (like making a purchase) our of each your visitors
• Leads generated: The fig of leads generated done contented selling efforts
• Keyword rankings: The positions (how precocious up successful hunt results) your contented has successful hunt results
• Backlinks: The fig of links from different sites that nonstop to your tract arsenic a effect of contented selling efforts

Use Semrush's Backlink Analytics to rapidly measure your backlink profile. 

Just spell to the “Referring Domains” tab to find retired which media outlets are linking your domain.

Pay peculiar attraction to immoderate that are labeled “Lost.” Those bespeak domains that utilized to nexus to you but nary longer do.

Consider creating link-worthy contented and reaching retired to those domains. To reclaim those mislaid backlinks and boost your SEO performance. 

You tin find immoderate of these different metrics successful Google Analytics.

PR Metrics

Measuring PR show helps you recognize whether your PR campaigns are having their intended impact. Which enables you to refine your strategy.

Here are a fewer metrics you should way to measurement your PR success:

• Backlinks: The fig of sites that nexus to your tract arsenic a effect of PR efforts
• Referral traffic: Then fig visits that travel from different websites similar media outlets
• Organic traffic: The fig of visits that travel from integrated hunt results (these are often from hunt queries that see your marque sanction pursuing media coverage)
• Social reach: The full fig of radical who spot you societal media content
• Brand mentions: The full fig of times your marque is mentioned online (even if the notation doesn’t see a link)
• Brand sentiment: The wide nationalist cognition of your brand

Track marque mentions and sentiment with the Media Monitoring app.

Open the tool, participate your marque sanction successful the “Keyword” field, and click "Create Project."

You’ll past spot a dashboard with 3 tabs:

• Summary: Shows a high-level overview of your brand's online mentions
• Mentions: Shows the implicit database of each your marque mentions
• Analysis: Provides elaborate information related to your marque mentions

In the “Summary” tab, cheque retired a sampling of the mentions you’ve received. 

And scroll down to spot the “Mentions” chart. Which shows a breakdown of your affirmative and antagonistic mentions.

If you announcement a precocious proportionality of antagonistic comments, it's a cue to analyse the issues being discussed. And see a connection effort intended to displacement nationalist perception.

If the immense bulk of mentions are positive, that’s a motion to proceed your existent PR activities.

Frequently Asked Questions About PR and Content Marketing

Which Is Better: PR oregon Content Marketing?

Both disciplines enactment larger concern goals. So, neither is amended than the other.

Ideally, you should usage PR and contented selling unneurotic to summation your brand's visibility and credibility. And guarantee you support a wide and azygous connection everywhere. 

How Can You Use PR and Content Marketing Together?

Here are immoderate basal steps to instrumentality for utilizing some PR and contented marketing:

• Define communal objectives: Align some strategies with a main extremity to guarantee cohesive efforts
• Develop a unified marque message: Create accordant messaging that reflects your brand’s values crossed each communications
• Create contented that tin beryllium repurposed: Produce versatile contented that tin beryllium adapted for aggregate uses. For example, an infographic that tin beryllium added to your blog posts and distributed to influencers for societal sharing.
• Leverage PR occurrence successful selling content: Include media mentions arsenic societal impervious successful contented marketing 

What Tools Are Good for Both PR and Content Marketing?

A Semrush account includes implicit 55 tools that tin beryllium utilized for activities spanning some PR and contented marketing. Like keyword research, contented creation, societal media planning, and more.

Project absorption tools similar Asana and Trello besides marque it easier for PR and contented selling teams to collaborate and enactment connected the aforesaid page.

Combine PR and Content Marketing

Don't look astatine PR and contented selling successful silos.

Pair them to execute the champion imaginable results.

How tin you get started?

Try utilizing Semrush's SEO Writing Assistant to make contented for your contented selling and PR activities.