The days of public relations playing second fiddle to other marketing disciplines are long gone. PR is increasingly firmly embedded into the best marketing campaigns right from the start – whether it is delivered by an in-house team or a PR agency.

At one time it was common, even for major brands, to simply throw the latest advertising campaign at its PR company and say ‘can you draft a press release on that, please’. And while this does still happen, the best campaigns have good PR thinking, news angles, stunts and ongoing media content opportunities built in from the start.

‘Integrated’ may be an over-used word in the PR and marketing industry but its popularity is justified.

As the scope of a marketing campaign becomes more fragmented by the wealth of media options available – direct, print, online, broadcast, social etc – it becomes increasingly important that you deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time.

In order to ensure that the public relations activity is not playing catch-up or isn’t slightly off message thanks to timing, it needs to sit within the marketing campaign from the start.

This makes it crucial that organisations at least have a PR consultant within their marketing function who can bring a below the line perspective to your plans. As well as delivering a crucial aspect of any campaign, a decent PR person should be able to identify the potential media pitfalls of any strategy.

Far too many campaigns have launched in the past and backfired thanks to a lack of decent media relations knowledge – Dixons ‘last place you want to go’ was always a strapline likely to be derided by journalists. Once the criticism begins and the ads get pulled from print slots and online advertising, who is called in to draft statements, handle calls and clean up the mess? The PR department.

There shouldn’t be a disconnect – if you still see your marketing team as separate to your PR function then you are missing opportunities and wasting time. The best teams even have a direct line and understanding of the management and HR functions.

After all, if you are saying one thing while the business does another then it’s only a matter of time before your marketing team is asking a PR consultant to step in and straighten things out.

Find out how a public relations agency integrates activity with digital marketing and communications.