If you’re struggling to integrate your PR and marketing, you’re not alone. According to Meltwater, the world’s first online media monitoring company, just 1 in 5 public relations experts work on a company’s marketing strategy at all. Aren’t PR and marketing supposed to be synonymous? Check out 3 ways you can improve PR and marketing integration.

1. Keep Your Team Updated

As fast as online marketing moves today, it’s not surprising to know college textbooks, even at top communications schools, may not have the latest best practices or case studies for marketing or PR. As educated as your current team may be, they could be unaware of new digital marketing strategies, tools, and platforms that can make their work more cohesive, effective – and easier! Consider inviting both PR and marketing experts at your company to attend marketing or PR seminars to see how they’re integrated in today’s online world. The sooner they take up your offer, the faster they can be on the same page.

2. Encourage Self-Growth

Expecting one side to learn from the other is like leading a horse to water; you can offer it but you can’t expect them to drink it up and quench their curiosity. To change how you think about PR and marketing, it’s important to look at how each side benefits the overall company and current goals. That means continuing to learn from podcasts, videos, online courses, and free demos. Neither marketing nor PR is static, so new exciting trends will always be available. In many states, this kind of training is paid for via small business grants. Here’s a program in Massachusetts for example.

3. Share Strategies

You might be surprised to learn from Meltwater that among online media companies, only 7.5 percent of marketing budgets went toward public relations in 2021. Why raise an eyebrow over that? Many companies measure the success of marketing based on conversions (where credit is given to marketers) and not raising public awareness, which is the foundation of PR. By helping public relations and marketing experts learn best practices from each other, you can improve how each measures their success, then give them the recognition and marching orders they deserve. Encourage weekly meetings to keep both sides in the loop of what’s going on, what campaigns are running, and brainstorm for opportunities for integration.

If you’re looking at the big picture for your marketing and PR teams (or an outsourced professional), review your marketing plan at least quarterly and content calendars monthly to stay on track. Depending on your goals or sudden shifts in the market, it may be more often. Both should complement each other and include not just social media posts and videos, but upcoming events, networking opportunities, and speaking gigs. Marketing and PR don’t have to be separate institutions, nor should they be.

Online marketing and digital PR is bound to get more complicated each year for both sides. But there’s no reason to work in a silo. To create a successful business, brand or campaign, it doesn’t just take marketing or PR, it takes input and metrics from all areas; data, feedback from customers, sales, vendors, partners, social media and monitoring to hear what your audience really has to say – real time. As in any relationship, listen before you talk or make any reactive decisions. Harmony is always the way to go and of course, don’t forget your marketing plan.