Earned media and paid media might work differently, but when they work together they work better and we need them to come closer.

Advertising is about what we want to say vs PR, which is about what they want to hear. The outcome is also different – for advertising it is about telling our story, for PR it is about being part of the story.

Why is this so important now? The inconvenient truth is that image has been overtaken by reputation. That is what others say, not what we say.

To earn is the most influential canvas, and culture is our paint, that is what people are interested in and what are they talking about.

Conversations are the aim of a marketing campaign. Consumers have put up so many barriers to not hear us. If they are to hear us, we need to invest in becoming part of their world. That is where conversations lie and the ultimate aim to have a conversation. Conversations have been a weapon in the marketing arsenal of PR forever.

PR professionals are experts in yielding and using it. Where an idea in PR goes is very different to advertising.

A PR professional does not call a media buyer, they call the TV director or magazine editor and convince them of the idea. And when they get that right, it packs the right punch.

As traditional marketing becomes less and less efficient in today’s world, there is an increasing focus on PR as a solution. But with this there is increasing pressure on PR to prove its worth and efficiencies.

Campaigns need to be evaluated on the business case, not the communications case. We measure the wrong things. We measure what we create instead of the outcome.

The outcome is all that matters. This is a shame because PR is so cost effective and packs the biggest punch. Changing this is not only the agencies’ responsibility, but also their clients. Agencies still measure AVE because many clients ask them to.

Agencies will need to step up as the marketing community becomes more engaged with PR agencies and briefs them, asking for something.

PR, this is your chance to save the day, but you will have to be accountable.