Recently a fellow PR colleague asked me the following question: “What is the importance of public relations/marketing/advertising in relation to an organization’s mission and bottom line?”  After thinking about his question, I decided to focus my response on the lowest common denominators… what it is and what it isn’t.  Here’s my response:

Marketing communications is a tricky thing.

It is celebrated, proven, and talked about by growing companies.

Failing organizations misuse, ignore and downplay it.

The people who think they are too good for it are the ones who need it the most.

Pop culture successes sometimes don’t recognize how badly they need it.

Companies that are successful by selling a mediocre product abuse it.

CEOs that know how to leverage it are successful.

Shareholders of companies that implement it effectively are wealthier.

Smart moms are very effective at it.  Husbands could learn a lot about it from their wives.

You can say a lot about it without saying much at all.

Successful corporate brands don’t implement it because they “get” it.

Just because you have it doesn’t mean you “get” it.

It is a part of a healthy corporate culture, truthful and transparent.

It is about making a connection but many people have a hard time connecting with that truth.

It is abused, neglected, misrepresented, mothballed, cut, downsized, reduced and eliminated.

It needs to be integrated, bold, consistent, creative, simple and memorable.

It needs to be real.

Procter & Gamble, Microsoft, Apple, Tiger, McDonalds and Wal-Mart leverage it.

Kleenex, Coke, Xerox, Band Aid, Velcro and Scotch Tape defined it.

Politicians manipulate it for good, evil and their personal agenda.

On a bad day it will help define who you are.

On a good day it is the best thing ever.