CMOs don’t need more PR. They need more reasons to believe in PR

There is a little exaggeration in saying that CMOs don’t need more PR. They certainly do. What has changed is that PR has to give them stronger reasons to make it a more important part of the overall marketing strategy. The CMO today is under constant pressure to deliver business results. Quarter after quarter, there are targets to chase, numbers to defend and growth to demonstrate. Advertising, therefore, continues to occupy a significant place in the marketing mix because it offers scale, visibility and increasingly sophisticated ways of measuring performance.

PR has a more difficult proposition. Its contribution to the final business result is not always as direct or immediately measurable. A CMO can see an advertising campaign, track its media spends and monitor clicks, leads or conversions. With PR, the conversation often starts with media coverage, reach, impressions and share of voice. The obvious question then follows: How does all this translate into sales?

That is perhaps the biggest challenge PR is facing today. The industry has spent years developing measurement systems, but many of them still measure activity rather than impact. The number of stories, the potential reach or the equivalent advertising value can demonstrate visibility, but they do not necessarily demonstrate what changed because of the campaign. The CMO wants to know whether PR helped the brand move closer to its business objective.

The answer, however, cannot always be a simplistic one-to-one correlation between a PR story and a sale. Consumer behaviour does not work that way. A consumer may see an advertisement, watch an influencer video, read a review, hear a recommendation, search online and then make a purchase. Several communication touchpoints may influence the final decision. PR needs to demonstrate where it contributed to that journey rather than claim that every sale resulted from a media story.

That means moving the measurement conversation from output to outcome. Did PR improve awareness among a relevant audience? Did it strengthen credibility? Did it change the conversation around the category? Did it influence consideration? Did it help overcome a barrier to adoption? Did it build confidence among customers, investors, employees or other stakeholders? These are much more meaningful questions for a CMO than simply counting coverage.

PR and the Influencer Question

There is another development making the PR conversation more interesting: influencer marketing. There is still a debate about whether influencer marketing should sit within PR, advertising, digital or as a discipline of its own. Perhaps the more useful question is not where it sits but what role it plays in the communication ecosystem.

PR and influencer marketing increasingly work together because both recognise the power of third-party voices. A journalist, industry expert, creator, celebrity or subject-matter specialist can bring credibility and context that a brand's own communication may not always achieve. But influencer marketing should not automatically be called PR. Paid influencer content remains paid communication, while earned influence and independent advocacy operate differently.

For PR agencies, the opportunity is to understand this entire ecosystem and demonstrate how earned media, influencers, creators, communities and brand-owned channels can work together. The agency that continues to define PR only as media relations risks becoming less relevant to the larger marketing conversation.

Get Into the CMO’s Mind Earlier

The bigger issue is timing. Too often, the PR agency receives the brief after the larger marketing strategy has already been created. The advertising idea is ready, the media plan is being discussed and then someone asks, “What can PR do around this?”

That automatically puts PR in a supporting role.

PR agencies need to change that sequence. They need to be involved when the CMO and the marketing team are still defining the communication strategy. The conversation should begin with the business objective: What are we trying to achieve? What does the consumer currently believe? What is happening in the category? Who influences the conversation? What could make people believe the brand? What reputation risks could stand in the way?

These are not exclusively PR questions. They are marketing questions. And that is precisely why PR needs to be part of the conversation.

Stop Selling Coverage

Perhaps PR also needs to change the way it sells itself. Saying, “We will get you 100 stories,” is no longer a compelling proposition for a CMO. The better proposition is: “We will help change the conversation around your brand among the audiences that matter.”

That requires PR professionals to understand the client's business as deeply as they understand the media. They need to know the category, competition, consumer behaviour, sales cycle and commercial objectives. They need to be comfortable discussing market share, growth, reputation and customer behaviour—not just journalists, headlines and impressions.

This is also where PR consultants can play a bigger role. An experienced consultant can bring an outside perspective to the CMO, identify reputation opportunities and challenges, and connect communication with the larger business narrative. The consultant's role should not simply be to recommend another campaign, but to challenge the marketing team on whether the brand is being heard, understood and believed.

From Publicity to Influence

PR has traditionally been very comfortable talking about visibility. The next stage is to talk about influence.

Visibility tells us that people saw something. Influence asks whether it made a difference.

That difference may not always show up immediately in the sales figures. It could be a stronger brand reputation, greater credibility for a new product, improved stakeholder confidence, easier market entry or a more favourable environment for the brand to operate in. These outcomes can eventually support business performance, even if they cannot be attributed to a single PR activity.

This is why PR should not try to become advertising. Its strength lies elsewhere. Advertising can buy attention. PR has to earn attention. Advertising can control the message. PR operates in a world where journalists, creators, consumers and other stakeholders have their own voices. Advertising can create awareness quickly. PR can help create credibility over time.

The two therefore need not compete. They can complement each other.

Earn the Bigger Seat

The real challenge for PR agencies is not to persuade CMOs that PR is important. Most CMOs already understand that. The challenge is to demonstrate why PR deserves a bigger role in the strategic planning process and how that role can contribute to business objectives.

That will require a change in mindset within the PR industry itself. Agencies need to move beyond coverage reports and start developing business-led measurement. They need to understand consumer journeys, not just media journeys. They need to work with influencers without confusing paid influence with earned credibility. Most importantly, they need to enter the conversation before the communication strategy is locked.

The CMO does not need another presentation explaining why PR is important. The CMO needs evidence, insight and ideas that make PR relevant to the business.

That is perhaps the real opportunity for the industry.

Don't ask the CMO to give PR more weightage. Give the CMO more reasons to give it.

And perhaps the most important shift is this: PR should stop asking where it fits into the marketing strategy and start showing what the marketing strategy loses when PR is not part of it.