Communication and marketing are getting closer and closer

The editorial in issue 08 of MK has met with a positive response. Peter Eberhard, President of pr suisse, reports.The editorial is available hereIntegrated communication has been on everyone's lips for years. But is it actually lived out in daily practice? Based on experience, one may sometimes doubt it. Nevertheless, there are tendencies that point in this direction and indicate that the much-lamented silo thinking between corporate communications and marketing is gradually losing ground. This can be concluded, among other things, from the results of the latest Practice Monitor 2013/14, the only comprehensive survey on the development and trends of the Swiss PR and communications scene. The organizational model of two independent departments working together as needed still dominates (39% mentions). The variant in which communications is part of the marketing department has lost a great deal of importance (4% compared to 12% in the 2011 survey). In contrast, the reverse model - marketing is subordinate to communications - has gained significantly in importance (26% compared with 14% in the 2011 survey). Finally, in 13% of the cases, marketing and corporate communications already form a common, unified functional area. In other words: In more than two out of five cases (43%), communications and marketing work very closely together.And that's a good thing, because the image of the company, brand and product are ultimately inseparable. It doesn't have to be a love match, but in any case a functioning marriage of convenience. Because ultimately, in the ever tougher competition for attention and trust, it's all about using the available resources of an organization as effectively as possible - with one common goal: to achieve defined communication and marketing goals across channels and disciplines - in a coordinated manner and aligned with the stakeholders.Peter Eberhard, President pr suisse (www.prsuisse.ch)Here you can find the Practice Monitor in an abridged version (German and French) as well as in the integral version (English): http://www.prsuisse.ch/de/service/downloads/reports-2010-2013