Once upon a time, marketing, public relations, advertising and trade journalism were separate things.

They’re not anymore.

Legacy media is collapsing and most companies are better off making their own content. The collapse of traditional media has been accelerated by convergence of social media and marketing.

Businesses can directly reach their audiences with no mediators now.

My argument for a long time—and what I’m writing about today—is this: There’s no difference between marketing, public relations, advertising and brand content anymore. The lines have blurred, and the strategies have merged.

So let’s get into it.

Where does earned media fit when most journalists are self-employed and self-publishing?

“Earned media” is, in PR-speak, publicity gained through promotional efforts other than paid advertising. This usually means press coverage, social media content strangers make for free, word of mouth, and other forms of promotion. The opposite of earned media is “paid media”—in other words, advertising.

I recently spoke with Katherine Spiers about this. I’ve known Katherine since we both worked at Gawker Media (remember them?) on their travel blog (remember those?) Gridskipper. Katherine is an incredibly savvy observer, skilled writer and talented entrepreneur who knows the industry… and works in the complicated world of food media. Here’s what she had to say:

I’ll go one step further and argue that public relations already merged with advertising. And with marketing too.

How so? Let’s find out.

User Generated Content Changed Things

Once upon a time, broadcast television networks like ABC, cable television networks like CNN, magazines like Sports Illustrated, newspapers like the San Francisco Chronicle, and movie theaters dominated the media industry.

If advertisers wanted to reach customers, they paid these outlets money for ad space.

Even beneath the mass media, there was a profitable world of trade and specialty press (different industries, specialty topics like cars and gardening, niche audience segments, etc.).

You could make your own media, but it required time, dedication, and skills.

Making a public access television show required considerable technical chops, as did recording and selling your own music, making a ‘zine, or breaking into the art world.

From a PR, marketing, and advertising perspective, that meant that each of them worked through distinct channels.

• PR professionals would cajole media outlets into covering their clients.

• Marketers would help clients reach customers.

• Advertisers would promote their clients through paid channels.

Then… first slowly and then quickly… ordinary people began easily making their own content.

Little things happened at first.

People could leave Yelp reviews with their honest feelings about restaurants and dry cleaners.

Bloggers could write articles and reach hundreds of thousands of readers from their home computers.

Teenagers set up MySpace profiles for their bands and reached listeners worldwide without having to go on tour or even leave their homes.

Then things happened really quickly.

YouTube and TikTok made it easy for anyone to make videos and share them worldwide.

The iTunes store, Spotify, and streaming turned music from a physical into a digital commodity.

Technological innovations meant it was easy for anyone to create professional-quality content on their smartphone.

Economic innovations meant that smartphones—and data for them—became cheap, easily available, and embedded into worldwide culture.

Presto.

We were thinking of this in terms of PR and advertising, but the biggest cultural shift since the printing press just took place.

This shift has caused a significant transformation in how brands communicate, which highlights the influence of social media on marketing.

People Really, Really Like User Generated Content

Back to PR, advertising, and marketing.

Some funny things happened when ordinary people were able to make their own content and share it globally:

• Hundreds of millions of people worldwide realized they liked consuming homegrown content just as much as (if not more than!) consuming content from the “professional” mass media.

• Network effects meant that platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube scaled as venues for discovery and sharing very, very, very quickly.

Legacy media—from newspapers to magazines to television news and beyond—began sharing content for free online that consumers would normally pay for.

All of these had a big effect on the PR/marketing ecosystem. Three of the biggest changes were:

1. Many content creators became “influencers” with large audiences of their own. Even influencers with comparatively small follower counts in the tens of thousands (say, a YouTube creator who focuses exclusively on home improvements for bungalows) are sought-after partners for brands targeting their audience.

2. A formerly top-down hierarchy of media and distribution channels was replaced by a constantly changing web of part-time, full-time, and legacy media creators working on video, audio/podcasts, photos, and text-based articles that PR/marketing/advertising professionals must target.

3. Consolidation on the part of legacy media as many outlets shut down and others became “zombie” outlets republishing old content while a few winners like the New York Times, Bloomberg, and the New Yorker cornered the market on paid digital subscribers.

Every Brand A Content Creator

This new world of post-user generated content marketing and public relations that we are in is completely foreign to everything that came before.

Imagine that a new local retail store opens. If:

1. The local newspaper is too underfunded to cover it.

2. Local TV news shows rely on syndicated content instead of original segments

Then how are they going to get publicity?

They are going to post to local Facebook groups.

They will invite local Instagrammers and TikTokers to visit their store.

If a B2B tech company updates their software platform, but the trade press for their sector went out of business two years ago and they’re just praying TechCrunch or Fast Company pays attention?

They’re going to have their in-house experts post on LinkedIn.

They will send targeted emails to customers.

They will set up keyword-based advertising and highly targeted social media advertisements.

Maybe, just maybe, they do an instructional series of YouTube videos and a podcast series promoting their brand to potential customers.

The collapse of legacy media has forced brands to become their own content creators.

The traditional boundaries between earned media, paid media, PR, and advertising have blurred beyond recognition.

Brands now need to integrate these approaches if they want to remain relevant and effective.

The Merging of PR and Advertising

Public relations and advertising have historically been viewed as distinct fields.

• PR focused on building relationships and earned media.

• Advertising was about paying for exposure to as many eyeballs as possible.

However, in today's digital landscape, the lines between PR and advertising have merged.

For instance, sponsored content or native advertising is a direct result of this merger.

Brands pay for placement in reputable media outlets, but the content is designed to look and feel like editorial work. This hybrid approach more or less leverages the credibility of earned media while using the reach of paid media.

Furthermore, the rise of influencers blurs the lines even further.

Influencers often engage in PR partnerships by building connections with their followers and featuring their products or services on highly-viewed social media accounts.

At the same time, they engage in advertising by promoting products and services for a fee. PR and advertising have thoroughly merged in a user generated content-driven world.

Integrated Marketing’s Future

Moving forward, the integration of PR, advertising, and marketing will evolve more and more.

Brands need to adopt a holistic approach which considers all possible and relevant touchpoints with their audience.

This means creating content that resonates across multiple platforms and formats, whether it's a TikTok video, a blog post, or an Instagram story.

The influence of social media on marketing cannot be overstated.

Social platforms are where consumers spend a significant portion of their time. This makes them crucial for brand visibility and engagement.

Brands must stay agile and ready to adapt to the ever-changing social media landscape. This means leveraging the power of user generated content to maintain a competitive edge.

Where Do We Go From Here?

The collapse of legacy media and the rise of social media fundamentally transformed the PR, marketing, and advertising landscape.

The traditional silos that once separated these fields have crumbled. We now need an integrated approach that leverages the strengths of each discipline.

Brands must now become their own content creators.

This means telling their own stories and engaging directly with their audiences.

The merging of PR and advertising reflects this new reality, a reality where earned and paid media increasingly combine with each other through social media and user-generated content.

Learn more by reaching out to Ungerleider Works. Our team is happy to work with you on writing YouTube video scripts, LinkedIn ghostwriting, content strategy for trade shows and experiential, and much more.

(Originally published in Context Collapse on March 28, 2024. This article has been edited and updated.)

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