Areas of expertise overlapping. Heavily.

When I came to advertising it was all black and white to me. Advertising agency does advertisements and marketing strategies, PR takes care of publicity and hard-core lobbying, media broker books the media and Social Media guys keep up the buzz. Today if I were a client I would be very confused, as the lines overlap heavily and in the era of economical slowdown companies have broadened their area of expertise not horizontally but vertically, taking over professions from other area-related sectors. And it’s perfectly wise to have a media-oriented person in classical ad agency to develop well-directed communication strategies or a web-designer in PR company to offer full service online campaign for clients who have decided to use only PR channels for public awareness. But it raises many questions. E.g. who should do the Social Media monitoring? Is it SM provider itself, PR, media or research company? Whom to choose finally to get the best value for money solutions that work: the price leader, the most prestigious one, the most enthusiastic one, the one who promises ROI etc.?

I think the answer relies in every company’s core needs and marketing strategies. But well known fact is that companies do not create effective complex strategies, people behind them do. So trust your inner guts and choose the right people behind your company/brand. Do not only judge by the reputed company name or the wide area of expertise. Choose the best professionals from every field and do not opt for all in one solutions, although it might seem more comfortable. The trick is to put them all working for you in the best way possible, so no one has a chance to get lazy.