Marketing, PR and corporate communications have an opportunity to break down the silos for a united messaging front. Make sure your teams aren't missing out.

Do you see communications sent out through another department in your company and scratch your head with confusion because of the message? If so, you're not alone. In many organizations, silos still exist when it comes to public relations and marketing communications and the marketing department.

A couple years ago I insisted on a reorganization of our organization chart. The change was simple -- PR/communications needed to be integrated as part of the marketing team. It wasn't an ego move or a desire to have more people reporting to me. It just became evident that in order to put out a consistent message, the two departments needed to be aligned.

Silos take over
At an interactive media conference recently, I was having lunch with people from a dozen different companies. The majority of these individuals were part of their company's PR and communications teams, with only a couple of us on the marketing side of the fence. Somehow we started discussing the internal organizational structure of their teams.

As we started the discussion, I was surprised to hear that only one company, other than ours, had integrated the marketing and communication teams. In fact, as we talked further, it was even more surprising to hear that the marketing teams had little interaction with the PR and communications folks.

Although the communication between the groups was light across the board, each person at the table expressed the desire for their teams to be integrated to increase the communication and ensure the internal and external messaging of both groups was aligned.

Benefits for each group
Not only does it make sense to unify the messaging, but marketing and PR can learn from each other and leverage eachother's strengths. For example, people in PR and communications tend to be excellent writers. In our case, our PR manager is an excellent writer. After learning how to write advertising copy, she has become an unbelievable asset to the marketing team and has taken over the responsibility as our primary copywriter. 

In terms of the advertising messages that we use, our PR and communications team now has direct input into the messaging that is put forth by marketing. Communication between the two groups is completely unified, guaranteeing that neither group will be surprised by any of the messaging that goes out externally.

In addition, the cross-training and input across both areas can only serve to sharpen and improve the skills of each group. PR and marketing are different disciplines, so they bring equally important but different elements to the table for each group.

Equipped to handle a snafu
Most businesses have a time when things go horribly wrong. If you're lucky, it's something that just leaves you with egg on your face. If you're not so lucky, it's something that questions the integrity, ethics and trustworthiness of your company. Either way, the importance of message alignment is vital.

Here is a situation, more than any, when both your external and your internal messaging must be absolutely 100 percent in alignment. In addition to the unified message, it's important for all groups within an organization to leverage their strengths to assure that communication happens quickly and is distributed through all available mediums.

For example, let's use a fictional scenario of a well-known high-class boutique hotel chain that has a news story circulate through the blogosphere for weeks, and then runs on CNN, about a rampant bedbug infestation in their European "Fluffy" mattresses. These mattresses also happen to be at the core of their national advertising campaign.

Obviously, this brand is now is crisis mode, focusing on their strategy, messaging and method of message delivery. Here is a perfect example of where PR and communications, aligned with marketing can avoid the problem becoming worse than it already is. With PR taking the lead on messaging tone and content, marketing can be a good check and balance to make sure the message is genuine, addresses the problem at hand and doesn't sound like it's coming from the mouths of the corporate lawyers.

Marketing can also follow the lead of PR in order to modify the messaging of the national marketing campaign to align with the "crisis intervention" messaging being disseminated through the PR and communications group.

Once the messaging is crafted and double-checked, marketing should take the lead in all message distribution except for the company website, traditional press releases and the PR/communications team's standard media contacts and distribution points. Marketing teams tend to be better versed in terms of distribution across places like YouTube, social media properties, etc.

Talk, talk, talk
At the end of the day, the name of the game is dialogue and sharing. Although I feel that marketing, communication and PR all should fall under the same umbrella, they don't need to if all parties are engaging in a healthy dose of regular communication as well as sharing their initiatives. Take advantage of the skills each group possesses and leverage them to your advantage. In the end, a car whose parts are all connected and firing on all cylinders will get you to your destination much faster than a car whose parts are scattered all over the road.

Sean Cheyney is the VP of marketing and business development for AccuQuote.