Marketing and Public Relations often get tossed around as the same thing, and perhaps this is rightfully so given that they are often paid out of the same budget.  However, PR, is often a much more cost effective and time efficient method of creating awareness of a product in the market.  This is because PR acts as an independent source of validation.  Sure we see you running ads about how great something may be, but if I hear/read/see it being discussed by independent journalists whose credibility rests on disseminating truth then I am much more likely to believe that it is actually great.

Last month, the Economist did a special report on Mobile Money in Africa and highlighted the importance of product awareness to the adoption of mobile money service.  The article reads:

MTN’s launch of a mobile-money service in Uganda in March 2009, in partnership with Stanbic Bank, provides further cause for optimism. MTN backed up its launch with a huge marketing campaign based around the simple idea of sending money home, as Safaricom had previously done in Kenya. After three months 60% of the population had heard of the service—a level of awareness that M-PESA took a year to achieve, according to MTN. After four months the service had signed up 82,000 users. Of the $5.1m transferred in that period, half was in the fourth month, indicating a rapid take-off. MTN plans to increase the number of outlets that can handle mobile money to 5,000 by early 2010.

The formula for success is linked to market awareness.  PR delivers market awareness in spades– who is doing your PR?

Link to Article: http://www.economist.com/specialreports/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14483848