Why Life Science PR and Marketing Are the Perfect Pair
For people in the digital marketing/communications world, public relations (PR) and marketing are often seen as separate domains. For people outside that world, the differences might not be as clear. That’s probably why my business sometimes get inquiries from life science organizations thinking they need marketing, when what they really want is PR.
However, the relationship between public relations and digital marketing is actually somewhere in between “they are the exact same thing” and “they are two completely different animals.” PR and marketing are “siblings, not twins,” as our recent Art & Science of Marketing Communications guest Amber Kransinski said. In essence, the two go hand and hand.
When PR and marketing are aligned, they enhance each other’s effectiveness, driving greater impact for the brand. While PR focuses on managing a brand’s reputation and securing media coverage, marketing amplifies that message, ensuring it reaches the right audience in the right places.
My company does not offer life sciences public relations services itself, but we work closely with those who do—supporting their efforts, repurposing their wins, and maximizing their impact. Public Relations-marketing partnerships are a win-win for clients because together, they can strengthen your credibility, expand your reach, and create a more cohesive narrative across multiple platforms.
Let’s break down the key areas where PR and digital marketing intersect and how you can achieve the best results.
Life Science PR is more than just crisis communications
When people aren’t in your everyday world, they don’t always understand the nuances of your field. For example, when people hear PR, they often think of a company or person concerned with their reputation, i.e., “crisis communications.” (Thank you, Justin Baldoni, for furthering that misconception). Yes, crisis communications is an integral part of the PR world, but it’s a small part. PR can include everything from local media interviews to op-eds in a trade publication.
According to the PRSA, the goal of public relations is “about influencing, engaging and building a relationship with key stakeholders across numerous platforms to shape and frame the public perception of an organization.”
The organization then lists all the various subsets of PR (beyond crisis communications and reputation management), such as corporate, executive, internal, and investor relations communications. Interestingly enough, the list includes a lot of the work we do here at Lauren Perna Communications (LPC): marketing communications, content creation, and social media.
PR entails a broad spectrum of communications and marketing strategies and tasks. However, when we say we partner with life science public relations firms, we often work with people who focus on corporate communications, reputation management, and, most often, media relations.
What is Media Relations
Media Relations is another function that most people think of when they hear the letters: “PR.” Although they might not exactly realize it.
What exactly is media relations? According to ClearVoice, “specialists in media relations develop strong relationships with publications (conventional and digital) that cover news related to a brand’s category and leverage those relationships to build brand awareness and credibility.”
Media Relations professionals focus on securing media coverage, which means they don’t always have the bandwidth to leverage that coverage across digital channels. That’s where marketing/communications companies come in, and is often when life science companies tap us for support.
As digital marketers, we can repurpose PR wins into engaging content. Publicity like earned media, interviews, and mentions can all be used in social posts, blog articles, newsletters, and more. For example, our client Samsara Vision has been featured in many major publications recently due to positive study news. Once we get word from our PR partner, Jessica Daitch, that the news has been picked up, we amplify it by sharing snippets on LinkedIn and Meta (if applicable).
In other cases, we might use that publicity in a blog post with key takeaways or quotes in an email campaign. We’ve done that for personal brand clients and even ourselves here at LPC (hint hint, make sure you sign up for our newsletter!)
Digital & Social Media PR
Most people gather their news from digital platforms and the internet. And as digital marketers, we live on social media, and the worldwide web might as well be our playground. So it’s only natural that a PR person and a digital marketer/communicator are besties or “siblings,” as Amber says.
We work collaboratively to get life science brands the visibility they deserve. In the simplest sense, PR focuses on credibility, and we concentrate on amplification. Of course, this partnership works well for traditional media placements like newspapers and television, but it’s even more valuable in today’s world, where PR demands social and digital presence. Social platforms allow brands to go beyond one-sided mainstream media placements and directly engage with audiences.
For example, when a brand has a major announcement, PR handles media outreach, while marketing builds a digital campaign leading up to and post-announcement. Sometimes, these campaigns have a user-generated content component, where the brand elicits engagement from an eager audience.
In our recent Art & Science of Marketing Communications show, Amber’s example was the Duolingo owl mascot–the owl saw a digital death, naturally inciting confusion and questions from avid followers. Although, word on the street is he’s now back from the dead. Either way, the publicity worked, as did the engagement tactics.
Here are some other ways that life science PR and digital marketing work together:
Life Sciences thought leadership thrives with PR and marketing
If you’ve been following us, you know we’ve been talking about how personal branding is all the rage these days, and that hinges upon creating thought leadership content. And the reason we bring up thought leadership is because it thrives when PR and marketing work together.
For example, PR secures opportunities (speaking engagements, media interviews), while marketing extends the reach (webinars, blog content, video clips). Personal branding on digital and social media is key in positioning life science executives and brands as industry leaders.
Take for example, Samsara Vision again. Tom Ruggia, the CEO and President, recently landed a podcast interview (great work again, Jessica!). The LPC team has turned that into micro-content, like snippets and posts, which have expanded the mileage of the publicity and further established Tom’s credibility as a thought leader in his field.
LinkedIn is a PR goldmine
No conversation about thought leadership is complete without mentioning our beloved LinkedIn. But LinkedIn is more than just a thought leadership darling–it’s a goldmine for life science PR and marketing collaboration. Beyond thought leadership content, LinkedIn can help with brand storytelling and media amplification.
For example, we help brands of all kinds build credibility on LinkedIn by sharing their PR wins and industry insights.
Diversifying the Social Media Game
Now, as much as we love to love on LinkedIn–it’s not the only social media platform where brands can engage with their audiences.
Different platforms serve different PR needs:
Twitter/X for real-time engagement
Instagram for visual storytelling
TikTok for brand virality
YouTube for long-form thought leadership
If done properly, a brand can harness all platforms—marketing can create short-form videos for social channels like Instagram and TikTok, while PR pitches the story to traditional print and digital media outlets.
Why content marketing and Public Relations are a perfect pair
At its core, public relations is about storytelling, and marketing is about amplifying that story. While PR professionals focus on securing media coverage and managing brand reputation, marketing is able to help spread that reputational goodness around to the right audiences.
Whether you repurpose press wins for social media, leverage LinkedIn with thought leadership, or diversify content across digital platforms, like Taylor Swift and the NFL (we’re big fans of both), PR and marketing are stronger together.
With the powers of PR and marketing combined, Captain Planet-style, brands can create a seamless, omnichannel presence that builds trust, authority, and engagement.
Ready to elevate your life science brand’s visibility? Let’s make it happen.
