How marketers can work with their PR/comms team to deliver genuine ROI

Despite its critical role, marketing is still often undervalued within organisations. 

Our research found that a fifth of marketers reported struggles proving value internally, with some highlighting that when business targets are missed, “marketing is blamed”. 

PR and comms teams are central to changing this perception. By working in closer partnership, marketers and comms professionals can demonstrate impact, strengthen credibility, and link activity directly to business outcomes. 

This article sets out a practical guide to help marketers collaborate with PR and comms teams or agencies to deliver genuine ROI – both in external markets and within the organisation.

The undervaluation challenge

Marketing is undervalued in many organisations for a variety of reasons including: 

• Short-termism – Sales-driven activities are often prioritised over long-term brand building, meaning it can be difficult to generate lasting traction 
• Vanity metrics – Impressions, clicks, and “likes” don’t always convince boards of real value.
• Disconnect – Marketing and comms are sometimes siloed, leading to fragmented messages, confusing campaigns and unclear outcomes.
• Misunderstanding – Stakeholders outside marketing often lack knowledge of what effective marketing involves – particularly when it comes to longer-term brand building.

This creates a cycle where marketing is under-recognised, budgets are cut, and teams are forced to “do more with less”, compounding the issue further. 

The role of PR and comms in ROI

While there are many elements to a successful marketing campaign, how it works alongside PR and comms is crucial and can be instrumental to proving value. 

For a long time, marketing and PR stayed in their own lanes. Marketing focused on leads, conversions, and revenue. PR focused on storytelling, brand perception, and media relationships. But today, when brand awareness and bottom-line growth are more interconnected than ever, the smartest organisations aren’t treating these as separate worlds. They’re bringing marketing and PR together. And this collaboration is where real ROI comes from. 

When integrated properly, PR teams can support marketers in driving ROI, working in tandem in a variety of ways in order to: 

• Build trust – Authentic stories in landed in earned media carry credibility that paid ads cannot match
• Amplify reach – PR multiplies the impact of marketing campaigns by securing additional external visibility
• Protect reputation – Comms teams handle crises and shape the narrative, safeguarding brand equity and supporting marketing teams when things get tough 
• Influence stakeholders – Internal comms ensures employees, boards, and investors understand marketing’s role and impact

By aligning them with marketing, PR/comms become a multiplier for ROI rather than a parallel function. 

How to prove value 

Set shared objectives
ROI cannot be proved without clear, agreed goals. Too often, marketers brief PR teams with “get us coverage” or “create buzz.” But if the PR agency isn’t aligned with the same goals that the marketing team is accountable for — whether that’s driving demand, building brand equity, or influencing purchase decisions — the partnership will never get past vanity metrics. So, marketing and PR teams should define success together, linked directly to business outcomes such as lead generation, market share, or brand trust.

Integrate campaign planning

Joint planning ensures consistency, reduces duplication, and maximises ROI. PR and marketing work much more effectively when they’re not working off separate plans, so the earlier PR teams can be involved, the better. 

Tell a cohesive story

PR agencies are masters at narrative. They know how to craft a brand’s story so that it resonates with audiences, the media and the wider public. When those narratives are co-created with marketing, they begin real growth drivers, not just stories. Combining data with a strong, market-leading narrative creates compelling evidence for boards and stakeholders – telling a real story that resonates with decision-makers. 

Agree on measurement metrics

Measurable outcomes should be set from the start and could include things like:

1. Brand reputation scores or trust indexes
2. Conversion rates from PR-driven traffic
3. Sign-ups following campaigns or press events 
4. Employee engagement levels (internal comms impact)
5. Pipeline influence (how PR/marketing drove qualified leads)
6. Data collected through PR activities such as downloadable reports/paired publication webinar sign-ups
7. Number of ICP/ideal customers engaged with directly via PR activity 

This way, PR becomes a qualifiable contributor to marketing’s ROI instead of an isolated function. 

Report together 

Consider combining marketing and PR data into a single dashboard that shows campaign reach (paid + earned); engagement quality (audience relevance, share of voice); conversion metrics (leads, sign-ups, purchases influenced by PR exposure); and reputation tracking (media sentiment, brand trust scores).

Develop case studies for internal stakeholders

Use case studies to show how PR and marketing worked together to deliver impact. Sharing the work you’re doing with employees can get people on board, create a sense of organisational pride and get people behind the work that’s being done. Regular updates to employees and leadership about marketing wins keep the function visible. Share not only outputs but outcomes. 

Align PR content with sales enablement

Ensure that PR content including reports, media coverage, press stories, and thought leadership pieces are repurposed into tools for sales teams. This connects PR outputs directly to revenue generation.

Avoiding pitfalls

• Don’t measure in silos – Combining PR and marketing metrics prevents fragmented reporting.
• Don’t ignore long-term impact – ROI isn’t always immediate. Track reputation, trust, and loyalty alongside pipeline data.
• Don’t exclude employees – Internal comms is a critical part of ROI perception.
  

A quick checklist for proving ROI and ensuring a joined up PR and marketing approach 

• Have we set joint objectives linked to business outcomes? 
• Are PR and marketing measuring success with shared metrics? 
• Have we created a unified dashboard to present impact clearly? 
• Are we telling the story of impact with both numbers and narratives? 
• Have PR outputs been repurposed to support sales and pipeline? 
• Are we reporting results internally to strengthen reputation? 

And remember…

Marketers cannot afford to operate in isolation, and nor can PR and comms teams. By working together, they can move beyond vanity metrics and prove genuine ROI that resonates with boards, stakeholders, and employees. 

When marketing and PR align perfectly, they amplify each other’s impact and transform the perception of marketing within the business.

Done right, this partnership ensures that marketing is no longer the first budget to be cut or the first team to be blamed, but instead, is recognised as a driver of long-term business value.