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Some 15 years ago, when social media was just starting to become a thing, I was leading marketing for a global makeup brand. Of course, we couldn’t ignore all those YouTubers and, later, Instagram creators taking attention away from traditional media. And of course, we wanted in.
So we started sending them products, building relationships and trying to make sure our mascaras and lipsticks appeared in their how-to videos and flat-lay photos more often than our competitors’.
At first, it felt simple. Find creators with beautiful content, send them products, and stay visible. But as the number of creators started growing like mushrooms after rain, choosing who to work with became harder. Even with a generous marketing budget, our resources were not infinite.
So my team and I spent hours discussing whether a certain creator was right for the brand. Was this one polished enough? Was that one too edgy? Did her content feel premium enough? Did she match the brand vibe? And things were going well. Creators were happy to feature our gifted products, and we were proud to be among the first brands riding the influencer wave.
The only thing we didn’t realise at the time: we weren’t really doing influencer marketing. We were doing PR.
PR is great. It’s just not the same thing
PR is great. Really. PR is about association, reputation and image. It matters who talks about you, how they talk about you, and what being mentioned by them says about your brand. That’s why brands choose certain people, certain media outlets, certain events and certain cultural spaces. Not randomly, but because they want to build an association.
A well-known chef mentions your restaurant, and suddenly it has credibility in the gastronomic world. A creator wearing Saint Laurent posts photos from your hotel, and your brand feels closer to the high-fashion world. A wellness creator sips your smoothie after their Pilates session, and now your brand is part of that trendy wellbeing universe.
This is exactly what PR is supposed to do. It borrows meaning from people, places and publications that already have a certain brand image. So no, this is not an anti-PR argument. PR is selective by nature. It is image-driven. It cares about taste, context, reputation and cultural fit. And that’s why it works.
The problem starts only when we expect it to do a different job.
What influencer marketing really is
If you choose a creator because their vibe matches your brand, that is a PR decision. And that’s fine. But if you expect reach, awareness, traffic or bookings, the questions need to change.
It is not only: “Do they fit our brand?” It is also: Who follows this creator? Where are they based? Are they likely to become my customers? How many relevant people can this content realistically reach? PR asks: “Who is talking about us?” Influencer marketing asks: “Who will see us?” PR helps when you want to build a certain image. Influencer marketing helps when you want more potential customers to know you exist.
And here is where I think the confusion often starts. A business creates a very detailed customer persona. Something like: “Our customer is Sofia, 32, urban, wellness-focused, loves aesthetic cafés, does Pilates, drinks matcha, and chooses restaurants based on Instagram.” This sounds nice. It can even be useful for creative direction. But if you limit your marketing to this niche, you are cutting off a lot of potential customers.
The real customer base is usually much more varied: locals, tourists, couples, office workers, groups of friends, people who came once, people who forgot about you, people who only visit occasionally. Brands don’t grow only by being loved by a small niche of perfectly matched people. They grow when more category buyers know them, remember them and consider them when the need appears.
And this is what influencer marketing is really for.
Final thought
None of this means PR is better or worse than influencer marketing. Both can be valuable. Both can fit into your marketing strategy. And in a perfect world, they should probably work together.
The important thing is not to confuse one with the other. If you want to build a certain image and brand association, PR can be exactly what your brand needs. If you’re looking for reach and growth, influencer marketing based on audience data can also be exactly what your brand needs.
The problem starts when we expect one to do the job of the other. So maybe the real question is not only: “Should we collaborate with this creator?” Maybe it is also: “What do we actually want this collaboration to do?”
