In this blog we’ll:
- Introduce our new blog series
- Explore what we mean by silos in marketing and PR
- Show how Performance PR integrates with paid social, content marketing and SEO
- And explain how it breaks down silos to deliver greater impact
When Phil S. Ensor, the former director of Goodyear, coined the term “silo syndrome” back in 1988, he was obviously onto something.
“People across the organization do not share common goals…communication is heavily top-down, on the vertical axis. Little is shared on the horizontal axis.”
The metaphor stuck; rows of imposing grain stores – tall, parallel and sealed off. It’s become shorthand for the way departments in a business often operate: isolated, inward-looking and disconnected from the rest. Maybe it’s been overused to the point of cliché (although it’s still got nothing on blue sky thinking), ‘silo’ now gets tossed around to describe anything remotely uncollaborative. Still, the problem it points to is very real, and in marketing, the silo effect is still holding teams back, especially when it comes to PR.
But fortunately, we bear good news! Silo season is officially over!
The lonely PR silo
If the SEO agency is chasing rankings, the in-house social team is focused on engagement, the PPC freelancer is driving clicks, then the PR agency’s job is just to secure coverage, right?
When most people think of PR, they picture media coverage: perhaps a feature in a trade publication and set of KPIs focused on visibility. When PR is thought of like that, its value and role in the wider marketing mix gets overlooked.
While visibility is still valuable, in modern PR it isn’t the only measurement which coverage counts for.
PR’s modern glow up
Today PR, and more specifically Performance PR, goes beyond traditional media relations. It encompasses social media, digital PR, content marketing and creative campaigns.
- Digital PR and SEO: PR stories landing in online publications earn high-authority backlinks and brand mentions which lift search rankings and boost organic traffic.
- Content marketing: Original research, compelling narratives and thought leadership become versatile assets, ready to be reshaped into blogs, guides, webinars or email campaigns.
- Social media: Coverage, podcasts or key messages transform into LinkedIn carousels, short-form videos and social-first activations.
- Paid social media: Standout PR content is a perfect candidate for targeted paid campaigns, amplifying reach and engagement with precision.
How PR is breaking down silos
And it’s not just that PR overlaps with these disciplines, indeed it has become many of them. Here’s what that looks like in practice:
- SEO and online visibility: Earned digital PR coverage with backlinks and brand mentions helps a brand rank for high-intent search terms, driving organic traffic.
- Web traffic: A tech influencer’s review of a SaaS product sends targeted visitors straight to a key landing page.
- Lead generation: A whitepaper addressing buyer pain points delivers 100 qualified email leads, later nurtured through a paid social retargeting campaign.
- Social media engagement: A blog post reimagined as a LinkedIn carousel becomes a high-performing post, sparking a conversation with a prospect.
- Organic social media: A podcast interview is clipped and syndicated across multiple social channels, multiplying touchpoints.
- Paid social media: Standout coverage is boosted to a targeted audience, increasing reach and engagement.
What happens when you keep PR in a silo
When PR is thought about as a silo, you miss the potentially powerful influences across the marketing and sales mix. Investing in PR isn’t just investing in coverage – it’s an investment in your whole funnel. Not only that, it makes the impact of all your activities much greater and your money goes further. Keep PR, social, SEO and paid social media in separate boxes, and you pay the price: underperforming channels, fragmented messaging and missed opportunities.
Your buyers don’t think in silos. They experience your brand as one story. And while the buyer’s journey may be fragmented, it’s also interconnected. They might spot your name in a trade headline, hear your spokesperson on a podcast, scroll past a LinkedIn carousel, dive into a blog, watch an explainer video or see you appear in an AI Overview, with each touchpoint building on the last.
The stronger and more consistent that story, the more likely you are to stay top of mind. That only happens when your channels work in harmony, not in isolation.
Silo season is over!
This is why we’re calling time on silo season and why this series is dedicated to showing what happens when PR works in sync with the rest of your marketing.
Over the coming weeks, we’ll explore how Performance PR can:
- drive content marketing
- create demand generation and nurture pipelines
- boost visibility and authority in the SERPs
- integrate with paid social
We’ll also show how to track and measure PR’s impact – proving its value and ROI – and why it matters to work with a team that knows how to integrate channels from day one.
In the meantime if your B2B tech brand is looking for help breaking down barriers, get in touch with our team of experts to see how our integrated PR approach can turn your campaigns into a success story.
