Advertising Versus Public Relations--
Oftentimes, when the words "public" and "relations" are thrown
together in a sentence, a light bulb goes off in the head
shining, "Advertising". However, using advertising and public
relations as synonyms is a long shot. So what's the big
difference?
One of the most crucial differences between public relations and
advertising is that PR is free. That's right, none of your hard
earned cash is going to be thrown down to promote your business.
For example, if you run an advertisement in your local
newspaper, they charge you for the space you use as well as for
the time frame that the ad is run. But if that same newspaper
decides that your business or product is article worthy, you are
getting great publicity with no out of pocket costs.
While it's great to get free recognition if someone writes an
article about your product, the downfall is that you have no
content control. In other words, the journalist that takes on the
task is going to have all the say in the length, word choice, and
format of what is being said about you and your business.
Advertising, on the other hand, makes you the boss as long as
you've got the cash flow for it.
Along with the benefit of knowing exactly what your ad is going
to say, you also have the option of running the ad campaign over
and over again if you're getting good results. The media will
most likely only run your story once, unless you give them new
topics, or an interesting new way of looking at the old ones.
That's not to say that there aren't great benefits that come with
public relations, too. How many times have you looked at an ad in
a magazine or on a billboard and been beyond skeptical in terms
of the product's reliability? When you read an article or blurb
about it in a printed media source, though, you are usually more
inclined to think that the product is trustworthy.
Sending off a great press release has a lot of advantages that
you might not have taken into consideration before. Let's say
that your small business is sponsoring a local charity event. It
would probably sound awfully snobbish of you to run an ad
promoting your own selflessness, but if some other media source
decided to talk you up, that would be okay, right?
One important thing to remember is that no one is going to cover
your story if it's not interesting to the editor that goes over
it. First you have to grab their attention, and hope that the
editor or journalist will want to give your business some
recognition. You also have to wonder if the audience that sees
the coverage will be captivated enough to remember your name when
looking for products in your specific market. When you pay for an
advertisement, the only audience you have to target is your
prospects.
There are great benefits in both the worlds of advertising and
public relations. Depending on your budget and your needs, you
can figure out a combination that will suit you best
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ana Ventura specializes in helping businesses, organizations, and
individuals get media coverage. She is a PR expert at DrNunley's
http://FullServicePR.com , a site specializing in affordable publicity
services. Reach Ana at mailto:ana@fullservicepr.com or 801-328-9006.