Why is publicity viewed as being so much more important than advertising sales promotion or other forms of public relations?

By Kailynn Bowling, co-founder of ChicExecs PR & Retail Strategy Firm.

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We hear the terms "public relations" and “advertising” tossed around like they’re the same thing. But when it’s time to grow your brand and increase sales, you’ll notice that PR and advertising are very different. 

Public relations is all about how you spread information about your business through third parties. Whether it’s TV news, a magazine or a consumer blog, PR helps you shape public perception of your brand. Ideally, PR happens when reporters feature your brand in a glowing way — and for free! 

Advertising, on the other hand, is a form of paid media. You can score paid features in magazines or even pay to show up in users’ social media. It’s a great way to get in front of thousands of people in just a few hours. Brands with big budgets largely capitalize on this.

Three Differences Between PR And Advertising

Not sure if PR or advertising is right for you? They’re separate disciplines, so consider their pros and cons for your situation. Understand these three differences to choose the right approach for your brand. 

1. Price

The most obvious difference between PR and advertising is the cost. 

Because PR is a form of earned media, you won’t get results right away. It can take weeks of pitching to finally land a feature, which might be weeks or months away. For this reason, it’s incredibly helpful to hire a PR professional who has existing relationships with journalists and can save you the time of researching and pitching.

Fortunately, you spend very little money pursuing PR, so it’s still a cost-effective way to promote your business. Depending on the feature, PR can be more valuable than advertising. It’s credibility that you just can’t buy. 

Advertising, on the other hand, immediately puts your brand in front of customers — for a price. It’s not unheard of for ad campaigns to burn through thousands of dollars a week. 

This paid medium gets you results quickly through encouraging customers to buy right now. Unless you have a huge advertising budget, it’s hard to make this approach sustainable in the long term, especially if you’re a small business.

2. Credibility

This is a huge differentiator between PR and advertising. In a nutshell, advertising is like saying, “I’m great,” while PR is having someone else say you’re great. 

And the stats don’t lie here: PR can be 90% more effective than advertising. That’s because a third party is promoting your business through PR. Whether it’s a journalist or TV feature, this comes off as fairer and less biased to your customers. Since customers prefer editorial coverage over product pitches, they pay more attention to your product in a PR feature.

Without customer trust, you can’t boost brand awareness or sales. When it comes to ads, customers are automatically skeptical because you're promoting yourself. You have too much skin in the game. So, they might ignore your ad.

To avoid this, always watch your ad copy. Focus on delivering value and answering customer pain points instead of spamming them with product features. 

3. Sales Versus Awareness

Advertising is a great way to put a “buy” button in front of your audience almost immediately. If your goal is to push for more sales, advertising can get you in the black. However, you do need to make sure your audience targeting is on point. 

PR isn’t about making immediate sales; this is a long-term strategy that prioritizes touch points and awareness. Sales is absolutely a byproduct of brand awareness, but it takes a while to achieve. 

Combining PR And Advertising For More Coverage

Although PR and advertising are separate disciplines, you don’t have to choose between them. PR works great in tandem with advertising. On average, it takes five to seven impressions for customers to remember your product, so you need all the coverage you can get, both earned and paid.

There’s a place for both advertising and PR in your business. If you’re just starting out or have a small business, I recommend starting with PR first. It’s a long-term strategy, but it can still help you find some quick wins for free.

Once your product gains traction and you can afford to advertise, dive in. Just make sure you’re investing in paid channels that will get you the most ROI. If your audience is largely on Instagram, don’t bother with LinkedIn Ads. Go where your people are. 

Advertising and PR can work together to help you achieve your goals faster. They do have some similarities, but in reality, each approach has different implications for your brand. Choose a mix that’s right for your brand and goals to dominate the market.

In recent years, we have seen a significant shift from traditional marketing to an integrated marketing approach. As an important aspect of integrated marketing communication, Public Relations or widely known as PR enables businesses to reinforce their advertising message effectively and in an authentic manner. Public relations is a powerful management tool for companies to reach their business objectives and build their image and presence. However, public relations and publicity is often underutilised and neglected as companies are unsure about what PR is and what it can do.

Here are 5 advantages of PR for you to consider:

1. Increase your brand’s credibility
Publicity through public relations gives credibility to your business as the content is more authentic and informative. Studies indicate that PR gives more visibility and credibility among the consumer market than advertising which is perceived as more promotional.

2. Attract your target market
PR allows a much easier approach to retaining and attracting a target market. A well-written article on your product/service offerings in the magazine can be much more attractive and impact compared to an advertisement in that same magazine. Further, by utilising multiple media sources from a PR agency, you can effectively communicate your key messages and help you get a step closer to achieving your company goals.

Read more about Taurus Public Relations® Here

3. Provide added value
PR can provide a unique touch point and add value to your product offering that can help differentiate you among your competitors and put you at the forefront of your particular industry. Further, PR can add value through increasing visibility of your products and services, personalise your brand, raise your profile, build strong relationships, manage your reputation, assist with your sales process and add value to your own clients through case studies. Overall, it is a win-win scenario.

4. Short and long-term lead generation
Media placements through PR are a form of long-term placement as initially you are likely to be exposed to large amount of leads.

5. Build your brand image

People often assume that PR is all about promoting an item or a special offer. This is a misconception as PR drives your entire business towards growth and greater yield of success. When done right, PR can create a more positive brand image in the mind of your consumers that provides an alley way to better engagement for your company. A great brand image is a business investment that can’t be bought and will provide value to your brand and your customer as it helps shape all aspects of your business as a whole. 

Taurus is an award-winning integrated marketing agency. With our extensive experience and strong relationship with the media, we are dedicated to delivering smart communications strategies which generate momentum and initiative behind our clients to help your companies reach new heights! 

Why is publicity important in marketing?

Publicity is important because it helps increase awareness and visibility of your company while establishing it as a worthwhile business to purchase products or services from. There are many advantages to publicity, including: Publicity is less expensive than marketing efforts.

Why is good publicity often more effective than advertising?

Media audiences often give information presented as publicity more credibility than if the same information were presented in an ad. That's because they know that presumably objective editors decide what's included in the news whereas self-serving organizations decide what to put in their ads.

Why publicity is important to sale any product?

If the product is not advertised, no customer will come to know what products are available and will not buy the product even if the product was for their benefit. One more thing is that advertising helps people find the best products for themselves, their kids, and their family.

What is more effective publicity or advertising?

It's important to keep in mind that (good) publicity is more effective than advertising, because someone else is quoting you and/or writing about you. Advertising, on the other hand, is controlled by you, and thus less credible because you are “writing” or otherwise providing information about yourself and your firm.