Advertising and Public Relations

Guest post by: Susan Lane
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Advertising and Public Relations - By Susan Lane

So, you’ve got some extra money to put towards your company and you’re not sure whether to spend it on advertising or public relations. Many entrepreneurs are confused about the difference between the two and which would better suit their needs. Well, if that’s your dilemma then you just answered your own question. In fact, one of the key differences between advertising and public relations is that, with public relations, you are not paying for publicity. From press releases to news conferences, you are doing whatever it takes to get your company out there. Sure, you could hire a professional public relations company to handle your account, but even their main task would be to try and get as much free publicity for your company as possible.

That is one of the starkest contrasts between the two, but rest assured there are others to consider along your merry corporate way. Another lies in the longevity of your campaigns. With advertising, you can pay for an advertisement to run for as long as necessary – or as long as you can afford. On the other hand, once you’ve submitted a press release about a new product, you’re done. You cannot submit another one on the same topic, nor have multiple press conferences. In fact, the more noise you make, the less your message will be heard.

A third, and less marked difference between the two lies in the amount of control you, as the owner of the company, have. Whereas you can design your own ads and commercials, you have relatively less control – if any – over how your public relations materials are interpreted. The media might pick up on something in your press release that you had no intended for, and they will have no obligation to cover the story as you see fit. That being said, however, even with public relations can you have some creative control. After all, it is no easy task to try and come up with an angle for your product that will be able to generate some buzz in the media.

Following from that, one of the key differences between advertising and public relations is your target audience. With the former, you need to be aware of your potential consumer market. For example, do you want your commercials to be seen by teenagers or fifty-year old men? On the other hand, with public relations, not only do you have to know your target audience, but you have to know your media contacts too. What are newspaper editors looking for in a story before they are willing to cover it?

Finally, beware of the different language you need to use when writing an advertisement versus writing a press release. While you can tell people upfront to buy your product in an ad, such blatant language would make your press releases completely ignored by the media.

So, whether you decide to engage in one or the other, or even both advertising and public relations campaigns, make sure you understand what you are getting into, and where, in the end, it will get you to.

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