Publicity Versus
Advertising -- What’s the Difference?
by Mary G. White
Many people have the
misconception that publicity and advertising are the same things. While
both publicity and advertising can play important roles in an organization’s
overall marketing plan, they are very different. The three primary
differences between publicity and advertising are (2) control, (2) cost, and
(3) credibility.
Control
Advertising is a
controlled form of communication, whereas public relations is uncontrolled.
When you run an advertisement in a print publication, you purchase a
specific amount of space on a page to run in a particular issue of the
publication. You may even be able to specify that your ad be placed on the
top left corner of the sports page. You control the content of the ad as
well.
With publicity, you
don’t dictate when, where, or if your promotional messages ever see the
light of day. You can send a news release to a print publication, and the
editor or journalist who receives it might see value in it and print it in
the next issue. He or she might really find the information appealing and
interview you for a cover story. However, your news release might just as
easily end up in the garbage can, depending on its relevance, timing, or a
number of other factors.
Cost
The control that you
get with advertising doesn’t come without a price. The reason that you can
specify when and where your advertisement will run is that you pay for the
space, airtime, or bandwidth that it occupies. You are able to control the
content because you also pay to have the advertisement itself created. Some
advertisements can be produced inexpensively, and others are very costly.
When you are trying to
generate publicity for your business through public relations efforts, the
only cost is the manpower that it takes to create the documents that you
send out to the news media and the costs of delivering or shipping. It is
much less expensive to send a photograph and a news release to a magazine
editor than it is to create a 4-color, camera-ready magazine ad.
Credibility
With advertising, you
are able to make sure that the exact message that you want appears in the
media exactly as you have specified. When consumers see an advertisement,
most of them are aware that it is a paid promotion. Some consumers tend to
be a little bit suspicious of advertising messages for this reason.
However, when your
local newspaper runs a feature article about your business as a result of a
news release that you sent to the editor, consumers generally don’t stop and
think that the story started with a promotional message from the company. A
story in the newspaper is generally considered to be much more credible than
an advertisement in the newspaper. The reason for this is the third party
endorsement effect associated with having someone outside your company
saying good things about it.
The best
marketing plans include a mixture of advertising and publicity. It’s
important that you understand the differences between these two forms of
communication so that you can make sound decisions about the ideal mix for
your organization.
About the Author:
Mary
Gormandy White is Director of Continuing Education and Corporate Training at
Mobile Technical Institute
http://www.mobiletechwebsite.com.
She teaches seminars, classes, and makes conference presentations on public
relations, marketing and a number of additional management, customer
service, and communication topics in the Mobile, AL area and nationwide. See
http://www.dailybizsolutions.com
for business development tips for entrepreneurs, managers, and other
professionals.
*This article may be reprinted provided the
author bio and website link are included. |
