PR vs. Advertising

Lately, I’ve been realizing how ridiculous it is that some confuse/mix public relations with advertising.  I read an interesting article today on how advertising budgets are being cut back drastically because of the economic climate and financial turmoil that many companies are going through. While many firms/companies are also cutting back on PR, branding, promotion efforts, and/or all marketing, there is a big difference between advertising results and the results of public relations efforts, and it’s important to take a minute to recognize and appreciate the clear difference – before the budget slashing begins. Yes, it is extremely important to be frugal right now – but it is equally important for companies to realize and hold on (tightly I might add) to the cost effective strategies that are in place.  A good PR effort or branding expert could keep you afloat if they know how to position you correctly in this tough market.  Get rid of excess/unnecessary with a low ROI, don’t cut effective and inexpensive marketing/promotional efforts, without really knowing what you’re doing first….

To see the difference between advertising and public relations it’s important to understand that one thing that advertising doesn’t deliver as well as PR is consumer trust. I think that branding is a huge part of this, and I’ll talk more later about how branding is important to create consumer confident in your company/brand/service….

For now, back to advertising – in a recent PR newsletter I read that TNS (a leading marketing information group) surveyed 1,000 US households on the subject of consumer trust late last year.  In that survey, only 35% showed any level of trust at all in advertising. Also, in a Nielsen Online Global Consumer survey, when asked what sort of advertising they trust more, 78% said they trust customer referrals over any type of advertising.

That is exactly what PR aims to deliver: trust, credibility and word of mouth promotion. The third-party endorsement that comes with appearing as a guest on TV show or the morning news, or to have a story written about you in newspapers and magazines, or even your words and advice quoted is absolutely priceless.  Somethings you can’t put a price tag on. This is what can be achieved with PR and at about one-half to one-fifth of the price of an advertising campaign.

This backs up my personal belief that public relations professionals should focus on branding, positioning and placement as a means for communication with your publics and audience, rather than pushing and selling (advertising).  Depending on what kind of PR environment you work  in – I think in some cases in can be easy to be pushed in with marketing/advertising/media relations. And while there is always an overlap to some extent… it’s important to decipher, and recognize the differences – in results, in effectiveness, in value and level of results etc.  And for PR pro’s it’s important to realize also – what it is that you are doing, what category it falls under, what effect you are having with it, and what you need to learn more about!

Next post will focus on branding, and where that fits into the PR spectrum…