What is the difference between public relations advertising publicity and public opinion?

Advertising involves paying for space in publications or airtime, then using that opportunity to deliver a message directly to consumers. Public relations covers a wide range of tactics, usually involving providing information to independent media sources in the hope of gaining favorable coverage. While both techniques have similarities, there are several key differences between advertising and PR.

Similarities Between Advertising and PR

Public relations and advertising are similar in concept: both are designed to raise awareness of a company or product in a positive manner. Another similarity is that in both cases the company will often target its message toward a particular audience. This could be people living in a particular location; people of a particular age, gender or social background; or people with particular interests or hobbies.

Advertising has a fixed cost, usually based on a combination of the audience that will be exposed to the advertisement or commercial, and the demographics of the audience. An advertising medium perceived to have an audience with more disposable income will often be more expensive to use on a per-audience member basis.

Public relations does not have fixed costs, meaning the company cannot guarantee that paying a certain amount will achieve a specific result. However, it is also possible that a company could wind up getting coverage that would have cost far more in advertising than it spent in public relations costs.

Different Levels of Control

Advertising gives the company almost complete control of the message, subject only to any regulations or policies that restrict the content of commercials and ads, explains Marshall Communications. Public relations gives much more limited control and attempts to get publicity can even backfire if they lead to negative coverage.

Credibility of These Marketing Tools

Public relations-based publicity is usually more credible with an audience as it comes via independent media, according to public relations consulting company Publicize. Advertising often appears less credible because viewers, readers and listeners are aware if comes from an unbiased source.

Brand vs. Product

Public relations involves a mix of promoting specific products, services and events, and promoting the overall brand of an organization, which is an ongoing task. Individual advertisements are sometimes based on a brand but are more often based on a specific promotional message such as a price cut or the launch of a new product.

Proactive vs. Reactive

Public relations contains a mixture of proactive publicity, meaning the company sets out to promote a message, and reactive publicity, meaning it reacts to events such as a scandal, or gives a view to a journalist writing a story that doesn't stem from the company's own publicity. Advertising occasionally involves reacting to events, such as a product recall, but is more commonly a proactive tool.

Many businesses believe that advertising and public relations play the same role for their business and if they do advertising they don’t need PR, and vice versa.

However, PR and advertising have completely different roles for your business, which are important to understand to help you reach your target market and achieve your business objectives.

Advertising is creating paid announcements to be promoted through different types of media including online, print, TV, out-of-home and radio.

PR, on the other hand, is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organisations and the public.

What is the difference between public relations advertising publicity and public opinion?

PR is great for building a connection with your audience and promoting your key messages, consumers are more likely to believe and take note of something written in an article, rather than an advertisement that has been paid for.

Here are the top seven differences between advertising and PR.

Paid vs. free
Advertising: you pay for an advertisement to be placed in the media.

PR: your PR agency develops strategies for you to gain publicity in the media. PR professionals develop a range of tactics to gain positive media attention for your brand, which is very effective at increasing your target audience’s brand awareness.

Message control
Advertising: you have control over the content of your advertisement including where and when it will be seen in the media.

PR: you have less control of your coverage in the media. Once you send a story idea to a journalist they have control over it. They can choose to change your story idea or not even publish it at all. However, your PR agency should offer you media training so you know how to control an interview and make the most of any media opportunities they create for you.

Duration of coverage
Advertising: You can pay for an advertisement to be shown in the media as many times as your budget allows.

PR: An advantage of PR is that you can send a story idea to a number of journalists who will then publish the story in different ways. This allows your target audience to see the information differently in many mediums, which may be more effective at reinforcing the message.

Credibility/believability
Advertising: Advertisements have less credibility than the coverage gained by PR. When your target audience see’s an advertisement they know it has been bought by a company trying to sell them something.

PR: PR provides information and newsworthy stories to a journalist so they can write an article about your product or business, if they chose to. An article written by a journalist will be presented in an unbiased manner and contains the journalist’s third-party endorsement. This means your target audience may view the article with more credibility than an advertisement because it is not blatantly selling them something. PR can be a very powerful tool because it can help shape public opinion.

Target audiences
Advertising and PR are similar in that they both want to convey a message to their client’s target audience. However they convey that message differently and in different mediums.

Advertising: your company can pay for an advertisement to be placed directly in the media your target audience is interested in, whether this is women’s magazines, TV or drive-time radio.

PR: PR professionals can communicate your message to a target audience in a variety of channels. The key to reaching a target audience is to place your message in the channel that your target audience is likely to use. For example; the channel could be an article in a company newsletter, a letter to local residents, an email to specific people, a blog post, a tweet, an article by a journalist and much more. This means that PR may be more effective than advertising because it can help your business reach their target audience in a variety of mediums.

As a business you need to consider the differences between advertising and PR to determine which approach is the best for your message. The approach you choose will also depend on the type of message you want to communicate.

The most powerful method of communication is when advertising and PR are used together as part of a strategic integrated communication campaign.

What is the difference between public relations advertising publicity and public opinion?

Unlock the secret of free media publicity. Get your Publicity Acceleration Pack with over 5000 media outlets, real life media hooks, story ideas, and case studies. Don’t miss out! UnknownToExpertFaster.com

Sydney Public Relations Agency, CP Communications provides specialist media, traditional and online PR strategies that get amazing results. Contact us today. For more great tips visit our website www.cpcommunications.com.au. 

What is the difference between public relations and public opinion?

Public relations efforts also target public opinion, but in a way that motivates the public to buy a certain product, hear a message more clearly, or learn about a new business in a creative and unusual way. Public relations, therefore, is typically more commercialized.

What is the difference between PR advertising and publicity?

The most basic difference between them is that advertising space is paid while public relations results are earned through providing the media with information in the form of press releases and pitches.

What is the difference between public relations marketing and advertising?

Marketing promotes a product or service. Public Relations maintains a public image, which can also be thought of as promoting a specific image. And Advertising produces advertisements to then be shown or promoted to the public. Each branch promotes the client's product or service,but each in their own unique way.

What are the two major differences between advertising and public relations?

Key Differences Between Advertising and Public Relations Advertising is a purchased or paid media, whereas public relations is an earned media. Advertising is a monologue activity. Conversely, public relation is a two way communication process, wherein the company listens and responds to the public.