GSDBA’s Community Connections Newsletter (2011)

GSDBA

All too often the fields of public relations and advertising can seem like synonyms of each other, but this — and we say this emphatically — is simply not the case. ‘While a handful of businessesare able to worm their way to financial success without ever learning the differences between the two, we feel compelled to break it all down in the most simple of ways.

Getting What You Pay For

First things first, advertising is all about paying for spaces where your company will display an advertisement, and this comes along with a bunch of specifics. For example, once you’ve purchased the space and submitted your design, your ad will unquestionably show up in a specific place, at a specific time, and for a specific duration of time It will look exactly the way it was designed. Rain or shine, you’ve paid for that ad space and it is now guaranteed.

Taking a Creative Approach

Public relations (usually shortened to “PR”) takes a different approach. Its main purpose is to shape the way consumers view an individual, business, or other organization, in order to increase the market share of the client. Most often, this is achieved through PR specialists who work to get publicity for their clients by pitching different aspects and angles about the client to the media including print, Web, television, and so on. Individuals can attempt to gain coverage themselves, but the assistance of a specialist often helps to facilitate a more effective process. Less often, PR firms also aid in managing crisis situations, such as the ever-popular government scandal or corporate lawsuit.

Clients will find that there are definite differ-ences in the level of creative control between working with ad agencies and PR firms. When you purchase ad space in a print magazine or on television you know exactly how it is going to look. When a PR agency pitches a client to the media, it remains unclear if, or how the me-dia will decide to por-tray that client until they actually do. Fac-tors such as consumer interest, benefits and recent trends are tak-en into consideration.

While we’re on the subject of whether or not the media will decide to cover your event, it’s important to point out the differences in the amount of coverage a client receives. Obviously, paid advertisements can be repeated for months on end (assuming that you pay for repeated installments of your ad), while PR coverage comes in single increments. No magazine is going to want to use their space to showcase the same thing about the same business two times in a row. However, because PR firms pitch their client to more than one media outlet, the client often ends up with coverage across multiple platforms.

How the Message is Perceived

The message sent to consumers also tends to be different. When you read an ad, it is clear that the point is to get people to spend money. Media coverage through PR often results in an article, interview, or any other number of means to gain exposure, and the purpose is to build positive hype around the product or service. It’s true that this often ends in increased consumerism, but it’s much less direct than an advertisement overtly telling viewers, “Buy this now!

Who Working For You

So far we’ve covered advertising and PR from the client’s point of view, but there are differences in the internal functions of advertising and public relations agencies as well. One of the main distinctions is who the agency tends to interact with. Advertising firms interact with their client and the people in charge of selling media space. PR firms focus on building strong relationships with the media and spend a good majority of their time communicating with these people in hopes of increasing coverage for clients.

Thinking it Through

All in all, the truth is that many businesses can benefit from a bit of both fields. Depending on the type of business, there may be more need for advertising than public relations, or vice versa. Case in point: an accounting firm may benefit more from advertising, while a restaurant would likely have the advantage with a PR firm. Whichever you decide to go with is ultimately up to you, and it is in knowing the differences that you are able to make the most informed decision.