What Is The Difference Between Advertising and PR?
Advertising and PR are two different functions, however, many business do not understand
the difference. Since spending your selling
budget and your PR budget effectively is crucial, how might
you expect to accomplish this important wants unless you understand the difference?
When thinking of advertising, billboards, glossy spreads, quarter-page newspaper advertisements and other forms of highly visible promotional material comes to mind. This is clearly marketing. Branding or creating a well-recognized presence for your business
is a clear example of effective selling
. Business cards with pizzazz are a form of selling
.
What, then, is PR? Public relations are those things that must be accomplished to let the world understand
who you are and what your company offers. Press releases, news conferences, professional networking and exhibitions or trade shows are examples of PR work. PR is not as flashy as branding but it is every bit as important.
Effective Advertising and PR
In todays competitive marketplace, it is crucial to spend every bit of your branding and PR budget strategically. Public relations can provide a mix that uses marketing but also enhances the efforts of your advertising dollar.
It has long been a "supposed fact" in business that word of mouth is the best selling
. This is not necessarily true. It is an unfortunate fact that a customer who has an exceptional knowledge dealing with your business will tell one or two everybody about their experience. A customer who has a bad acquired skill
will tell at least a dozen people and your business gets negative selling
.
Word of mouth is, however, one of the most efficient PR tools available. Offering school tours, sponsoring science fairs or childrens sports teams, volunteering for public speaking opportunities, attending trade shows or presenting at conferences are rather inexpensive ways to contruct
a wealth of sizeably workable will and put your title
out front.
Have you noticed that television commercials for a item almost always
run a 15 to 30 second advertisement of a really sizeably successful
advertisement and within a few weeks shorten the advertisement to the most important 5 to 10 seconds? The reason is that the initial selling
is meant to brand the merchandise
or accomadation
and associate the advertisement and the merchandise
or accomadation
in your mind. It works very well - provided you have really memorable advertisements.