Many companies believe that advertising and public relations perform the same task for their industries and if they do advertising they don’t need Public Relations, and vice versa.
Though, Public Relations Firms in India and Advertising Firms have completely different functions for your organization, which are essential to understand to support you in reaching your target market and obtaining your business goals.
Advertising is building paid announcements to be developed through different kinds of media including online, print, television, and radio. Public Relations for all industries, on the other hand, is a vital communication process that creates mutually beneficial connections between organizations and the public.
Public Relations is excellent for building a relationship with your audience and improving your essential messages, customers are more likely to understand and take note of something written in an editorial, rather than an advertisement that has been compensated for.
Here are the major differences between Advertising and Public Relations:
Paid vs. free forms of Advertising and Public Relations
Advertising: You spend for an advertisement to be arranged in the media.
Public Relations: Any best PR agencies develop strategies for you to obtain publicity in the media. PR specialists develop a range of strategies to win positive media recognition for your company, which is very efficient at increasing your target audience’s brand recognition.
Controlling the right message
Advertising: You have authority over the script or content of your ad including where and when it will be viewed in the media.
Public Relations: You have less authority over the coverage in the media. Once you convey a story concept to a journalist they have command over it. They can decide to change your story concept or not even print it at all. Though, your PR firm should offer you media education so you know how to manage an interview and make the most of any media events they organize for you.
Duration of Media coverage
Advertising: You can spend on an ad to be displayed in the media as many times as your funds allow.
Public Relations: An authority of Public Relations is that you can convey a story concept to several journalists who will then write the story in various ways. This enables your target audience to see the message differently in multiple mediums, which may be more productive at strengthening the message.
Credibility and believability of Advertising and Public Relations
Advertising: Advertisements have more limited credibility than the coverage achieved by Public Relations. When your target group finds an ad they know it has been purchased by an organization trying to sell them something.
Public Relations: Public Relations presents information and newsworthy narratives to a journalist so they can compose an article about your service or company if they choose to. An editorial written by a journalist will be performed in an unbiased manner and carries the journalist’s third-party support. This implies your target group may view the piece with more credibility than an ad because it is not randomly selling them something. Public Relations can be a very influential tool because it can improve public opinion.
Target audiences of Advertisement and Public Relations
Advertising and Public Relations are alike in that they both want to send a message to their client’s target group. Though, they carry that message separately and in diverse mediums.
Advertising: Your organization can spend for an ad to be placed straight in the media your target group is engaged in.
Public Relations: PR specialists can communicate your information to a target group in a variation of channels. The key to attaining a target group is to arrange your message on the channel that your target group is likely to accept. For instance; the channel could be an editorial in a business newsletter, a message to residents, an email to a specific group, an online blog, etc. This indicates that Public Relations may be more efficient than advertising because it can improve your company to reach its target group through various mediums.
As a company, you need to recognize the differences between advertising and Public Relations to decide which path is the best for your communication. The method you decide will also depend on the kind of message you want to give. The most important method of communication is when advertising and Public Relations are practised together.
