PR and Advertising

In the cluttered world of advertising, numerous ads cry for attention. One is lucky if a particular ad is noticed. Advertising lacks the power to sell a product effectively, because it imposes a certain point rather forcefully. It may make people sit up and take notice, but it will not necessarily propel them to rush and pick up the product. After all, smart people know that the purpose of advertising is to sell, and tend to take its offerings with a judicious pinch of salt.

Public Relations, on the other hand, uses subtlety and credibility of the news media to sell. People are more inclined to believe information put out in the form of news items than to accept the claims made in advertisements. Compare a client who inserts an ad singing praises of his product, and a competitor who employs a PR agency to get a news feature on his product published in a magazine. Which one will be more effective? Undoubtedly, the news article. Readers have learnt to be naturally suspicious of advertising, but will wholeheartedly believe what they read as news! Unfair, but true nonetheless.

The more savvy marketing professionals out there understand the significance of Public Relations management. Advertising has been described as the wild, in-your-face freshman who spends the night partying away, while Public Relations is viewed as the serious, grounded senior. No prizes for guessing who does more work in a year. There are countless stories about new products that fail to sell, simply because there is no PR management, no buildup, and no market education - all of which result in a massive waste of advertisement dollars.

Is that the truth about PR? Indeed, and the advertising guys have known it all along. How else do you explain the fact that they very rarely advertise? When they want to announce a tie-up with a foreign agency or report performance, they choose to organize press conferences and send out press releases.

However, PR and advertising should never boil down to a choice of one over the other. Both are valuable elements of a cohesive brand management strategy and should complement each other.