Advertising vs Publicity – what you need to know about the decades-old debate

A few days ago, we caught a client of ours using the word advertising when in fact they meant publicity. Think we’re being pedantic? Think again! The distinction between these two seemingly innocent words is vital to how you do business. Surprised? Well, here’s why…

The Definitions

Advertising is best defined as a marketing and promotional tool. Money changes hands in order for a company or product to convey a message to their intended audience. Publicity, on the other hand, is at no extra cost besides the potential initial cost of a press release. The company issues news, information and images to the press and thereby filter through to a publication’s readership.

With advertising, the company or product are in control of their message and where it appears. With publicity, the media are at liberty to pick and choose what information they do or don’t use, how it’s spun, and how far it spreads. While that sounds risky, that means publicity can explode and spread everywhere. Advertising will always remain more contained.

For example, if a company issues a press release to the local media we would class it as publicity. If, however, the same company paid for a full page in a magazine and printed their own story on it, we would class it as advertising.

Now that we’ve established the difference between the two, we can try to answer the question on the tip of everyone’s tongue. Which is better?

Advertising vs Publicity – the showdown

Answering this question is akin to solving that age old dilemma: what came first – the chicken or the egg? It’s easier said than done.

We’ve put together a simple list of recommendations for your business, based on some potential aims:

1. Gaining recognition and building a brand.

The aim: You’re looking to instil trust, build your reputation, and achieve a degree of credibility on a national or local level.

The way forward: It’s a good idea to begin with getting some publicity. Cast your mind back to the hours you’ve spent crawling the internet just in the last week. Were you more likely to click on an advert for a company you know and trust – or one that other people know and trust – than one you don’t? Of course you were!

Decide on your target audience and work from there. A great way to gain publicity on local and national levels is through entering awards competitions. There’s plenty of media coverage to be had, and they offer a great way to network. We’ve already written a blog about the benefits of entering business awards here.

It’s also a great idea to hit the ground running with Corporate Social Responsibility. Engagement with the local community and charities is an appealing topic for newspapers, and is also just a great way of giving back.

The winner: Publicity.

2. Selling a product

The aim: Your company has just released a brand new product – for instance, a new skin cream – and you want to get the word out as soon as possible.

The way forward: publicity could be helpful here but you’ll have to be careful how you approach it. The media won’t touch press releases that come over as overt sales pitches and lack a strong news angle, so holding an event and inviting  interested parties and VIPs is a great alternative.

Advertising, though, could be more effective here. Paying to promote social media posts that you’ve made on Facebook and Twitter, as well as taking out space in print publications, can get more eyeballs on your brand that you can convert to sales.

The winner: Advertising.

3. Promoting company success stories

The aim: Your company, or an employee, has achieved something notable in the workplace that you want your existing and potential clients to hear about.

The way forward: publicity is an effective way to get your case studies out there. While some companies choose to advertise their success stories, getting your achievements in the newspaper comes with an extra element of trust and reliability.

If you can show that what you’ve done is truly great – and even better, have statistics or evidence to prove it – the publicity will be as close to guaranteed as you can get.

The winner: Publicity.

4. Engaging with clients

The aim: Your company is well-established and you’re looking for a way to excite existing clients and achieve greater engagement.

The way forward: a mixture of advertising and publicity would be effective but ultimately, we side with publicity. Social media engagement, e-newsletters and seeing your business in the press will work wonders for keeping existing clients loyal, improve employee morale and improve recruitment.

The winner: Publicity.

CONCLUSION

That’s a 3-1 victory for publicity, but that’s not to say that your business should forego advertising. The truth is that both advertising and publicity play important roles depending upon the desired effect within a campaign.

Of course, you might worry that publicity is always going to be a bit of a gamble. There are no guarantees and the success of your publicity will always be determined by what else is happening on the day.

But keep in mind that you’re making an educated risk: if there’s a strong news angle, the press release is well written, and there’s a good photo to go with it, you’re more likely than not to get great coverage for your company.