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Most communications programs require all three elements of the marketing mix: public relations, advertising and sales promotion. However, for budgetary and other reasons you may have to favor one element over another. Here’s the case for PR as opposed to advertising. Studies
prove that readers believe the publicity portion of PR (articles
and news stories) far more often than they believe advertising.
Part of the reason is third party endorsement: the magazine or other
media is telling your story for you, you’re not doing it directly.
For
equal dollars, publicity can appear in more publications with much
greater circulation than advertising. One news story can appear
in hundreds of media.
While
ad space and time are purchased, no dollars or favors are given
to reporters — you can’t buy publicity. Publicity experts earn
media coverage by professional presentation of newsworthy material.
Many
products and causes are launched — and sustained — through
PR alone, without any advertising.
Production
costs for publicity are far less than for advertising. Aspects
of PR beyond publicity also offer benefits over advertising: strategic
public action, tie-ins to causes, speechmaking, letter writing campaigns,
lobbying, advisory boards, charitable contributions, etc. PR
is a strong opportunity to combat larger competitors who have more
advertising dollars. The
trend in marketing dollar allocations in America is toward PR. If
you have diverse markets and therefore a wide variety of media aimed
at prospects, you can reach these targets more economically through
PR. Key
executives build their industry presence through PR, specifically
through by-lined articles, being quoted in news stories in prestigious
media, and making speeches at top conferences. PR
provides opportunities to outshine and even “knock” competitors
without seeming negative. PR
can stand alone in programs with no advertising. However, every
ad campaign should be preceded and accompanied by PR, to support
and extend the advertising message. Advertising
can cheapen the image of doctors, lawyers, financial planners and
other professionals. Newsletters
and certain magazines are entirely editorial — platforms for
PR not open to advertising. PR
is more factual since editors control their text. Advertising messages
are couched in flowery adjectives. To
balance the above, let’s state that only with advertising can you
buy as much as you want, when you want, in specific media, and with
the exact text and graphics you desire. Still, for the above reasons,
most companies and organizations should take full advantage of PR
opportunities. Those who don’t (and those who rely on advertising
instead) put themselves at a competitive disadvantage. The ideal
is the appropriate mix of PR and advertising. Donald M. Levin, APR, Fellow, PRSA, President, Levin Public Relations & Marketing, Inc., White Plains, NY, www.LevinPR.com, creates and conducts PR programs for high-tech, financial service and other companies. Before founding his firm in 1984, he was president of The Ted Bates PR subsidiary and SrVP, Hill & Knowlton. He was president of the regional chapter of PRSA and president of Fairfield County Public Relations Association.
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