Although there are similarities, they are definitely not the same. It’s a very common mistake for companies to make when planning a major marketing strategy: they’re looking for opportunities to create brand awareness for their business, while improving its reputation.
Everything starts with advertising. Paid media can seem like the best and quickest bet for creating a message and distributing it via TV commercials, internet, billboards, magazine covers and anything else that money can buy.
However, in Public Relations in Latin America, we work with people and with stories that engage journalists and reach the general public regarding a product, decision, technology, education, the economy, tourism, etc – thus adding value to the company and building a strong reputation among the public.
How, you may ask, can a press release be of so much value to a company and its image in the media?
There’s an old saying that speaks volumes – “advertising is what you pay for, publicity is what you pray for”. In advertising, campaigns are paid media: they need to send a strong message to potential customers within the space of a few seconds. On television, a 10-second commercial may cost thousands of dollars. On the cover of a major magazine, likewise. The idea is to plant a seed in people’s minds about a service or a product, and make them feel like they need it.
On the other hand, public relations agencies make suggestions for news articles to journalists who may be interested in publishing them – for free. To succeed, it’s important to identify trends and opportunities, build relationships and identify the most suitable media outlets. We do so using the press release, a special news article for the media.
While advertising urges you to buy a product, service or idea, PR strategies aim to create awareness around a certain topic, idea, sport, technology, book or treatment, among other things, earning the trust of a journalist who will publish a story about it. Even if your goal is not to sell something, newspapers, magazines and TV shows can convince people to believe – and understand – why something is so important in their lives.
Don’t you agree? I’ve no doubt you do! In advertising, the company pays for the ad display and, depending on the paid media of choice, the size and length of video.
In PR, not only are stories published for free, they stay on the internet or on paper indefinitely. It’s important to remember that many articles can reverberate through social media for days or weeks – for free.
In PR, brand awareness comes together with the experience and the impartiality of a distinguished journalist or a respected newspaper, that wouldn’t share misleading information for profit’s sake. This kind of credibility makes all the difference to the general public.
News stories can develop in different ways once a brand’s message is in the hands of an independent journalist. But sharing truthful information, accurate data and an exhaustive supply of stories, pictures and videos via your press release – and, of course, offering unrestricted access to a company spokesperson – will give a journalist all the tools they need to pass on the message, creating value and an enhanced reputation through strategic PR.
This blog post is part of our 101 PR guide. Check our blog or follow our social media channels (@sherlockcomms) to be notified when new publications are available.
