While the line between public relations and advertising may blur, the two are still traditionally viewed as separate branches of the marketing communications world. This is a reflection of the fact that PR and Advertising have been regarded as being on different ends of the marketing funnel: With one focused on influencing the opinions of the public and the other focused on selling products to consumers.
However, as the digital landscape changes the way we consume news and engage with brands, the lines between the two have started to blur.
Deciphering the differences between PR and Advertising is no easy task. First, it’s important to understand the similarities — both are forms of marketing communications and deal with creating compelling content to encourage people to behave in a particular way. Second, the differences between the two are many and varied, but mainly relate to strategy, approach, and copywriting. In this article, we will explore how these three elements differ between the two forms of writing and how you can make the most of your PR campaign through effective advertising.
The Biggest Differentiator Between Advertising And Public Relations
One of the first things you’ll notice when comparing the two fields is that there’s a huge emphasis on research when doing advertising, but much less of a focus on research in a PR campaign. While this may seem like a contradiction — the whole point of a PR campaign is to get people to do something, right? — this reflects the fact that the goals of an advertising campaign are typically much more defined and, hence, less subject to the whims of chance. For example, when an advertiser pays for a particular type of ad and the company behind the ad campaign promises to improve a city’s air quality, they can measure the results of their campaign with precision. This makes a HUGE difference, not just in terms of the amount of data they have to work with, but how they can approach a problem and solve it more effectively. In a nutshell, with PR, you’re often dealing with more of an art than a science, while with Advertising, you’re dealing with more of a science than an art.
Strategy And Approach
One of the things that really sets Advertising apart from PR is the fact that strategy is treated much more as a science in the former than a craft in the latter. This is why you’ll often hear advertisers say things like “we need to take out a targeted ad campaign in order to achieve XYZ goal.” If you’re doing public relations, the opposite is generally true — your strategy is formed after you’ve done your research and found a few promising avenues, then you proceed to develop an approach for each of these avenues. Let’s say, for example, that you choose to do media placements because you’ve seen in past studies that this type of advertising can be highly effective. When it comes to media placements in particular, your approach will be very much aligned with the scientific method: you’ll determine the size of the audience you want to target, then you’ll pick the media channels that match this audience and determine the frequency with which you’ll need to appear in order to gain the most benefit from your campaign.
Copywriting
Another area where the differences between Advertising and Public Relations are most apparent is in terms of copywriting. While both fields use written words to communicate with the public, the ways in which these words are used are very different. When it comes to advertising, you’re not just writing for the sake of it — you’re writing to convince someone to take action and, as such, good copywriting is fundamental to the effectiveness of any ad campaign. For example, if an ad campaign is aimed at convincing people to switch mobile phone providers, you’ll want to ensure that the text reads well and is logical and easy to follow. When it comes to media placements in particular, you’ll want to take a backseat to the talented journalists who will be writing the article — you’re more of an editor than a writer in this stage. Your primary role, in this case, is to ensure that the article is well-written and properly formatted to maximise its appeal to a reader. This is quite different from traditional journalism, where the primary role of an editor is to kill any content that doesn’t live up to their high standards — it’s all about finding the right balance between editorial quality and commercial appeal.