Public Relations and Advertising are two very different practices

Yet they share one common goal: generate exposure for a company or brand. Maintaining that consistent presence is critical for brand recognition, which is why spending money on traditional advertising is an attractive tactic to motivate people to buy a company’s product or service. As a result, business leaders working with a strict marketing budget tend to trust advertising and digital marketing because the results are more quantifiable.

Since advertising has such a strong underlying message to drive sales, business leaders often question how public relations can help drive those sales too. When a company secures an earned media placement, that third-party endorsement for a brand’s product or service helps to validate why the audience should buy said product or service. Not only is the audience seeing the main features or benefits of a particular product or service in a placed ad, they see supporting information that is credible.

Business leaders investing in traditional advertisements are susceptible to complacency. When developing a strategic marketing plan, businesses should consider the following recommendations in order to budget for PR:

  1. Are you only advertising in print versions for a particular magazine? Consider reducing the print ads in order to explore digital options with lead generation.
  2. Are you attending an important trade show? Promote your trade show stops inside ads showing commitment to industry and vibrancy in the marketplace. Compliment those ads with targeting media at the trade shows to secure interviews.
  3. Using the same ads from last year? Consider changing ads more often – too much repetition and not enough data on what’s selling/working/penetrating the market.

Whether a company budgets for advertising, public relations or both, it is important to ensure that all efforts are working toward one common goal.

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