Advertising vs PR in Brand Communication

Both advertising and PR or public relations both build the image of a brand and communicate with the target audience. The most basic difference between the two is that to access a form of advertising, payment is required, while PR is obtained by providing the media with information in the form of press releases or promotions.

For advertising purposes, you have to buy or pay for space for promotion, while PR only needs to convey information on platforms that are not paid. There is also what is often referred to as 'owned' media whose content is created by the brand owner's brand for website needs, such as photos and videos to be displayed on social media. Here are other factors that make advertising and PR very different.

1. Target

When a company creates an advertisement or advertisement the main goal is to target potential customers, while PR professionals hope to provide a wider network. Publics targeted through PR can be internal or external such as employees, investors, customers, media, and many other parties.

The role of influencers in recent years has been widely used to introduce products. Influencers refer to people who have many personal connections, such as celebrities or politicians, and who have a large following on social media.

2. Objectives and Goals

PR helps a brand to build awareness of the existence of a brand and also the (good) reputation that it wants to show to the public. The goals and objectives of a successful PR campaign revolve around the fact that consumers are more likely to trust and are more likely to do business with companies they know and admire.

While advertisements are made for certain target markets in an effort to generate sales. Advertisement creation and posting is usually more focused on promoting a product or service than building a reputation.

3. Control

When you pay for advertisements, determine the design, content and concept, placement, and timing of the ad serving. How much exposure your ad receives depends on how much you have to spend.

In PR, especially when working with media, you have less control compared to working with advertisements. The media will then determine how to present your information in the news or the likelihood of it being covered.

4. Strategy

Through advertising, there are short-term goals in the plan. Creatives are geared towards a specific buying season (could focus on holiday shopping behavior), encourage new products, or promote special offers to increase sales.

PR professionals are always looking at the big picture, providing meaningful information about their brand to build a sustainable and dedicated base of “brand fans” that includes consumers and other stakeholders.

5. Credibility

Consumers don't believe anything the ads say. This happens because whoever pays for the ad will dictate the material the ad serves.

An ad usually doesn't say "our product will probably fail within a year." Messages from a company in offering its products or services will be communicated through PR by third parties, the media, or other parties who have credibility.

So far the differences are quite simple and easy to understand. However, the increasing role and popularity of social media in society has begun to blur the line between advertising and PR. This is because social media can be used in a variety of ways. One of them is Facebook.

Your Facebook account is something your business creates and controls without charging you anything, unless you hire someone to manage your business page. However, you can also use Facebook for paid advertising and PR efforts.

If you pay to improve a post, this may be considered advertising. Promoted posts appear more frequently on older news feeds, so there's a higher chance that your audience will see them. Through this promotion, your posts or business can be exposed by new audiences.

The best way to promote a business is to combine PR and advertising into an integrated and coordinated business marketing strategy. Utilizing both allows an increase in the number of times the target audience hears information about your product and recognizes and remembers it.