The goal of this article is to clarify the difference between publicity and public relations. If you work in the marketing/PR sphere you will find this information useful. There is a common misconception that publicity and public relations are the same thing. It is not true, and you will see why.
Step-by-Step Guide: Publicity vs. Public Relations
Let’s imagine a situation where you want to open a new restaurant. You will not hire a professional PR agency or publicist in order to pass the plates through the door, right? However, if an unpleasant incident of poisoning happened in this restaurant, whom would you call to solve the issue?
To make it clear, we need the services of a publicist, when we would like to get the best headline, and we hire a PR agency to create and promote brands.
Publicity is all about your presence in the local or international media. Thanks to the devoted work of a publicist, you can improve public awareness for your company. Only thanks to a creative promotional campaign, it is possible to attract attention to your company and services.
PR campaigns involve more complicated strategies and mechanisms. The goal is to accomplish all the company’s requests and send the corporate message to the right audience.
Many PR experts use publicity as an efficient tool for their campaigns. A public relations company is responsible for the company’s reputation and relationships with present and future customers. PR campaigns create your brand image and work hard to maintain it, especially during crisis times.
Only a professional PR expert can offer you a crisis plan to rescue your company and bring back the trust of clients and business partners. Making things run smoothly is never easy. Crisis communications require vast experience and professional skills. By hiring a crisis public relations team, your company has all the chances to minimize the damage, avoid the information leaking, and reboot your reputation in the market.
We live in the era of the internet and technologies. Nowadays, anyone can claim to be a professional journalist or a PR manager, even an owner of a simple blog. So, when you look for a PR agency, your duty is to clarify what sort of services this agency provides. You must be sure that the team is able to gain the maximum media coverage and attract the right people to test your services/products.
Public relations tools include the following: media kits, monitoring, press releases, event organization, online engagement, media training, and crisis management.
Final Thoughts
So, now you know that to say that PR and publicity are similar is the same as to say that dentists and dental hygienists do exactly the same job. Indeed, they work in the same field, but their duties and responsibilities are totally different.
