Advertising Vs Publicity

Advertising is a paid marketing tool that businesses produce to convey the features and benefits of their products to an audience. Advertising aims to convince a buyer to purchase the company’s product—instead of a product offered by competitors. Advertising is a promotional tool for businesses.

Publicity is also a promotion, but businesses do not control it; it is a public perception. Publicity can be positive or negative, and it is based on the reality.

Advertising is mostly a paid form of promotion, and publicity occurs for free. Publicity is sometimes also known as word-of-mouth promotion.

Many professionals often get confused between these two forms of promotion, though the difference is clear.

This blog post will clarify the difference between advertising and publicity.

Advertising Vs Publicity

Advertising and publicity are different types of promotion. Now, we will discuss each of them.

What is Advertising?

Definition: Advertising is a form of one-way communication from a business to its audience or potential customers to convey the features and usefulness of the product or service. Advertising is a great brand awareness tool.

Companies run advertising campaigns to introduce their product to the target audience or increase awareness of their products or services. Advertising aims to influence the audience’s decision to buy the company’s product instead of competitors.

It is the fastest form of promotion. Advertising is attention-grabbing and increases sales.

Advertising reaches a vast audience quickly and can generate faster sales. Businesses can run advertising campaigns on electronic, print, social media, hoardings, banners, etc. It involves creativity and must be effective as it is one-way communication. The message should be short and attractive and should leave an impact on the audience.

Advertising helps customers choose the right product or service, as they will have many choices and information to compare and select from. Advertising educates the audience about the product or service and its features. 

Types of Advertising

Advertising can be any of the following five types:

1. Print Advertising: In print advertising, businesses publish their ads in newspapers, magazines, pamphlets, etc.
2. Digital Advertising: In digital advertising, businesses use various digital mediums (e.g., social media and the internet). This form of advertising has a vast audience and targeted reach. These days, digital advertising is the most popular promotional activity.
3. Outdoor Advertising: In outdoor advertising, businesses use billboards, banners, flags, etc., on roads, in malls, and in other public places. This method is mostly used when businesses launch a new product or service in a particular location.
4. Product Integration: This advertising technique uses television shows on which businesses can praise their products or services and explain their features.
5. Broadcast Advertising: In broadcast advertising, businesses broadcast their message on television using commercial ads so that viewers can see the promotion.

Since the advertising is a paid promotion, the audience should not trust them blindly. They should review the product and go through the feedback before reaching a buying decision.

Advertising gives large businesses an advantage, as they have huge funds for marketing campaigns, while small businesses depend on publicity and low-cost advertising options.

What is Publicity?

Definition: Publicity is notice or attention given to a product or service by the public or media. Publicity is uncontrolled and can be negative or positive. Businesses cannot control the publicity.

The word publicity is a combination of two words: Public and Visibility. Publicity increases the general awareness of products, current issues, trends, etc. In publicity, the public, media, social media, etc., are involved free of cost.

Publicity is the public perception of a topic or product. It might be correct or incorrect; it also can have elements of biases. Since the source of publicity is independent, it can significantly affect buying decisions.

Often, competitors use publicity to tarnish their competitors’ image, as positive publicity increases sales, but negative publicity decreases sales and severely affects the brand.

Types of Publicity

Like advertising, publicity can also be any of five types:

1. Press Release: In a press release, journalists create a story or article on a product or service and publish it in a newspaper or on a website.
2. Press Conference: In a press conference, businesses call representatives from different media houses to release product information. Journalists publish this information on their media platforms.
3. Visits: During a visit, media houses or influencers visit the outlets and publish info on their platforms.
4. Presentations: In a presentation, businesses explain their product or service and its features to an audience.
5. Informal Discussion: During an informal discussion, a third party (e.g., influencers, bloggers, news media, etc.) independently reviews the product or service and writes about it on their platform.

Differences Between Advertising and Publicity

A few key differences between publicity and advertising are as follows:

S. No.	Advertising	Publicity
1	Businesses carry it out to increase awareness of their products or services.	It is an organic form of promotion. Pubic, media, or NGOs generate it due to a product or service’s special features or high quality.
2	This is the company’s opinion of their product.	This is the public opinion.
3	Businesses control the advertising, media, frequency, and message.	No one controls it.
4	The credibility is not high.	It has high credibility.
5	It provides a positive message.	It can be positive or negative.
6	It focuses on the audience.	It is random, with no focus on any audience.
7	It helps build brand image.	It creates goodwill and builds trust.
8	It can run repetitively.	It is featured only once, with a long-lasting impact.
9	Advertising is mostly a paid campaign.	Publicity is free.
10	Results are mostly measurable.	Results are not measurable.

Summary

When done correctly, advertising and publicity are promotional tools that can help businesses grow their sales and increase brand recognition. All businesses can advertise, but gaining publicity is not easy and is beyond their control. A good marketing strategy involves a mixture of promotional material (e.g., advertisement and publicity).