As a young freelance Public Relations personnel, I have had opportunities to work with one of our close professional discipline; advertising. There have been several articles written by experts spelling out the differences in these two professions. There are others who also think they both play similar roles and hence once one is done, there is no need for the other.
In several encounters with my fellow counterparts in Advertising, there is always a point of conflict working with them. There are instances where our work path cross in our line duty. In other unpleasant instances, they end up taking the glory for works that I have done as the PR person. Eventually, when it dawns on them that in as much as there are similarities between our profession, there are also clear differences that when carefully spelt out, could ease and minimize the unpleasant and awkward encounters we usually have.
In the end, it becomes evident and clear what our respective roles have been after which they tend to cleave to the statement that afterall we are working for the same goal of the company or client hence ‘fighting for the same goal”. Yes, I guess that’s the ultimate goal. To work together to make the client happy.
PR is like a pregnant woman with a triplet in her womb (Marketing, Advertising, and Journalism). We need to work with all these discipline in order to be successful. This makes our profession a very broader one among all the others.
Generally, Advertising is creating paid announcements to be promoted through different types of media including online, print, TV, out-of-home and radio. PR on the other hand, is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organisations and the public
Below are some clear differences between the PR and Advertising:
| Advertising | Public Relations |
| · The advertiser build exposure
· Advertising is a paid message so content is controlled · Audience is skeptical · Interest in buying their product · Placement guaranteed · Instant |
· The PR builds trust
· PR is unpaid, and the message may or may not be as the firm has intended · Media gives third-party validation · Interest in making their product important · Persuade media · Communication process |
By Martin Alohan. Martin is a PR Graduate from Jayee University College and a Freelance PR professional.