This is a great ice breaker for entrepreneurs and PR practitioners who need to explain public relations. It’s also a good starting point for the general public. While there are dozens of good articles on this topic most people – even professionals who should know better- still don’t know the difference between advertising and public relations.
As a marketing employee of an Asian-based sporting goods company recently wrote me, “We don’t need public relations right now, we are happy with our advertising agency in San Francisco.”
Advertising is paid media, public relations is earned media. This means you convince reporters or editors to write a positive story about you or your client, your candidate, brand or issue. It appears in the editorial section of the magazine, newspaper, TV station or website, rather than the “paid media” section where advertising messages appear. So your story has more credibility because it was independently verified by a trusted third party, rather than purchased.