“Advertising vs. Publicity”
In this lesson we round out our discussion on the ins and outs of publicity and what it’s not – and get into one of the most popular forms of getting the word out about your product or service – Advertising.
Advertising is the obvious way to promote a business or product. However, if you are searching for inexpensive ways to promote your company, it may not always be the best option. Plenty of people have questions about advertising versus publicity, and today we are going to tackle them both.
These two industries are very different, even though they’re often confused as being the same. While advertising has its place, for many cases publicity is the smarter way to promote a business or product. Good publicity allows you to achieve results that you may never be able to purchase. This chart compares the methods in a simple and short format:
Advertising
Publicity
CostPurchasing ad space is usually expensive, depending on the medium you choose. When you pay for ad space, you know when your ad will be run, for how long, and what paper or entity you have chosen.
Cost-EffectiveA great story can get printed in any paper and be included in local news. This is something you may never be able to afford. It is very possible that after sending a great media release you may get statewide, nationwide or even international exposure, absolutely free.
Control:
When you are paying and you are a customer you have the control over what people will read and how your customers will see you. What your ad will say, how long it will be ran, etc will be completely up to you (and your budget).
No Control:
Once you submit the facts to the press and/or allow them to cover your event, you have no control over what they may print, what photos they may use, and whether or not they are complimentary or offer a critique. And remember just because you send a press release, they don’t have to print it.
Long Shelf Life
When you pay for an ad, you can run the same ad as long as you want.
Shelved
Once you submit a press release it becomes dated. You may get much needed exposure, but editors are always looking for new news. Even after coming out of a great community event, in order to stay in the public eye, you must keep doing new events or keep bringing good news.
Lack of CredibilityDo you believe everything said in advertisements? When someone reads your ad with all of your clever dictionary words, they may be thinking this is too good to be true and that you must have left something out. In today’s overflow of information and consumer advertising, many people have learned to tune ads out.
Strong CredibilityWhen readers pick up an article and read about your company from a third party, they are more likely to trust what a journalist or broadcaster said about you than what you say about yourself. An article about your business or a mention on the evening news has far more credibility than an advertisement could ever have.
Monday, March 20, 2006
“What is Marketing?”
In order to receive my PR certificate, Marketing was a required class. There is no way to sum up a full semester of marketing in a one page e-lesson, so I thought it would be most useful to you if I taught you the basic concepts in marketing by using a real-world example from one of my recent clients, Maurice Kitchen.
Maurice Kitchen is an NAACP award winning producer of the stage play “Dark Legends in Blood”. I was hired to help in securing a steady flow of people who were interested in seeing Maurice’s play.
While “Dark Legends in Blood” is not just a play but another level of entertainment to say the least, there were still certain aspects that needed to be defined before that first audience member would be ready to purchase a ticket. These aspects, or marketing variables as they’re called, are product, price, distribution, and promotion. The marketing variables define everything that needs to be done that will make the first ticket sale possible, and repeat ticket sales in the future likely.
Product
In Maurice’s case, the product is the play itself. From a marketing standpoint, we needed to define who this product was for. While Maurice had already done the hard work of writing, producing, and casting “Dark Legends in Blood”, was there a clear idea of who would want to pay money to go see it? We needed to determine the audience (or target market) – whether it be women, men, families, seniors, children, African-Americans, Hispanics, etc.
Price
Once the target market of the product is determined, the next thing to figure out is the price. Few people realize that the price is not so much about what the product is worth, but about how much your target market is willing to pay. In the case of “Dark Legends in Blood”, if we had decided that the target audience was senior citizens or high school students, they may have less to spend than middle-to-upper class families – and the play we feel is worth $60 per ticket may only be able to pull in $40 per ticket.
Distribution
The next aspect to determine was where the target group I selected will go to see this type of play for this type of price. Depending on the audience and what they were going to pay, it could be the Wilshire Ebell, Kodak Theatre, a local senior center, or high school auditorium. Whatever you choose, the distribution channel must fit where the audience would expect to go for the amount they paid. If it doesn’t – repeat ticket sales will be unlikely.
Promotion
The last thing to do is to get the message out to your target market. Having rehearsed, securing great singers, and having excellent production is not enough. The definition of promotion from my school textbook is to “inform, pursue, and influence a purchasing decision”. With Maurice, this was all about turning what his audience may want to do into what they needed to do; for example "They need to see this play and they need to see it now."
In a nutshell, marketing is getting a compelling message (promotion) to those who are most likely to buy your product (target market), and then doing everything to meet their expectations on how much they should pay for that product (price) and how they want that product delivered (distribution).
Maurice Kitchen is an NAACP award winning producer of the stage play “Dark Legends in Blood”. I was hired to help in securing a steady flow of people who were interested in seeing Maurice’s play.
While “Dark Legends in Blood” is not just a play but another level of entertainment to say the least, there were still certain aspects that needed to be defined before that first audience member would be ready to purchase a ticket. These aspects, or marketing variables as they’re called, are product, price, distribution, and promotion. The marketing variables define everything that needs to be done that will make the first ticket sale possible, and repeat ticket sales in the future likely.
Product
In Maurice’s case, the product is the play itself. From a marketing standpoint, we needed to define who this product was for. While Maurice had already done the hard work of writing, producing, and casting “Dark Legends in Blood”, was there a clear idea of who would want to pay money to go see it? We needed to determine the audience (or target market) – whether it be women, men, families, seniors, children, African-Americans, Hispanics, etc.
Price
Once the target market of the product is determined, the next thing to figure out is the price. Few people realize that the price is not so much about what the product is worth, but about how much your target market is willing to pay. In the case of “Dark Legends in Blood”, if we had decided that the target audience was senior citizens or high school students, they may have less to spend than middle-to-upper class families – and the play we feel is worth $60 per ticket may only be able to pull in $40 per ticket.
Distribution
The next aspect to determine was where the target group I selected will go to see this type of play for this type of price. Depending on the audience and what they were going to pay, it could be the Wilshire Ebell, Kodak Theatre, a local senior center, or high school auditorium. Whatever you choose, the distribution channel must fit where the audience would expect to go for the amount they paid. If it doesn’t – repeat ticket sales will be unlikely.
Promotion
The last thing to do is to get the message out to your target market. Having rehearsed, securing great singers, and having excellent production is not enough. The definition of promotion from my school textbook is to “inform, pursue, and influence a purchasing decision”. With Maurice, this was all about turning what his audience may want to do into what they needed to do; for example "They need to see this play and they need to see it now."
In a nutshell, marketing is getting a compelling message (promotion) to those who are most likely to buy your product (target market), and then doing everything to meet their expectations on how much they should pay for that product (price) and how they want that product delivered (distribution).
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