Advertising Versus Public Relations--Written by Ana Ventura
Oftentimes, when words "public" and "relations" are thrown together in a sentence, a light bulb goes off in head shining, "Advertising". However, using advertising and public relations as synonyms is a long shot. So what's big difference?One of most crucial differences between public relations and advertising is that PR is free. That's right, none of your hard earned cash is going to be thrown down to promote your business. For example, if you run an advertisement in your local newspaper, they charge you for space you use as well as for time frame that ad is run. But if that same newspaper decides that your business or product is article worthy, you are getting great publicity with no out of pocket costs. While it's great to get free recognition if someone writes an article about your product, downfall is that you have no content control. In other words, journalist that takes on task is going to have all say in length, word choice, and format of what is being said about you and your business. Advertising, on other hand, makes you boss as long as you've got cash flow for it. Along with benefit of knowing exactly what your ad is going to say, you also have option of running ad campaign over and over again if you're getting good results. The media will most likely only run your story once, unless you give them new topics, or an interesting new way of looking at old ones.
| | The Big Bang Publicity CampaignWritten by Anne Marie Baugh
Famous is as famous does and famous get known through publicity. Yes, that’s right, fame doesn’t discover you, you create it through strategic campaigning. What’s more, techniques for increasing your exposure isn’t as difficult to attain as you might think. A great publicity campaign starts with courage, then planning, and lastly, it succeeds through persistence. If your not sure why you should seek fame, consider fortune because two go hand in hand. Fame will bring your business into forefront of your target audience faster than any advertising campaign can hope to do. It solidifies you as an expert and creates a deep, abiding confidence in consumer. It makes you a shining star with infinite possibilities. So what’s are steps you ask? Well paste a gold star to your forehead and let’s get started. 1. Press Releases: Increase awareness through a press release. Yes, I know, press releases have become quite popular little tool around cyberspace with releases being blasted hither and there, but is it working? Probably not. Blasting your press release will bring blasted little results. Instead, thoughtfully put together a very dynamic one page press release and target publications that would be most interested in you and your business. Don’t drone out details, make that press release sing your praises. Then send it to a real live editor and follow up with a phone call. In other words, let press release be invitation to your follow up phone call. Begin making connections with media. Be polite, be excited, and be patient. 2. Create A Press Kit: A Press kit is basically an exaggerated press release turned into a package. It’s more complex, tells more about you and your company, and is all pulled together into a nice neat folder. Of all questions I receive, first is, what is a press kit? Simply, it is a folder of information about you or your business. It should contain: A. An Introduction Letter B. One or Two Press Releases C. A Fact Sheet (This contains facts about you or your business.) D. Bio Sheet (Which is a biography of you and your accomplishments.) E. Copies of Published Articles F. Company Literature G. A Business Card
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