Public relations vs. advertising

Public relations is often thought of in the negative sense: as a way to keep the company out of the public eye when the news is bad. Important as that can be, p.r. can also be an extremely valuable part of a broad-based, multi-faceted, proactive marketing plan.

Low cost, high credibility – Even when public relations is defined as only news media relations, it's capable of accomplishing much the same task as paid advertising – only at a lower cost and with greater credibility.

At its broadest, though, p.r. includes a variety of other helpful disciplines, including community relations, investor relations and dealer relations. Most importantly, all p.r. activities flow from the branding and positioning decisions made during the planning phase, so that all p.r. efforts are fully integrated into the overall umbrella message and is directed to the same audiences.

Public relations excels in two areas.

First of all, it's cost-effective, because you only have to pay for the creative – writing a new release, designing support materials, contacting editors and news directors – and not buy the space in a publication.

Second, the message is credible because consumers (even the savvy people who are consumers of business-to-business marketing) believe that advertising can be misleading – yet they tend to trust the articles that appear alongside those ads. That's because a mention in the editorial columns carries a third-party endorsement: It's not the company or its spokesman saying these things, readers think, it's the editor of the publication who's saying them.

Give us a call if you'd like help in using the trade and general press to improve your organization's position in the marketplace.

10 ways to write a bad news release

1. Always single-space, and save paper by typing on the back. Don't waste a sheet of your letterhead on the press either.
2. Never include a contact name and phone number – they'll just call you at the office and wake you up.
3. Writing is a creative process, so jump right in. Never waste time trying to decide what it is you want to say. And make your lead as long as you need to – after all, it's your muse.
4. If you must include specific facts in your release, never attribute them to anyone. That way you won't have to worry about whether you've gotten them right.
5. The press is always trying to simplify, but there's no reason you have to. If the issue you're talking about is a complex one, give them all the facts and let them sort it out.
6. Never worry about the media's needs. I mean, what's this with the tight deadlines?
7. Always assume the press knows what's been going on. And if they haven't been paying attention, why waste your valuable time getting them up to speed?
8. If the press has caused you problems in the past, a news release is the ideal time to complain about it.
9. Never enclose additional information or materials, and never offer the media an o pportunity to come out and take its own pictures. If you don't want them to have pictures, what do they need to come out and shoot film for?
10. Everybody else's news releases tend to look the same, but that's no reason you should worry about so-called "news style." Sure, they prefer Maine and Kan. over ME and KS, but that's no reason you have to slavishly follow suit.

> Samples

We can show you a number of great clippings from the trade and general press, but we can't show you some of our best work – because it involves keeping our clients' bad news out of the press altogether.