<h1>Advertising vs Publicity - what you need to know about the decades-old debate</h1>
A few days ago, we caught a client of ours using the word <em>advertising</em> when in fact they meant <em>publicity.</em> Think we're being pedantic? Think again! The distinction between these two seemingly innocent words is vital to how you do business. Surprised? Well, here's why...
<h2><strong>The Definitions</strong></h2>
Advertising is best defined as a paid for marketing and promotional tool. Money changes hands in order to convey a message about a company or its product to an audience. Publicity, on the other hand, is at no extra cost. The company issues news, information and images to the press and thereby filter through to a publication’s readership.

With advertising, the company or product are in control of their message and its delivery. With publicity, the media are at liberty to pick and choose what information they use – and how it’s spun.

For example, if a company issues a press release to the local media we would class it as <em><u>publicity.</u> </em>If, however, the same company paid for a full page of a magazine and printed their own story on it, we would class it as <em><u>advertising.</u></em>

Now that we've established the difference between the two, we can try to answer the question on the tip of everyone’s tongue. Which is better?
<h2><strong>Advertising vs Publicity – the showdown</strong></h2>
Answering this question is akin to solving that age old dilemma: what came first - the chicken or the egg? It’s easier said than done.

We’ve put together a simple list of recommendations for your business, based on some potential aims:
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 	<li>
<h3><strong> Gaining recognition and building a brand.</strong></h3>
</li>
</ol>
<strong>The aim: </strong>You’re looking to instil trust, build your reputation, and achieve some degree of credibility on a national or local level.

<strong>The way forward:</strong> It’s a good idea to begin with getting some publicity. Cast your mind back to the hours you’ve spent crawling the internet just in the last week. Were you more likely to click on an advert for a company you know and trust – or one that other people know and trust – than one you don’t? Of course you were!

Decide on your target audience and work from there. A great way to gain publicity on local and national levels is through entering awards competitions. There’s plenty of media coverage to be had, and they offer a great way to network. We’ve already written a blog about the benefits of entering business awards <u>here.</u>

It’s also a great idea to hit the ground running with some <u><a href="https://www.leagraham.com/success-story/community-engagement-promotion/">Corporate Social Responsibility</a>. E</u>ngagement with the local community and charities is an appealing topic for newspapers, and is also just a great way of giving back.

<strong>The winner: </strong>Publicity.
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<h3><strong> Selling a product</strong></h3>
</li>
</ol>
<strong>The aim: </strong>Your company has just released a brand new product – for instance, a new <a href="http://www.electricbody.eu/">skin cream</a> – and you want to get the word out as soon as possible.

<strong>The way forward: </strong>publicity could be helpful here but you’ll have to be careful how you approach it. The media and press aren’t interested in press releases that come across as sales pitches, so holding an event and inviting VIPs is a great alternative.

Advertising, though, could be more effective here. Paying to promote social media posts that you’ve made on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/lgaltd">Facebook</a> and <a href="http://www.twitter.com/leagrahamassoc">Twitter</a>, as well as taking out spaces in print publications, can get more eyeballs on your brand that you can convert to sales.

<strong>The winner: </strong>Advertising.
<ol start="3">
 	<li>
<h3><strong> Promoting company success stories</strong></h3>
</li>
</ol>
<strong>The aim: </strong>Your company, or an employee, has done something fantastic in the workplace that you want your existing and potential clients to hear about.

<strong>The way forward: </strong>publicity is the best way to get your case studies out there. While some companies choose to advertise their <a href="https://www.leagraham.com/success-stories/">success stories</a>, getting your achievements in the newspaper comes with an extra element of trust and reliability.

If you can show that what you’ve done is truly great – and even better, have statistics or evidence to prove it – the publicity will be as close to guaranteed as you can get.

<strong>The winner: </strong>Publicity.
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<h3><strong> Engaging with clients</strong></h3>
</li>
</ol>
<strong>The aim: </strong>Your company is well-established and you’re looking for a way to excite existing clients and get them more involved.

<strong>The way forward: </strong>a mixture of advertising and publicity would be useful but ultimately, we side with publicity. S<a href="http://www.twitter.com/leagrahamassoc">ocial media engagement</a>, <a href="https://www.leagraham.com/success-story/web-design-internal-communication/">e-newsletters</a> and seeing you in the press will work wonders for keeping existing clients loyal and keeping your business on-message.

<strong>The winner: </strong>Publicity.
<h2><strong>CONCLUSION</strong></h2>
That’s a 3-1 victory for publicity, but that’s not to say that your business should forego advertising. The truth is that both advertising and publicity play important roles depending upon the desired effect.

And while you might worry that publicity is always going to be a bit of a gamble, keep in mind that you’re making an educated risk: if the story is good, the press release is written well and there’s <a href="https://www.leagraham.com/seeing-bigger-picture-importance-photographs-publicity/">a good photo to go with it</a>, you’ll most likely get great coverage for your company.