Our POV - What Is PR And Why Does it Matter
The best way to think about marketing is as a double-sided coin with two very different disciplines. We would argue that everything, all of the nuances, ultimately fall within one of these two philosophical differences. Broken down, they consist of: Advertising - the art of creating positive opinion by pushing your own message out as many times as you can, and Public Relations - the art of getting those that your audience trusts to push your message out for you. Both disciplines will bring your company in front of your desired audience, and both are often needed as part of any marketing program.
Advertising and PR work in two different ways. Advertising relies on repetition of a message and garnering as much visibility of that message as possible. It is effective because it’s familiar and because opportunities are abundant – online banner ads, transportation vehicles, social media, radio, you name it. There are several major drawbacks to advertising though. For one, it’s expensive. When you pay for advertising, you pay creative agencies for ideas that have a small chance of succeeding. You also pay for the air time and the actual space that you are advertising in. Second, we are now conditioned to experiencing over 3,000 separate ads per day, so it’s understandably very hard for a message to stick. Lastly, in the minds of the consumers, advertising is a bit obvious - of course the message will be positive when it’s coming directly from the source. That’s part of the reason why we tune so much of it out.
Think about what is more likely to convince you to buy a product – an ad that you see for a product or a friend telling you about how good a product is. Chances are, you will remember what your friend told you and forget the ad. This is the basis for PR.
In PR, you work with the media so that they discuss your messages on your behalf. The psychology behind it revolves around the principle that when those who your audience trusts reference your company, your ideas, your products and your services, they are more likely to form a positive opinion of you. PR creates “buzz” by getting people to talk about what it is you want them to talk about. Not to mention, PR is also much cheaper since you don’t pay for the air time.
Effective PR requires a master understanding of language to find the right words that will properly convey your thoughts, dreams, perspectives, and insights to people who are often complete strangers. While it’s possible to do this yourself, it’s harder to be successful at. As a growing startup for example, the majority of your time is likely focused on developing your product, getting it to market and seeking that all important funding. The last thing many founders and leaders want to do is think about how to approach the media and what to say when they do. While some teams will benefit from foundational instruction on the basics of PR, others will gain far greater results by paying someone to take it off their plate - so they can get on with what they do best.