Public Relations vs. Advertising: Which Is the Right Choice to Promote Your Business?

Usually, the goal of running an advertisement is to promote the idea of one specific product or service. We measure the success of an advertisement through how many sales/views the ad produced, or a more technical term is return on your investment (ROI).

While public relations can offer the same type of promotion, it is more often used as a way to build your brand. The primary goal of executing public relations is to maintain and strengthen the reputation of the company, as well as engage with its audience and consumers.

The average small business that uses Google advertising spends between $9,000 and $10,000 per month on their online advertising campaigns, or $100,000 to $120,000 per year.

It’s no secret that public relations costs a fraction of what you’re going to pay for an advertisement. On the other hand, public relations stories aren’t guaranteed.  One full-page advertisement in weekly newspapers can cost upwards of $100,000 (for one ad). Meanwhile, a typical monthly retainer for a PR agency could range from $3,000 to $5,000.

With advertising, you will have complete control over the message you put out to the world.  

With public relations, even if you are able to get the media interested in your pitch, the journalist is still in control of the message and the narrative of the story. While this could be seen as a negative aspect of PR, it’s also a positive when a story is told authentically. This is why you should lean on your public relations firm to ensure you’re media-ready and your pitch and interview is in line with your messaging and company values.

This question is pretty simple. If you need to see results quickly, and you know the message you want to send to consumers, and you have the budget for it, then advertising really is your best option. You can get an advertisement up and running in less than a day, but usually, in about a week.

Public relations takes hours of work, and potentially weeks, to see media pieces come through. Public relations is a drawn-out process that includes building relationships with reporters, honing in on your messaging, and building your company’s brand.