The Difference Between an Advertising and PR Agency

Knowing the difference between an advertising and PR agency is crucial to any business looking for a technology PR agency or advertising agency. In a world that is run by bigger and better technology and social media, you will want to get the biggest bang for your buck, and knowing the difference between these two options will help you along the way.

There is an old saying which says that “advertising is what you pay for, publicity is what you pray for.” Put another way, if you go for an advertising agency you will certainly get what you pay for. However, the visibility you can achieve with a great technology PR agency, could potentially be repaid ten-fold in the quality of publicity and media relations work as well as the outcome of your marketing strategy. PR attention for your business is an earned privilege that your technology PR agency works diligently on to develop relationships with the right reporters and editors to encourage them to write positive stories and reviews of your product or service.

Another major difference is the perception of credibility of the advertising and where it appears. Advertising will always appear to be “paid media”, whereas PR pieces will appear in the editorial section of the newspaper, magazine, website, or TV station. This also adds credibility to your product or service as it comes with the earned verification of an independent and trusted third party and is not just a purchased space. So paying to tell people how wonderful you are has its place, but combined with a good technology PR agency handling your publicity, more people will be singing your praises. Take, for example, a woman who is paging through a magazine and sees an advertisement for a designer dress and then reads the fashion editor describing another dress as a “must-have” or “best buy”. The endorsement of an already trusted fashionista and industry expert for the second dress will likely have greater influence and be more effective than even the best advertisement. In fact, a 2014 study by Nielsen that was commissioned by inPowered concluded that PR is almost 90% more effective than advertising when it comes to the role of content in the consumer decision making process.

Lastly, one of the more important aspects of PR, which you will need to keep in mind, is the social and technological nature of our world. While a good printed advertisement might last a few months, it may be fleeting when compared to the weight and lasting effect a great article will have. With the advent and increasing popularity of social and online media, technology PR agencies are able to extend the lifespan of the efficacy of their work – tweets, retweets, sharing articles on Facebook, re-posting, and forwarding emails. This also makes PR markedly more versatile and potentially more cost-effective than an advertising campaign. In other words, great PR stands a chance of being just as powerful as an entire year of repeated advertising if you earn the right high-profile article.

So if you are looking for a new marketing strategy that has the potential to be more effective, influential and cost-effective, you should consider a good technology PR agency such as Marketing Matters to look after your company’s image.