Advertising & Publicity: Differences & Strategies

Q: What is Advertising?

Advertising is the preparation of visual and oral message and their dissemination through paid media for the purpose of making people aware of and favorably inclined towards a product brand service institution Idea or point of view.

Table of Contents

Advertising and publicity play an important role in the marketing process. It helps to make products easily identified by the customer in the market than the other competitor’s product. In this article, we will discuss the concept of advertising and publicity in detail.

Advertising and Publicity Overview

A way of communication for all types of customers is called advertising. This provides information and creates awareness among the people related to a specific product or service. It not only delivers the proper message to the customers but also convinces customers that a company service or a product is the best.

What is an Advertisement?

The word ‘Advertising’ is derived from the original Latin word ‘adverter’ which means to turn attention. Advertising is the preparation of visual and oral messages and their dissemination through paid media for the purpose of making people aware of and favourably inclined towards a product brand service institution Idea or point of view. It can be also described as the art of creating a demand for an article or a service.

Advertising Strategies

Advertising is a means of bringing buyers and sellers together. Marketers often combine different strategies to meet their objectives following are the major advertising strategies.

Comparative Advertising

An advertising strategy that emphasizes messages with a direct or indirect promotional comparison between competing brands is called a comparative advertising strategy.

Celebrity Testimonials

Under this strategy, marketers advertise their products through different celebrities. This will help to build brand equity in the market for their product but customers have to bear the cost aspect of it.

Retail Advertising

Retail advertising includes all advertising by retail stores that sell goods or services directly to the consuming public.

Interactive Advertising

Interactive advertising involves two-way promotional messages transmitted through communication channels that induce message recipients to participate actively in the promotional app. It is a balanced advertising approach between the marketer and the customer.

Four Components of Advertising

Here are the major components of advertising. These are listed below:

Advertising Strategy

The strategy is the logic and planning behind the ad that gives it direction. Advertisers develop advertisements to meet objectives. They create a message that speaks to the audience’s concern in the most effective way and through effective media. Hence advertising strategy plays a prominent role in the success of particular advertisements

Creative Idea

The Creative Concept is a central idea that graphs the consumer’s attention and sticks in memory. Planning strategy requires creative problem solving and for creating a good ad research must be done in an effective way. So creative idea is an important part that a marketer should focus

Creative Execution

After an idea generation execution becomes an important thing to be dealt with. An effective execution of an ad can raise demand by attracting clients through effective visuals and audio.

Media Planning and Buying

Media planning and buying refer to choosing the right media for advertisement. This media involves internet magazines and other media to reach a broad audience.

What is Publicity?

It is non-paid communication to promote your company in a positive light using media vehicles like television, radio magazines and newspapers. It is done by a third party. The major tool use in publicity is a press release that provides information about a product or product-related activities.

Strategies of Publicity

Press Releases: Write and distribute press releases about significant events, achievements, or news related to your business or organization. Send them to local and industry-specific media outlets.
Content Marketing: Create and share high-quality content regularly. This can include blog posts, articles, videos, infographics, and more. Content that provides value, educates or entertains your target audience can attract organic traffic and engagement.
Social Media Engagement: Establish a presence on popular social media platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Regularly share valuable content, engage with your followers, and participate in relevant conversations and discussions within your niche.
Online Communities and Forums: Participate in online communities, discussion forums, and social media groups related to your niche. Provide valuable insights and answers to questions, positioning yourself as an expert.
Media Relations: Build relationships with journalists and bloggers who cover your industry or niche. Offer to provide expert insights or commentary for their articles.

Advantages of Publicity

Publicity plays an important role by making customers aware of the product and has different advantages. Below are the major advantages of publicity.

Publicity is more credible than the advertisement because it is done by a third party.
It is a cost-effective measure for making customers aware about the product and building brand equity.
Publicity generates a high frequency of exposure in the market.

Disadvantages of Publicity

Following are some of the advantages of the publicity

It has less control of the organization because it is done by the general and rational view of the third party
Very few releases published of an organization actually get taken up by the media
Sometimes it also provides inaccurate information to the public.

Difference between Advertisement and Publicity

Below are the major differences between Advertisement and Publicity. The differences between Advertisement and Publicity are mainly based on parameters such as parties concerned, type of message conveyed, cost, credibility boost and so on.

Difference Between Advertisement & Publicity
Difference	Advertisement	Publicity
Party concerned	Here, companies do advertising for themselves.	Publicity is done by the third party about the company
Control on the message	The company has control over the message.	There is no control of the company on the publicity process
Type of message	Hear the message is positive but Biased and partial to only the good aspects of the company or it’s product	It can be positive or negative.
Cost	It is very expensive	It is free of cost.
Credibility	It has low credibility because it is done by the company itself.	It has high credibility because of the unbiased and real views of third parties.

Download Advertising and Publicity Study Notes PDF

Candidates preparing for the UGC NET Commerce Exam 2023 must click on the following link to access the Advertising and Publicity Study Notes PDF. This way candidates will get a handy Advertising and Publicity Study Notes PDF for referring to during the revision for the UGC NET Commerce Exam 2023.

Advertising and Publicity Study Notes PDF

Conclusion

Advertising and Publicity play a dominant role by influencing the demand for the product. A marketer must have to think about the strategy and creative aspects of advertising so that enhanced benefits can be achieved in terms of sales promotion and the development of brand equity. But it should be kept in mind that the advertisement should not be full of fake or biased information.