What is advertising?
Advertising is a paid activity that is carried out to increase the sales of a company’s product or service.In advertising, various creative techniques capture the target audience’s interest and deliver the intended message. In today’s era, to carry out advertisement activity various media platforms, such as facebook, instagram, youtube, etc are used to reach the target audience.
What is Publicity?
Publicity is a free of cost activity to create awareness or provide information about a product or service to make it popular. The primary goal of publicity awareness regarding a product or service through third party media. In the case of publicity, information about any product/service is unbiased and can come from any source. As a result, it may positively and negatively affect how people perceive information.
Differences between Advertising vs Publicity
| Basis | Advertising | Publicity |
| Meaning | Paid form of promoting products or services through various media channels | Unpaid promotion through media coverage, news stories, and other public platforms |
| Cost | High cost due to media buying, production, and placement fees | Low or no cost as it relies on media outlets to cover the story |
| Involvement | High involvement of the company in creating and delivering the message | Low involvement of the company; media and public figures have control over the message |
| Control by company | High control over the content, timing, and placement of the message | Low control; media decides how the story is presented and when it is released |
| Credibility | Lower credibility as the audience knows it is paid content | Higher credibility as it is perceived as third-party endorsement or independent reporting |
| Focus | Focuses on promoting specific products, services, or brands | Focuses on building brand reputation and generating awareness through newsworthy events or stories |
| Measurement | Easier to measure effectiveness through metrics like ROI and CTR | Harder to measure; relies on media reach and public perception |
| Message Consistency | Consistent message as per company guidelines | Inconsistent; depends on media interpretation |
| Audience Targeting | Precisely targets specific demographics and psychographics | Reaches a broader audience; less precise targeting |
| Can this activity be repeated? | Yes | No |
