Public Relations is the art of getting other people to talk about you and sell your stuff for you.
If I came up to you on the street, interrupted your conversation with your girlfriend, and said, "Hey, buy this product. You'll like it!", you wouldn't buy it. You'd probably be ticked off at me, too. It wouldn't make you desire the product. That's how advertising works - advertising interrupts potential customers and forces them to listen. At least, it used to - now people tune out advertising. They don't even comprehend it.
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But if your girlfriend said, "Hey, I heard about this cool product - I think you'll like it!" then you're much more likely to go buy it. You trust her and know she doesn't want to to force you to buy something you don't want - in fact, she's an unbiased party. That's public relations.
Still don't see the difference?
You're at the bar, and a man comes up to you and says, "I'm great in bed, I'm good looking, I'm all around perfect. Please come home with me!" then you'd write him off as a creep. That's advertising.
But if your girlfriend says, "See that guy? He's great in bed, he's good looking, and he's pretty much perfect. You should totally go talk to him!" then you probably would. That's public relations.
Public relations is making your product/service/widget to be worthy of talking about, and then getting people to talk about it. When you advertise, you're telling people yourself, and they don't trust you. Why should they? They don't know you. But getting the people they do trust to talk about you really works. And that's why you need public relations.
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Andi Enns is a cutting-edge Public Relations & Marketing Campaign Strategist from Kansas City, Missouri. She loves seeing her clients get the recognition they deserve! For more great articles, visit her blog at http://andienns.wordpress.com/ Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Andi_Enns |
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