The thought of being in advertising leaves a bad taste in my mouth. That’s rather harsh, isn’t it? But it really does. I just can’t imagine ever doing it and enjoying it.
Perhaps it’s because in high school I always failed miserably at selling products for the variety of clubs I was in. I just couldn’t seem to get up the nerve or the motivation to talk up the fruit and meat the FFA was selling or the cookie dough for FCCLA. It didn’t interest me and I felt I had much better things to do.
Yet I’m now studying public relations, which many would say is advertising with a different title. I’m excited about being in the PR field, though. I’m trying to utilize as many opportunities as possible to incorporate that into my college career, if not for my resume, but also for experience and the kick I get from doing it.
Is there actually a difference between the two? Aren’t advertising and PR essentially the same thing – getting people to want what you have? Well, yes and no.
In my PR Intro class, we emphasized that advertising is paid placement whereas public relations is unpaid placement. What does that really mean? Advertising actually pays to place its advertisements in all forms of media. Public relations uses as many methods as possible to get information about the business or organization to the public, using news releases, PSAs, events, some advertisements, community service and more.
Advertising appeals to both the audience and mediums. They offer funds that often support the newspaper or broadcast they’re in. They’re deliberate and clearly designed to make a profit, usually to get the public to buy the product. However, public relations emphasizes developing and maintaining an honest and positive reputation to the public. It’s about more than getting people to buy the business’s product or use its services.
Both advertising and PR seek to know their audience better and approach it appropriately, but PR seeks to maintain a long-lasting relationship between the business and its audience. PR is not simply for one date, but focuses on developing a committed relationship.
I don’t know about all of the work that goes into advertising or what it’s actually like to be in the field. I do know that PR is a lot of work and is an ongoing communication with the public. It requires a long-term focus on the future and developing relationships with individuals in the public.
Perhaps that’s why advertising doesn’t appeal to me. It’s not so much about developing relationships and connections as connecting with a wallet’s contents. Being connected to others simply makes working for and with them much more fun and satisfying. It’s rather like how you’d be more likely to fight for a friend than a stranger. Simply connecting with that person makes them matter more to you and want to help them more than when you didn’t know them.
Public relations focuses on the relationships between a business and its public. Advertising seems more focused on the profit, which seems unfulfilling to me.
