To make a message reach out to the masses, there are several different methods. Especially in times when technology has advanced so much and almost everyone knows about digitalism, advertising and publicity are two of the most efficient ways to fulfill the purpose. Though these two methods have a similar objective, they still have multiple dissimilarities which make them stand apart from each other.
Advertising vs Publicity
The main difference between advertising and publicity is that advertising is solely done to increase the sales of a particular organization or a particular product. While on the other hand, publicity is done to make people aware of a particular situation or about a particular thing.Â
Advertising is a method that is used as a promotional tool by a particular organization. Almost every successful organization has a group of professional people who only focus on advertising their respective organization or a particular part of the organization through several different methods of advertising. In most general cases, this group of professional people is known as the marketing team of the organization.
Publicity is another method, but unlike advertising, it is not done to increase sales or promote a particular organization. Publicity is majorly done to reach the masses and make as many people aware of something. Publicity does not come under the control of a particular group or any organization.
Comparison Table Between Advertising and Publicity
| Parameters of comparison | Advertising | Publicity |
| Objective | The objective of advertising is to increase the sales of the company. | The objective of publicizing is to make people aware of something. |
| What is advertised or publicized? | The company itself or the services of the company or the product of the company. | Any facts or information or situation or general awareness. |
| Intent | Advertising in only done in a positive way. | Publicity can be done either in a positive way or a negative way. |
| Expense | Advertising is a highly expensive method. | Publicity is a relatively less expensive method as compared to advertising. |
| Audience | Advertising focuses only on a target audience. | Publicity focuses on masses, that is to say, as many people as possible. |
| Representative | Representative is the company or a particular part of the company. | Representative is a third party group. |
| Control | Advertising is controlled by the company. | Publicity is controlled by the third party group. |
What is Advertising?
Advertising can be defined as a single way of communication between an organization and the audience. That is to say, only the organization has the control of communicating to the audience through advertisements. The sole purpose of the method of advertising by any organization or a company is to promote themselves, or the services offered by the company or the organization or their products.
Among all the several different methods of making something reach the audience, advertising is the most efficient and effective way of doing it. Advertising can be done through multiple methods, such as television advertisement, radio advertisement, newspaper advertisement, magazine advertisement, or other such methods.
Though advertising is one of the most effective ways to make a dialogue reach the masses, it is one of the most expensive methods as well. Advertising takes a lot of time, effort, and money as well. That is the reason why advertising is a method that is majorly used by high-end organizations and companies only.
Advertising is always done in such a way that the target audience has a positive mindset regarding the product or the services which are being advertised through advertisements. In simpler words, it can be said that publicity is always done in a positive way only.
What is Publicity?
Publicity might sound to be a bit similar to advertising, but in reality, publicity is a completely different method from advertising. Breaking down the word publicity, it is made up of two different words, that is, public, and the second word is visibility. That means the major objective of publicity is to make a situation visible to the public.
Publicity is majorly done to make people aware of any information, or about a situation or general awareness or factual knowledge or any other such thing. Moreover, publicity is done to bring the attention of the audience to the message that is being publicized through the method.
Apart from that, publicity also asks for the reviews of the audience, unlike advertising. So it can be said that publicity is a kind of a two-way dialogue between the publicizing group and the audience.
Publicity is done in such a way that people have a reasonable, or realistic mindset about the information that is being publicized. In simpler words, it can be said that publicity can be done either positively or negatively.
Main Differences Between Advertising and Publicity
- The objective of advertising by any company or an organization is to increase their sales. While on the other hand, the objective of publicity is to make people aware of something.
- Advertising is done to advertise the company or any organization or their services or their products. Through publicity, people are made aware of some information, facts, or a situation.
- Advertising is always done positively. Publicity can be either done positively or negatively.
- Advertising is one of the most costly methods of doing promotion. Publicity is relatively a less costly method as compared to advertising.
- Advertising is done only to reach a specific target audience. Whereas, publicity is done to reach as many people as possible.
- Advertising is done by a company or an organization or a representative marketing group. Publicity is done through a third-party group.
- Advertising comes under the control of a company or organization. Publicity does not come under any company but the third party group which is responsible for publicizing the message.
Conclusion
The major difference between advertising and publicity is their objective. Advertising is done by a company to promote its services or its products. While on the other hand, publicity is done to make people aware of something.