The Difference between PR and Publicity

The two terms Publicity and Public Relations (PR) are often termed synonymous but are in actuality two completely different disciplines. If you want to leverage the power of media in promoting your business then it’s a must for you to start with knowing the difference between Publicity and PR.

What all is Publicity?

Publicity is the art of attracting and achieving media’s attention and gaining as much market visibility with the public as possible. The primary focus of publicity is to achieve the maximum number of press coverage. The only thing involved with publicity is getting more the number of coverage, and it has nothing to do with how exactly media is portraying that particular event or story. This type of media stint will either up with good publicity or a bad one. Talking about the bad publicity it’s like making a story for an actress’s bad dressing style at her film’s promotional event instead of focusing on her tremendous performance in the movie. Turning towards good publicity, it’s like getting press coverage of a hometown boxer bringing home an Olympic gold medal after much struggle.

Considering the point that people don’t want always to read coring news and yearn for something unusual, interesting, exciting, and controversial and often an emotion provoking scandalous stuff. And, publicity stints are meant for info-tainment involving any of the above mentioned reactions. Media companies want to maintain high ratings with their audience and so chances of getting news stories involving publicity stints in media is quite easy. But such stories or news coverage can’t guarantee enhancement of your brand’s credibility or reputation.

What is Public Relations (PR)?

Public relation (PR) is the strategic process of getting positive media presence in order to maintain the reputation of an individual, organization or brand in the eyes of target audience. The difference between PR and publicity is simply that the former is concerned more with managing the reputation of the brand over simply getting tons of coverage and ink that the latter actually dies for. Publicity is one of the several tools that PR agencies at times use to shape up the consumer opinions favorably towards their client.

Damage control is also a characteristic feature that differs the two. One can earn a lot of publicity, especially the bad one if a thing or two goes wrong. However, use of PR is done for a completely opposite purpose. Instead of keeping the company’s reputation at stake, PR is more of repairing and uplifting the image of a company. This is known as crisis PR and this service is mostly provided with all the PR companies in Delhi but to get well- reputed position in market it is advised to go with the services of the reputed PR services in Delhi only.

Should You Get Publicity Or PR For Your Business?

According to the PR experts from the reputed PR firms, one should promote themselves or their organization with a great mix of both. Publicity should not be another strategy but instead it should be the part of PR strategy only.  The most important thing to remember is that a great PR strategy in hand is far better and valuable than the occasional mention in the paper or on television. Publicity is important as well to shape the way your audience perceives your brand and the credibility associated with it.

5 reasons you'll regret hiring a PR firm for your startup

It’s better to correct a thing several times and finally deliver it with perfection, instead of wasting the hard earned resources on some petty decisions taken in a hurry that make us regret in the later on period. We know when you start a business all on your own you have loads of pressure and expectations to cater to, but my dear friend only the one who deals with this pressure with calm and composure will lead in a better way.

Coming to the problem where most Indian startups lack behind is the way they handle public relations as a function. It’s good to see that presently instead of experimenting with PR on their own, they are outsourcing it to the PR Agencies for Startups. But even while outsourcing them certain things will make you regret your decision of hiring a PR Agency for your Startup, and here is a list of such things:

1.       They are not good story tellers: Yes, storytelling is the prime art in which PR professional need to be an expert in because for a story to make a long-time impact it needs to be told in a manner that attracts journalists almost instantly. Most of the PR persons lack behind in this art and often don’t reap much benefit to the startups even when they are providing them with numerous innovative points to highlight.

2.       They are always blabbering about past clients: It’s good for PR persons to tell about their previous clients to get the prospective clients on board.  But once on board, if these professionals are still blabbering about previous clients, instead of working on your project; then beware these people are good for nothing and will not reap you much media presence as claimed.

3.       They are themselves considering them as experts: Yes, they are probably the experts in the art of storytelling, but this doesn’t mean they have to act as one when talking with their client. Instead of acting as an expert, they need to be curious and anxious in the getting-to-know phase to reflect the best possible characteristics of the client and his/her organization in the media stories.

4.       They are credit-hungry all the time: Their work is to get you news coverage’s, profile stories and of course some sort of interviews as promised in the deal. But at times, it is seen that PR agencies fool the startups by banking on the re-printed version of news coverage. So, when dealing with any startup PR Agency, be extremely careful about not getting fooled with it, only pay for the ones that are original in every sense.

5.       They are extremely expensive: You are a new comer in the industry and considering your infancy in the industry you are the most likely ones to get cheated in terms of money. There are certain companies in this extremely broad PR industry that will fool you around without you getting to know. So, instead of investing in these enterprises, take your time and do a rich research about the best players in the PR industry specializing in the genre you or your organization works in.

Now, after reading all these facts, you might be thinking PR isn’t good for startups. But it is unless and until you and your startup are appointing a reliable PR firm like The Yellow Coin Communication. The company will not only provide you with all that has been promised in the deal but will also design customized PR strategies for you and your startup that would reap in much more benefits than expected.

Different ways to get good Publicity

Public Relations (PR), a term that completely differs from advertising but is often treated synonymously to it. While in advertising, you have to pay to get your message in the publications, websites, blogs, T.V. channels and all the other mediums but with Public Relations, you share your message in the form of articles, tip, and press release to earn news coverage from the concerned media channel. With the help of public relation services, the article or any news story or coverage that you get in any media channel with your or your organization’s name doesn’t even demand a single penny. 

Other than pricing there are several other factors too that makes publicity more effective than the advertising practices. It’s true that the former is not completely free but still its prices are way more pocket- friendly than advertising. Secondly, the impact of advertising when compared with that of publicity is extremely short lived. But with publicity a company is able to reach more audience than that of advertising because with publicity comes the articles praising the company in third party form which seems realistic to the audience and they treat it as much as the news only. The involvement of third party also adds up to the sense of greater credibility in the readers mind as they find that coverage more worthy at trying. 

It’s been proved from time-to-time that companies, no matter big or small whether just a startup or quite a seasoned one lack behind in gaining the reasonable amount of publicity for their business because of not hiring a professional PR agency for their work.

Following are some ways using which the PR companies earn media coverage’s for their clients: 

1.      Getting media attention

This is the first and the most important step in the entire PR process. It involves calling and mailing all the possible media professionals working in the niche involving the news stories related to that of the clients of PR companies. Other than contacting the media from their side at times PR professionals from PR agencies in Delhi receive query seeking calls from various journalists. The PR experts help them with the required industrial inputs from their clients thus, helping the journalist with his/her story and getting the mention of the client as an industrial expert in the story.

2.      Drafting powerful message

The next big thing that a professional PR agency serves with is its ability to draft a powerful message creating a long lasting impact of the company’s positive brand image in the minds of target audience. By using a good mix of both the traditional and modern PR tools like Press Release, Interviews, SEO, Digital PR, etc. PR companies cater to the needs of their clients and completely transform the brand’s appearance into a positive one in the market.

3.      Tapping the social media networks

In this era of digitalization audiences of any target field irrespective of their ages are spending most of their time on the social media platforms. PR agencies have realized this as a great opportunity to publicize their clients as brands and industry experts. With their expertise and professionalism the professionals working at PR companies in Delhi use certain innovative and creative ideas along with the latest technologies to better touch and get hold of the audiences in several social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter.

4.      Keeping up with the media trends

The professionals working in PR agencies have a strong hold and knowledge about what all is going on in media and which is prevailing in the media houses. By closely following these trends, PR agencies in Delhi ensure that the message that is to be broadcasted in the media houses is drafted in accordance to the media trends so that it gets picked up by maximum number of media houses.

Are PR companies in Delhi meeting the demands of Lifestyle Brands

In simple terms, Lifestyle Public Relations (PR) is all about promoting one’s product as the most ideal options to enhance the way of living of a particular niche of consumer. This type of PR services require the PR professional to make healthy relations with the top influential journalists and bloggers and acquiring recommendations for your product in their readers- friendly articles and blogs. Below are listed out the demands of the lifestyle companies that the PR agencies need to meet:

Strong Brand Positioning

By strong brand position in the lifestyle industry, we meant influencing the target audience with strategic PR tactics in such a way that every member of the public must think of your client’s products when discussed anytime about the field that particular client is dealing in. Your failure in creating a distinctive brand image certainly means a severe failure to your client which can also lead to shutdown. With so many companies piling up in the lifestyle industry, brand positioning has become the single most important job for a PR professional and the origin from where all the other responsibilities in the industry are born.

Healthy relationships with media personnel

One of the most important jobs for a Lifestyle Public Relations professional is to work with the journalists and editors of fashion and lifestyle magazines and to deal with the top fashion and lifestyle bloggers of the industry. It’s the PR professional’s responsibility to develop healthy relationships with these people and their other coordinating team so as to get recommendations for your client’s products and services in their reader friendly articles and blogs. The powerful buzz created by these publications and websites not only promote the line of products and services among the readers but also uplifts the overall market image of the client.

Expertise in crisis management

The work of PR experts in Lifestyle industry is not just restricted to work with the top media officials only but instead, it also involves working with customers, retail stores, and fashion companies. For this the PR professional entering the field of lifestyle PR are required to develop skills to deal with customers, their cries and woes if any and ensuring the possible change demanded by them. Other than the talent of keeping the customer happy, a PR expert is also required to boost up the client’s image from any bad news if any prevailing in the market against the firm.

Innovative and creative work approach

With so many mediums like social media portals, publications, television and radio channels available in the industry, the lifestyle PR officials need to pay attention to them all and draft an innovative, creative and customized PR campaign for their client that instantly gets hit in the market and is able to develop strong market image for the client without wasting much efforts.

With the numerous amounts of lifestyle publications and online websites now in the market, PR agencies have more opportunities than ever before to get their client’s products and brands in front of the right people. But there are still many PR firms who lack behind in the industry, so it’s advised to the lifestyle companies to do a good industry research before finalizing a PR agency for meeting their demands and standard of work.

Expectations of Startups from PR Agency

With some extremely great and innovative ideas in their minds, the number of entrepreneurs is quite rapidly zooming up in the Indian economy making it extremely crowded and competitive. But not all among the innovative entrepreneurs could make it big in the fast-paced Indian market. Now the question arises how could these new businesses cut through the crowd and make it big in the competition? The answer is simple; make your story capable enough to get heard in the market. This is the time when the Public Relation (PR) professionals come into the picture and with their expert knowledge about the industry, lead the startups to the heights of growth and success.

Here is a list of things startups expects a PR Agency to provide them with:

To create the brand’s image in the marketplace

Startups enter the market with a powerful message, but after entering the industry they get all confused and end up messing the message they are disseminating to the target audience, which often leads to their shutdown. The Public Relation strategist work with the top officials of an organization to craft a blueprint of the image the company wants to portray. Then with their expert PR services in Delhi, they do some additions and deletions from the same to focus on exactly the right message that will be the core of the whole branding process. This expert branding that is being done by the PR professionals helps the startups in reaching their targeted audience with a clear, confusion free message.

To have good media relations

You may not be the biggie- wiggies with loads of money to do media stunts, but being a startup you certainly have something new and exciting story for a media to explore. Equipped up with the expertise of story-telling and media handling, the PR Agencies will help you get into some interviews, events and news coverage’s to better highlight the story of your organization’s struggle and success. They boost up the startup with the exposure it needs thus, leading it to the new great heights.

To improve the search results

With customers and investors spending most of their time on the online platforms, startups now are more focused at improving their search engine positions and website handling in order to better woo them. At times, these startups also demand the PR experts to handle their social media handles and maximise the oranization’s positive image there. PR professionals monitor the handles and guide the clients about the emerging threats and trends. They also guide the clients on how to connect and respond with the clients and stakeholders over the Internet.

To handle the crisis

Every businesses has its own ups and downs, at times companies are faced with situations that can completely turn their business into havoc leading to an unexpected shutdown. No company can stay away from such events but yes, they can neutralize its effect with a counter positive image- building. The PR professionals working in PR Companies in Delhi are expert in handling such situations and repair the damage caused by neutralizing the bad stories with that of a positive and constructive ones.