Awesome article in last week’s BusinessWeek forwarded to me by a colleague: http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/09_33/b4143064876775.htm
As PR people, we can’t help but notice the guerilla marketing, the pop-up boxes in stores, and anything - anything - that will capture attention at the lowest cost possible. But, this article makes a point about loss of professionalism, and essentially true brand awareness that is built with consistent advertising.
However, these low cost marketing techniques cater to the immediate. PR is an independent tool that lends itself to help in marketing efforts, and is therefore by no means below the line. It is a low-cost tool that generates measurable results with long term effects.
Interestingly, this article - just like many others over the years - continue to go about the vicious circle of what is advertising and what is promotion. Are they the same? What makes the two separate? First, we must continue to pursue the universal definition of advertising and PR, knowing that the two should be separate budgets that promote a brand. “Promotion” has such a loose term, especially in down economic cycles, confusing not only those who pay for marketing budgets, but also those considering buying the product or service!
Tags: marketing PR tools, PR and promotion, promotion and advertising