Mark Irving: PR or advertising?

Advertising or PR? Photo / Thinkstock

Mark Irving, Advertising Company Director on the value of PR compared to advertising.

My friend who's in Public Relations recently questioned the value of advertising when compared to PR.

I asked her what she was basing this on. When questioned, she basically admitted that she wasn't basing it on anything. She couldn't back her argument up and was just basing it on a preference for her industry and what she likes. After shooting her down in flames and then berating her over her cooking skills, I said invariably when clients say advertising hasn't worked you can easily see the reasons why.

Advertising and PR can both work well but they have to be intelligently done and well thought out. When looking at their client list, a good advertising agency should always be broad minded and consider PR and in many cases how to get PR out their advertising.

A recent example in my local paper was the auditioning of two local children to play the role of the new Milky Bar Kid in an upcoming TV commercial. Many good ideas fall by the wayside because departments haven't talked to each other or budgets have already been set, or an agency fails to recognise good PR potential because they're so entrenched in an advertising mindset.

A good agency shouldn't have a pre-determined policy of which medium works best. They need to look at all the avenues and work out what's best to get the best bang for the buck. At the bigger agencies the PR and advertising departments need to work together, which can sometimes be a challenge in itself. For example, if a client has just created a new product that will change the lives of thousands, this could be a newsworthy item and could make the evening news - great PR. But if you're a retailer like it or not, sustained advertising or repetition, rather than one off ads is what works best. In this case, PR is no substitute for advertising.

If you're a business and you aren't employing the services of a PR or ad agency, even just taking one hour a week where you either just think on your own or brainstorm with others about possible ideas, it's amazing what you can come up with.

The power of creativity and idea generation is not to be underestimated in the business world. However, I'd caution against telling people to generate ideas with others in a room, without individuals having time to think through ideas by themselves.

In my experience, people need time to think through ideas themselves. It also avoids the "loudest or most convincing person is always right syndrome" which can often play a part in group dynamics.

The other good thing to remember in PR is that no idea is a bad idea. Idea generation is the one place where self-limiting thoughts and being worried about what others think shouldn't come into play. The thing about having slightly or even hugely left of centre ideas is that it very often leads to other ideas.

Often though PR and just involves a bit of common sense. It may involve picking up the phone and speaking to a client or newspaper editor and just outlining a possible idea or story you have.

I've never met someone who told me to f%#@$! off or stop wasting their time. If you're polite and outline a good case, people are generally pretty receptive to ideas. The worst someone can say is no. And as the old saying goes, the more you hear "no", the closer you are to a "yes."

Mark Irving is the Director of Range Advertising and Communications.