Distinguishing Public Relations from Publicity
Publicity and Public Relations are often wrongfully considered one and the same. But in fact, Publicity is just one aspect of Public Relations. Publicity concerns a company, organization or individual’s presence in the media. And forms of Publicity include news stories, articles and event information. Publicity creates public awareness and attention around a brand, and publicists gain publicity for their clients by promoting them. Unlike Public Relations, Publicity is used solely to attract attention. It differs from Public Relations in the sense that PR focuses on more than just public attention. The intent in Public Relations is to accomplish an organization’s stated goals by sending strategic messages to the appropriate audiences in the hope of impacting their knowledge, behaviours or attitudes. In short, PR manages the overall reputation of the client while simultaneously building relationships among all of those who are affected by it. As a manageme...