Business: according to Sprout Social, 69% of marketers consider brand awareness the number one goal. Before potential customer remembers a brand name, they need to hear or see it several times. And media mentions are a great way to do that.
Frequent media mentions can build company/brand/professional/expert awareness, and there doesn’t have to be a big investment behind it. By convincing the media to talk about your brand, you will be promoted and gain publicity.
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Publicity: What Is It?
Publicity is the creation of awareness for a brand or individual through media skip through. It’s an inexpensive and useful way to promote a brand.
Publicity is practically always a free action. Its essence is that the media reflects information about a brand on its own initiative, on a gratuitous basis.
The media isn’t only television but also:
- Radio
- Newspapers
- Magazines
- Online publications.
- Publishers and blogs in social networks.
The key task of publicity is to introduce the audience to the brand.
Many times encountering information about the brand, a person is sure to be interested in it, study it, remember it. This will have a positive impact on recognition, and recognition is the key to more sales.
If you pay the media to mention your brand, it’s not publicity. However it’s advertising. Publicity implies that the brand creates an infomercial that the media will pick up and release a news story mentioning the brand. The brand does not pay for this mention.
Publicity and PR: Is There a Difference
PR (public relations) is the work of creating a positive brand image in the eyes of the public.
Publicity is the popularity of the company (brand, person), formed with the help of the media.
If PR is always a purposeful work of specialists on creating a positive image, publicity is something that can happen without your participation. Often people confuse these two concepts, but publicity isn’t synonymous with PR. They are different concepts.
Publicity is placing information in the media. And this isn’t always good news about the organization. The main difference between PR and publicity is that the latter is just a placement of information, while a PR specialist must develop a comprehensive strategy to create and maintain a positive image of the organization. Publicity is a part of a PR campaign, just a tool.
Why Brands Need Publicity
Frequent mentions in the media have a positive effect on brand recognition. Imagine that you are choosing a website for betting. You pick from 3 bookieswith about the offers. However the name of one bookmaker, which is 20Bet, you have often seen in the media. And with a 90% probability, you will choose it.
When a person hears a positive mention of a brand, the brand:
- Becomes familiar.
- Is remembered.
- Evokes trust.
Anything familiar subconsciously inspires more trust. However that’s why brands order advertising and try to “touch” the potential customer, to be remembered.
Publicity is one of many ways to promote a brand. Its advantages:
- Low cost. In most cases, brand mentions are free.
- Publicity is not advertising. You don’t order publicity from the media. The media themselves talk about you, acting as a third, disinterested party. It’s one thing when you recognition yourself, it’s another thing when a third party does it. Someone else’s opinion is more believable than self-promotion.
- Retention of fame. Have you noticed that about some actors, we learn only when the movie involves their participation, and about others, we hear, even when they do not act? It’s all about publicity. If you speak out a lot on popular topics, if you draw attention to yourself, people will talk about you, and your fame will not subside.
Publicity is a great tool to get information to the audience. However to attract attention, to promote your company or personal brand.