The basic difference between advertising and PR is that the former is paid for and the latter comes free. This might entice you to believe that since advertising is paid for it may be a more effective way of sending your message across but that is not entirely true.

Advertising as a process begins with the client creating a objective brief and then holding a pitch where all the interested advertising and media agencies come and present their work on how they can add value to the campaign. Once the entire process of short listing the best suited agency is done the brief as handed over to the agency and the work begins. The advertising agencies work in two directions one is the creative side that develops the AD copy for the campaign while the planning side allocates budgets and works out the best rates for each media while maximizing the reach and frequency of the ad.

The basic media used in advertising campaigns are television, print, newspapers, radio and outdoor. Each one has its own unique qualities and can be used to reach out to a different set of audiences. The Budgets for each one has to be allocated carefully and needs expert guidance to get optimized results.

The main disadvantage of advertising is that people don’t tend to believe you easily since they feel that you are promoting your own product. More over the excessive amount of clutter in media options available leaves little scope for your product to stand out and be observed.

PR on the other hand is absolutely free. It is basically a third party endorsement of your product and hence has the ability to create more impact. However it comes with its own set of challenges since you cannot control it and sometimes may even work against you.