The average marketing budget of a company ranges between 1 and 20% of revenue, including the costs of PR. Traditional PR agencies, however, can charge thousands to even €10,000 per month. Presscloud offers a cheaper alternative by teaching you everything about PR and providing the right tools to get started yourself. In this blog, we take a closer look at advertising and PR and explain how you can significantly reduce your marketing costs.
The difference between advertising and PR
First, let's outline the difference between advertising and PR. An advertisement is a publication intended to encourage the reader to take a specific action, such as buying a product or participating in a promotion. It often involves the promotion of commercial products and services. In advertisements, you can repeatedly claim how great your business is, which can sometimes make advertising seem untrustworthy (after all, how many "best sandwiches in Amsterdam" are there?). However, it does guarantee attention with relatively little effort from the entrepreneur.
PR, on the other hand, focuses on the long term, aimed at brand awareness and reputation. It provides free publicity: exposure in the media for which you, as a company, have not paid - so no paid advertisement or air time in a commercial break. It takes more effort and time to build valuable contacts. Moreover, there is no guarantee that your statements will be published. Both have their pros and cons, but how do these candidates relate to the costs involved?
As explained earlier, advertising is a well-known and relatively easy form of marketing. You can hire a large advertising or media agency to help you develop and distribute advertisements, or you can do it entirely yourself (think Google Ads). The advantage of advertising is that you are guaranteed publicity without the need to build relationships with journalists. However, although advertising can be effective for generating conversions and relevance, the costs are often high. And this blog is about saving costs!
Candidate 2: Public RelationsPublic Relations (PR) forms the core of many brands' marketing strategies and delivers great results. PR is about generating brand awareness through media attention. The goal of PR is mainly for the long term, focused on reputation and awareness rather than direct conversions.
To be effective in PR, it is important to build relationships with journalists. PR agencies can be this connecting factor. The really big PR agencies, such as Newslab, take care of everything. They can organize an event, approach relevant influencers, and actively call journalists. That said, the costs of this are unaffordable for many companies.
Okay, it may sound like preaching to the choir, but it's true: Presscloud offers the solution for entrepreneurs who want to promote their brand without too large a budget. At Presscloud, we teach you everything you need to know about PR using our knowledge base, blogs, podcasts, and other educational PR tips and tricks. In addition, Presscloud offers an extensive database of over 12,000 journalists, allowing you to instantly connect with the most relevant media. This way, you can credibly increase your brand awareness and save up to 90% on your marketing costs.
In short: with Presscloud, you don't have to spend a fortune on a PR agency. By using our tools and expertise, you can get started with PR yourself and take your brand to new heights. Check the pricing page for all the possibilities, or schedule a free demo if you want to know more first!