Fundamentally, Advertising and Public relations are two very different disciplines.
While Advertising is a paid form of communication, often less credible and costly, Public relations is the exact opposite. Public relations is the deliberate, planned, and sustained effort to establish and maintain a preferred point of view. Public Relations builds good will, & sustain a long term- relationship with our stakeholders.
From a marketer's perspective, advertising provides an immediate solution in ensuring that marketing messages penetrate quickly into the minds of consumers. Since it is often paid, Marketers can control product messsages, promotions or launches and ensure they sink fast into the market.
Public relations is used in a more subtle way, often in the form of product publicity, embedded in news reports and articles. You'll read traces of PR from news reporting, product reviews, commentaries, documentaries, dramas and the list goes on.
It has been said that Public relations is valued more highly by consumers as it is often non-biased and endorsed by a third party source. Advertising, on the other hand, is often seen as too contrived and in your face.
In the media world, the editorial and advertising team are two separate divisions often functioning independently. The editorial team will hold on to their editorial perogatives and will only report anything that is factual, news worthy and interesting. The Advertising people, on the other hand, are focused on meeting sales figures, targets, creative selling and perhaps finding ways to help their clients get more mentions in their editorial team's papers. I know for a fact these two divisions are constantly at odds over sales, paid advertorials, sponsored series, editorials, as they are fundamentally different.
In the same token, the fundamental differences of advertising and PR can be applied & found in the realm of Blogging.
My Question: I wonder if there are too many blog posts recently focusing on product launches, food tastings, product reviews, contests.
I question whether an over emphasis of 'advertising' content in blog posts could potentially dilute the equity of a blog or even the overall discipline of blogging?
I suspect this trend is a result of increased marketers' interests in engaging bloggers and the increasing number of contests, events targeted at the bloggers.
Bloggers lose focus as a result. Technically speaking, the rigour & spirit of blogging is about freedom of speech, expression and having a point of view to change perceptions in our society. The role of a blogger is important as bloggers are opinion leaders who are able to sway public opinion. Since they are often not bounded by media red tapes and structures, bloggers have the free play to write whatever they want. That is one reason why celebrity bloggers like Mr Brown and Xiaxue have up their rank in social influence as they believe their independent voice matter and they understand the need to strike balance between 'advertising' & 'editorial' content in their blogs.
Don't get me wrong, fellow blogger friends (if you are a blogger). As a PR person, bloggers are bread and butter, and extremely important in my area of work. I have had the opportunity to meet many interesting and colourful bloggers, & often they are ever ready to help me. What I am saying is, amidst the numerous media events & launches we attend and free products received, are we losing focus on the basic reason of blogging? Was it to share more about our lives? To propagate a cause? or to help make the world a better place?
While I think a certain amount of 'advertising' content is needed to fill the holes of blogs, I believe credible bloggers are those who have a stand, a point of view, and even strongly believing in progating certain causes that benefit the society.
I think at end of the day, it boils down to the basic reason for the establishment of the blog. If the blog is all about bringing advertising messages, or the latest in town, that itself, could be an interesting proposition.
While bloggers depend heavily on marketers and brand managers for invites, press releases, and products trials, let's not forget that your personal voice matter too.
And perhaps the way to go is to strike a good balance.
Be a power 'editorial' and 'advertising' Blogger today.
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