PR vs. Advertising: Key Differences, Ivy Lee’s Edicts & PR Models

Posted on Apr 1, 2025 in Business Administration and Management (BAM)

What are four key differences between Public Relations (PR) and Advertising?

  • Media: Advertising relies on mass media, while public relations utilizes owned media.
  • Audience: Advertising primarily addresses external audiences, whereas public relations targets both external and internal audiences.
  • Scope: Advertising is a specialized communications function; public relations is broader in scope.
  • Objective: Advertising sells an organization’s goods/services, while public relations creates a positive environment around the organization.

Ivy Lee’s Contributions

Four ‘firsts’ attributed to Ivy Lee:

  • Openness: Parker and Lee in 1905.
  • Declaration of Principles.
  • Created crisis communication plans and issued the first press release.
  • One of the first clients: Penn.

Ivy Lee’s Four Edicts:

  • Business should align with the public interest.
  • PR is a management function and needs support.
  • Open communication with the press.
  • Humanize PR and address all publics at the community level.

Four Classic Models of PR:

  • Press Agentry/Publicity: One-way communication.
  • Public Information: Government, non-profit organizations.
  • Two-Way Asymmetric: Scientific approach with feedback loop, used in marketing and advertising.
  • Two-Way Symmetric: Balanced effects, continual feedback, relationship building.

Using Research in PR:

Research helps to:

  • Achieve credibility with management.
  • Define audiences and segment publics.
  • Formulate strategy.
  • Test messages.
  • Help management keep in touch.
  • Prevent crises.
  • Monitor competition.
  • Influence public opinion.
  • Generate publicity.
  • Measure success.

Research Matrix:

  • Primary: Data collected by the professional.
  • Secondary: Data previously collected by others.

Qualitative vs. Quantitative Research:

  • Primary Qualitative (Non-numerical; seeks insights): Professional conducts interviews or focus groups.
  • Secondary Qualitative: Professional carefully reads news coverage or transcripts.
  • Primary Quantitative (Numeric-based with larger samples): Professional conducts a large national survey.
  • Secondary Quantitative: Professional analyzes statistical data from a general social survey.

Characteristics of Public Opinion:

  • Elusive and difficult to measure.
  • The collective expression of opinion of many individuals bound into a group.
  • Formed by people who have a vested or self-interest in an issue.
  • Opinion is determined by self-interest.
  • Opinion arousal is only sustained unless self-interest is acutely involved or event-driven.
  • Once self-interest is involved, opinion is rarely changed.

Characteristics of an Influential Person:

  • Being active in the community.
  • Having a college degree.
  • Earning a relatively high income.
  • Regularly reading newspapers and magazines.
  • Actively participating in recreational activities.
  • Showing environmental concern by recycling.

Context and Structuring for Messages:

  • Drama
  • Statistics
  • Surveys and polls
  • Examples
  • Testimonials
  • Endorsements
  • Emotional appeals

Qualitative Data:

  • Soft data.
  • Usually uses open-ended questions.
  • Exploratory in nature.
  • Usually valid but not reliable.
  • Rarely projectable to larger audiences.
  • Generally uses nonrandom samples.

Examples: Focus groups, one-on-one in-depth interviews, observational participation, role-playing studies, convenience polling.

Quantitative Data:

  • Hard data.
  • Usually uses close-ended questions.
  • Descriptive or explanatory types of research.
  • Usually valid and reliable.
  • Usually projectable to larger audiences.
  • Generally uses random samples.

Examples: Telephone polls, mailed surveys, mall intercept studies, face-to-face interviews, shared cost or omnibus studies, panel studies.