what is publicity?

 

Publicity refers to the act of promoting someone or something to a public audience through media channels, such as newspapers, magazines, TV, radio – and now, in the digital age – the Internet. Often the term ‘publicity’ is used interchangeably with the terms ‘media exposure’, ‘media coverage’, or ‘press coverage’. Basically, it’s all the same thing – pitching a story to a journalist or reporter, and having them cover the story – resulting in publicity. (Yes – carrying out ‘publicity’ results in ‘publicity’ …confusing I know).

Why publicity?

Why would you go to all the trouble of pitching news angles to journalists, and then worrying about whether or not you’re going to get coverage – when you could just pay for a guaranteed advertisement? There are a few reasons for this, and one very clear one - and that’s authenticity. To illustrate this, I’ll give a simple example – a newspaper. When you’re reading through, you might see a good review of a movie. On the opposite page, is an advertisement for the same movie, which describes it as ‘the must see, breathtaking movie of year’. Now which one, the advertisement, or the review, carries more weight? Which are you more likely to believe? Most would say – the review. Because generally, it’s independent – only the newspaper and the journalist have a say on what is written. Unlike the advertisement, the movie production company is not able to control the message. So it’s seen as more truthful and more authentic than advertising. Also, with advertising, a lot of us tend to filter it out – quite literally our brains process it as ‘junk mail’ – as mostly, people read newspapers for the ‘news’…not the ads. Hence why many publicists and public relations practitioners value media coverage at 3 x the value of equivalent advertising space.

A final reason is cost. Whilst you pay to advertise, you don’t pay for media coverage (well, except what you pay your publicist to get it for you – which is generally a lot less than you’d spend on advertising). And sometimes, you simply can’t pay to advertise where and how you want. Have a look at the media coverage section of this site for a few examples of recent coverage. You’ll see a couple of covers of newspapers/magazines in the mix – a space that often you can’t pay to advertise on.

In saying this, I definitely don’t subscribe to the view that all publicity is good publicity. I also think that advertising is an integral part of marketing – it just works better in some ways than others. You can pitch the media a story and it may not work entirely in your favour. They may mention your competitors, or try to get a more sensationalist story out of you, that doesn’t put you or your company in a favourable light. However, having a trained publicist on hand, managing your media relationships is a good way to stop this from happening. A good publicist will always make sure that they convey the right messages to the media for you.

 

A publicist is a professional person who carries out publicity (wow…really?), on behalf of their client – who could be an individual, or perhaps an organisation or a company who want to promote their product or event. It’s the job of a publicist to create media opportunities for their client, and to manage the relationship between the media (journalists) and their client. Some people can find dealing directly with the media quite confrontational and uncomfortable, quite possibly because a journalist can be the one person standing between you and the public perception of you. This is where having a publicist can come in quite handy, as they do the dirty work.  As a publicist myself, I spend a lot of time talking with journalists, pitching interesting stories to them, and sometimes (only very occasionally!) harassing them on behalf of my clients. But as I’ve been a publicist for some time, and know how to create a good news angle, I have lots of good relationships with journalists. This often results in good publicity for my clients; and good stories for the media.

Publicity is one element of Public Relations; but it’s a very important one, as it’s often how the public gains their first impression of you.