Public relations (or PR) professionals act as the middle man between a company and the media and general public.
We prepare news announcements, write public-facing information (social media posts, company articles, blog posts, annual reports), schedule interviews with company spokespersons and media outlets and manage the overall communications flow from the company to the public. In a perfect world, all media encounters for a company are vetted through the PR team.
In the case of celebrities and athletes, we are called a publicist.
Advertising professionals are in charge of a company’s paid media placements. This includes commercials you might see on TV or online as well as print ads. They are also responsible for the creative behind the ad and can be widely influential in how a company is perceived.
A key difference between the two is that PR secures non-paid appearances in media outlets (interviews mostly), while advertising secures paid appearances (via ads). This means that companies do not pay media outlets to be interviewed for stories, but they do pay to run their ads.
Ideally, a company’s PR and advertising teams work together to support each other and communicate one message across all platforms.
