What is publicity

Publicity is a non-personal stimulation of demand for a product, service or business unit by planting commercially significant news about it in a published medium or obtaining favorable presentation of it upon television, radio, Internet or stage that is not paid for by the sponsor.

Mass Media/Non Personal: Publicity reaches a very large number of people through mass media like Internet, News papers, TV, Radio, Magazines etc.  It is just like advertising but not as a commercial advertisement but as a regular news article or information.

Commercially Significant News: Commercially significant news has higher credibility.  It is one of the significant feature publicity has over advertisement. Media tent to communicate information free of cost about a product or company which is considered news worthy.  Since it is a news article, the believability is higher than the advertisement.  These news articles or information comes in the form of articles or announcement in the media. 

No sponsor:  These articles are the part of the news and has no sponsor.  The writer or the report is the origin of the news.  This is the another feature which differentiate between advertisement and publicity.  In advertisement the advertiser is the sponsor of the advertisement.

Free of Cost:  The other feature of publicity is that there is no cost involved in publicity to the organization.  In advertisement, the advertiser has to pay for the advertisement.  This is the another feature which separate advertisement from publicity.  The information in the publicity is not sponsored by the organization.  So they need not to pay for the publicity.

Purpose:  The purpose of publicity affect the organization in two ways as there are two kind of publicity.  Favorable publicity increase the credibility and result in building faith in the product or company.  Unfavorable publicity will result in creating doubt in the mind of people for the product or the company.  Favourable publicity increase the demand and unfavorable publicity decrease the demand.  Review of sports and cultural events sponsored by different organization increase the credibility of the organization.

Unfavorable publicity like the dangerous battery used in mobile phone will reduce the faith of the customer.  Defective parts used in the automobile will decrease the demand.

Publicity is an act of making a suggestion to a journalist that leads to a featured article or news story in the media like news paper, TV, Magazine, rado etc. The success of publicity depend on the input given by the organization about their company or product. It may inclusion of a new product in the list of products already publicized or a bran new news story. The reporter or the journalist make a story or article about the company or product and publish in the media. The quality of publicity depends on the quality and quantity of information the journalist or the report get. It will lead to increase the demand of the product and the credibility of the company.

What is Public Relations?

Public relation is broader field which covers publicity. It also involves the crisis communication, investor relations, special events, sponsorship and other activities designed to mold opinion. It is the act of maintaining the public image of the organization or high profile persons.

Definition of Public Relation formed by the first World Assembly of Public Relations Associations held in Mexico City in August 1978 is "the art and social science of analyzing trends, predicting their consequences, counseling organizational leaders, and implementing planned programs of action, which will serve both the organization and the public interest".