Publicity is way of providing newsworthy information about your company and its product to the general public.  It involves Writing a Press Release of newsworthy information about your company and its products and sending it to the media.  The media will often use the information if it considers the press release to contain genuine news and not information designed to sell your product.  The advantage of publicity over advertising is that publicity is free and usually reaches a larger and broader audience.

Public relations is closely related to publicity and focuses on managing the relationship between your company and its customers and the general public.  It focuses less on selling your products and more on promoting your company as a good neighbor and a valuable part of the community.

For more information on this topic, see the links listed below of articles posted on related Web sites.

Publicity Basics

• Publicizing the Event – University of Missouri Extension -- To publicize an event like a field day or a meeting, first consider who you want to attend.
  
• Getting Your Company Mentioned in Publications – Small Business Notes -- Ever wondered how a trade journal, newspaper or magazine reporter knew to call an individual they quoted in an article?
  
• Seven Steps to Getting Known - Guerrilla Public Relations – Small Business Notes -- Public relations is human relations and a critical aspect of growing your business.
  
• Public Service Announcements – Small Business Notes -- Public Service Announcements (PSAs) are short, "non-commercial" announcements prepared to provide information to the public.
  
• Turning Your Media Pitch into a Media Hit – Mplans.com -- Increase your coverage by increasing your pitches.
  
• Generating Publicity for Your Business – Mplans.com -- Knowing Your "Media Market" Is Critical.
  
• Implementing a Successful Publicity Campaign – Mplans.com -- PR Does Not Stand For Press Release!
  
• Priming Your Business for Publicity – Mplans.com -- The money you allocate toward "marketing supportives" makes a big difference in your public relations/publicity campaign's success.
  
• Publicity Campaings: How many Hours……How many Months? – Mplans.com -- Critical elements: the length of your publicity efforts and the number of hours it takes to get the job done effectively.
  
• PubliCity Outside Your City – Mplans.com -- Outsourcing For More Affordable Publicity Services.
  
• The Increasing Power of Publicity --  Mplans.com -- Before implementing an ad campaign make sure you explore potential PUBLICITY opportunities for cost-efficient media exposure.
  
• 4th Quarter 2003 Publicity = 1st Quarter 2004 Prosperity – Mplans.com -- Publicity seeds planted over the next few weeks/months will reap a wonderful harvest for your business well past the first quarter of next year.

Public Relations

• Public Relations – Small Business Notes -- Public Relations (often referred to as PR) includes activities intended to promote understanding of your company or product and to promote goodwill toward you, your company and its products.
• How Public Relations Differs from Advertising – Small Business Notes – Advertising and Public Relations are sometimes thought to be different names for the same thing.
  
• When Protestors Knock at Your Door – HBS Working Knowledge -- You may not enjoy being targeted by a non-governmental organization, but you better learn how to manage that relationship.
  
• Public Relations Ideas – CCH Business Owner’s Toolkit – Discusses some indirect but highly effective ways of keeping your business in the public eye.
  
• I Can't Afford a Publicity/Public Relations Campaign -- CAN I? – Bplans.com -- When it comes to launching a PR campaign — many find that they can't afford NOT to have one.
  
• Use Your News – Mplans.com -- If your PR campaign has been effective enough to generate news, turn that into NEWS YOU CAN USE!
  
• Using PR Agencies – Entrepreneur.com – Articles to help you work with public relations companies.
  
• Ask the PR Expert – Entrepreneur.com – Articles on various pubic relations topics.
  
• Articles on Public Relations – SaleVantage.com – A variety of articles relating to public relations.