| The best, though somewhat misleading way to | | | | However, for smaller businesses, publicity is much |
| describe the difference between public relations and | | | | more useful than public relations because the small |
| publicity is that publicity is designed to keep you in the | | | | business is focused on getting exposure while keeping |
| news and public relations is designed to keep you out. | | | | costs down. Large multi-national corporations can |
| Celebrities often have a publicist whose job it is to | | | | afford huge amounts of advertising, but your business |
| keep them in the headlines; often for celebrities, any | | | | may be promoting itself by using a small advertising |
| publicity is good publicity. However, large corporations | | | | budget in certain trade journals, local papers and radio |
| often have much larger PR divisions as opposed to | | | | stations. Because of this, publicity can serve your |
| publicity divisions. AT&T and GE often spend | | | | business the best and keep costs low. By focusing on |
| much more money keeping themselves out of the | | | | getting new customers through publicity, you will be |
| news than purposefully getting themselves in. This is | | | | able to save money while improving your company's |
| because for large corporations with shareholders and | | | | reputation. |
| their fair share of lawsuits on their hands, publicity can | | | | So, to summarize, large businesses may want to stay |
| often mean trouble. They like to control the medium, | | | | out of the news in most cases, but your businesses |
| which is the purpose of advertising. | | | | may want all the publicity it can get! |