FACULTAD DE CIENCIAS EMPRESARIALES

SUBJECT:
ENGLISH
TEACHER NAME:
LIC. FLOR ELENA MOREIRA DE MINERO
STUDENTS NAMES:
CHICAS SANCHEZ IVETH BRENDALY
CARNET:
10-0662-2022
DATE:
NOVEMBER 17, 2023
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Understanding the Concept of Publicity in Public Relations : A Synoptic Review

Article in Kuwait Chapter of Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review · May 2018
DOI: 10.12816/0046066

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Arabian J Bus Manag Review (Kuwait Chapter) An Open Access Journal Vol.
DOI: 10.12816/0046066 7 (2), 2018

Arabian Journal of Business and

Management Review (Kuwait Chapter)
Research Article Homepage: www.arabianjbmr.com Arabian Group of Journals

UNDERSTANDING THE CONCEPT OF PUBLICITY IN PUBLIC

RELATIONS: A SYNOPTIC REVIEW

OBERIRI DESTINY APUKE

Department of Mass Communication, Taraba State University, PMB 1167 Jalingo, Nigeria.

Corresponding Email: [email protected]

Abstract

This paper explicates what publicity is, types of publicity, disadvantages and advantages of
publicity. The study demonstrates that publicity implies communication about a product or
organization by the placing of news about it in the media without paying for time and space
directly. Additionally, the study revealed online and offline publicity as the major type of publicity,
and that publicity helps businesses build credibility and brand awareness. However, the timing of
the publicity is not always completely under the control of the marketer. Unless the press thinks the
information has very high news value, the timing of the press release is entirely up to the media if
it gets released at all.

Keywords: Publicity, online and offline publicity, credibility, strategy

Introduction and background

What is publicity

A major element of public relations is publicity. It implies communication about a product or

organization by the placing of news about it in the media without paying for time and space
directly. Publicity in its simplest form is the means of conveying information to the general
public through the media. It is the movement of information to the general public from the media
(Mersham, Theunissen, & Peart, 2009). The information being publicized could be news,
awareness about a product and service, etc. It is the process of creating awareness of new
products and services. One important factor to consider in publicity is your target audience
(Aula, 2010).
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 Depending on the type of product or service being publicized, certain categories of people may be
the target audience. For example, if the product is for babies, nursing mothers, and pregnant
women will likely be the target audience. According to Ehrenberg, Barnard, Kennedy, and
Bloom (2002), the means of getting publicity are through print media (newspapers, journals,
magazines, etc.), television; radio; email; websites; and social media like Facebook, Twitter, and
blogs. Other means of publicity are public speech, seminars, and workshops. Other means of
publicity are staging events, building associations, and doing other things depending upon the
type of business the company is in, that the public would be genuinely interested in knowing
about. The means of publicity to adopt usually depends on the kind of information to be
publicized, financial resources and target audience (Toth, 2009).

Thus a public relations practitioner should understand his audience, identify the proper media
that suits them and then make appropriate use of that media. The better media chose the better
result obtained. Therefore, publicity has only one purpose to get certain information across to as
many people as possible within the shortest time frame (Aula, 2010). Ahluwalia, Burn rant, and
Unnava (2000) remarked that for a company to record any sale on their products or services,
their prospective customers have to be aware of those products and services, and they also have
to know the attached benefits. It should be noted that publicity is communication and
communication is a two-way transaction. Publicity is not complete without getting feedback
from the recipients of the required information. So, another part of publicity is providing means
or platform for sending feedback or any other form of response from those who got the message
being,disseminated.

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 Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review (Kuwait Chapter)

Publicity stories have to be interesting, timely and relevant (Monga & John, 2008). Boring stories that
have no merit will take you nowhere and could have a detrimental fact on your business by causing
people to lose interest and stop listening. Effective publicity goes beyond news releases, and while news
releases can help with search engine marketing, you'll need a bigger and more strategic public relations
program to get you the results that you desire. In conclusion, publicity is an inevitable part of public
relations. No matter how good your product or company is, without effective publicity, you will just
be “winking in the dark.

Different Types of Publicity

According to Aula, (2010), there are two major types of publicity in this digital age, which is
offline publicity and online publicity. Offline publicity is done without the internet. Offline
publicity includes print media (magazines, journals, newsletters, daily newspapers, postcards,
bills, fliers, banners); television; radio; and giant billboards, public speech, seminars, workshops,
staging events, and building associations. On the other hand, online publicity is the one done
through an internet-based platform. Some online publicity techniques are email marketing, web
page pop-ups, blogs, websites, Facebook publicity, Twitter publicity and referral links/ad
banners.

Advantages and Disadvantages of publicity

As recorded in Toth, (2009); Aula, (2010) and Mersham, et al. (2009) below are some of the
advantages of disadvantages of publicity.

Advantages of publicity

 Publicity helps businesses build credibility and brand awareness

 Publicity is the low-cost or no-cost option. In other words, it's a cost-effective strategy, but
only if you create newsworthy stories
 Publicity positions your business and the principals of that businesses as experts in your industry.
 Publicity helps your business to stand out and be noticed.
 Publicity can help in the development of partnerships and strategic alliances.
 Publicity builds your credibility and propels you into a competitive position.

Disadvantages of publicity

Two major problems arise from the use of publicity: timing and accuracy.
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 Arabian Journal of Business and Management Review (Kuwait Chapter)
 Timing: Timing of the publicity is not always completely under the control of the marketer.
Unless the press thinks the information has very high news value, the timing of the press
release is entirely up to the media—if it gets released at all. Thus, the information may be
released earlier than desired or too late to make an impact.
 Accuracy: A major way to get publicity is the press release. Unfortunately, the information
sometimes gets lost in translation—that is, it is not always reported the way the provider
wishes it to be. As a result, inaccurate information, omissions, or other errors may result.
Sometimes when you see a publicity piece that was written on the basis of a press release,
you wonder if the two are even on the same topic. Thus in publicity, there is a loss of control
of content, which is there is no way of ensuring that the viewpoint of the company is
reflected in the published article.
 Lack of control over how your releases will be used, and frustration over the low percentage
of releases that are taken up by the media.

References

Ahluwalia, R., Burnkrant, R. E., & Unnava, H. R. (2000). Consumer response to negative
publicity: The moderating role of commitment. Journal of marketing research, 37(2), 203-
214.
Aula, P. (2010). Social media, reputation risk and ambient publicity management. Strategy &
Leadership, 38(6), 43-49 Ehrenberg, A., Barnard, N., Kennedy, R., & Bloom, H. (2002). Brand
advertising as creative publicity. Journal of
Advertising Research, 42(4), 7-18.
Mersham, G. M., Theunissen, P., & Peart, J. (2009). Public relations and communication
management: An Aotearoa/New Zealand perspective. Pearson Education.

Monga, A. B., & John, D. R. (2008). When does negative brand publicity hurt? The moderating
influence of analytic versus holistic thinking. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 18(4), 320-332. Toth,
E. L. (Ed.). (2009). The future of excellence in public relations and communication management:
Challenges for the next generation. Routledge.

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translation or point of view of understanding of the student.

traducción o punto de vista de entendimiento del estudiante.
El archivo señala la importancia y que es la publicidad, ya sea al cliente que va dirigido siendo un
producto o servicio para ofrecer, dado que la publicidad es un elemento importante para las relaciones
públicas y el alcance que estas puedan generar.
Dependiendo asi del tipo de articulo o producto que se vaya a publicitar dependerá su alcance de las
diversas categorías a las que aspire alcanzar, los medios que este utiliza para mostrarse pueden ir
desde un simple afiche en el periódico a cada red social a la que el cliente tenga acceso. Siendo asi del
tipo de negocio o empresa.
Como profesional debemos comprender a nuestra audiencia, un ejemplo es que mi carrera usa
demasiado la publicidad, se evalúa un sinfín de cosas para llegar al cliente de manera certera y asi
generar un mayor renombre de la marca que se está publicitando.
En las cosas necesariamente importantes de la publicidad se puede destacar la comunicación el
dialogo que debe haber entre el que entrega y el que recibe dicho mensaje, escuchar a el cliente y
aceptar sus críticas, puesto que no importa que tan bueno sea el anuncio a nuestro punto de vista si el
cliente no está satisfecho no lograremos más que estar un paso más cerca de llevar a la empresa o
marca a la oscuridad del mercado.
Como toda herramienta vemos que siempre nos traen ventajas asi como también desventajas
mostrándonos asi que debemos aprender a tener un equilibrio en ellas, puesto que si no nos ubicamos
con el producto, anuncio o tiempo adecuado, la publicidad no tendrá mayor relevancia, pero
mostrándolo por el lado donde podemos sacar las ventajas vemos que con la publicidad podemos
generar conciencia o que la marca se dé a conocer como un rival adecuado en el mercado, puede ser
una herramienta de bajo costo, alto o sin costo dependiendo la estrategia que realicemos, logrando asi
los objetivos esperados o simplemente aprendiendo de los fracasos o errores en el proceso que
podamos obtener.