Can You Buy PR?

Conventional wisdom has it that the best way to get positive editorial coverage in a given medium is to be an advertiser. Likewise, it is assumed that the absence of advertising dooms your press releases to eternal oblivion.

Can you buy PR with advertising? And do you need to advertise to get PR? The answer, I am happy to say, is a guarded "no" -- at least not in the way you might expect.

Let me explain. In most media, the advertising and editorial departments are separate. Editors make editorial decisions. Advertising salespeople sell space. In some publishing companies, the editorial and advertising departments report to someone called the publisher, who has overall profit-and-loss responsibility for the publication. In other companies, the publisher has no direct control over the editorial staff.

Naturally, the two departments consult frequently with each other. The editors pass along advertising leads to the sales staff, and the advertising department feeds information to the editors about their customers. But the final word on what goes into the editorial section belongs to the editor, and I can tell you that many editors are fiercely protective of their journalistic integrity.

Of course, editors aren't stupid. They know who pays the bills, and they are certainly aware of who their major advertisers are. If you are an advertiser, it may help you get their attention, and it probably improves your chances of their returning your calls. But that's as far as it goes.

Sure, we are all familiar with some publishing houses that overtly swap free editorial for ads. Their sales pitch is direct and unambiguous. Buy an ad, and we'll publish your article for free. Everybody knows the game, including the readers, who are not likely to take seriously anything they see in these "advertorial" publications.

My personal opinion is that advertorials are generally a waste of money. I would prefer to advertise in a publication that has credibility with its readers. Most readers are smart enough to know the difference between independent editorial content and advertorial sales messages. I believe publishers who indulge in the practice of selling editorial space do a disservice to their industry and in the final analysis to themselves. Sooner or later, this practice must inevitably lead to loss of credibility, and ironically diminishes the value of the medium as a vehicle for advertising.

There has been increasing pressure to sell advertising space in traditional print and broadcast media as the Internet and other non-traditional outlets have encroached on marketing budgets (which do not expand at the same rate as marketing opportunities). I also believe that the survivors in the publishing business will be those who build value in their brands, and real value lies not in short-term advertising revenues but in maintaining a strong relationship with their readers. And that relationship is built on trust.