About advertising
The difference between advertising and publicity is the way the message is delivered, and the credibility of that delivery. When you advertise, it's you delivering your message. When you get publicity, your message is delivered by someone else. And that gives the message much more credibility.
For most of the mainstream media, advertising is their main source of income. So there's a lot of pressure on their sales people to sell sell sell.
The Publicity Heaven team strongly believe that advertising is still vital to most businesses today, as part of your overall marketing mix. In fact advertising and publicity are extremely complementary. Imagine someone reading a good news story about you in a local newspaper, then turning the page to see your advert. You can't beat marketing coming together like that.
The trick is to ensure that what the sales person tries to sell you, is right for you. Because they have targets to hit, there will be the temptation to sell you what's available, rather than what's right (i.e. what will help you towards your business goals). Make sure your media sales person is aware of your goals, and thinks long-term solutions.
The biggest downside with advertising is the lack of credibility. People just won't believe that your business is the best, just because your advert says so. They're more likely to believe it if a story written about you says you're the best. That's why a mix of the two works so well - get the credibility across in the editorial, then get your advert to drive enquiries.
There's a book written about this subject that is so powerful, it's one of the things that inspired the launch of Publicity Heaven. Check out The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR.
Incidentally, don't think that just because you're a big advertiser, you can influence the editorial. If you can, then frankly the media outlet in question will have little credibility with its audience.
The exception to this is advertorials. Common in newspapers, it's where a story about your business appears next to your advert. You pay extra for this, and the words Advertising Feature tell the audience that it's been paid for. In our book, these are not good value for money - steer clear, and put your money towards getting proper stories packed with credibility instead.