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• ans Serif">What is the role of advertising and public relations in the marketing mix?
• ans Serif">Does public relations help advertising (and vice versa)? Is it possible for the two disciplines to work together for your benefit?
• ans Serif">When can public relations add to the impact of advertising without adding substantially to your costs?
• ans Serif">In what situations does advertising become a waste of money?
• ans Serif">Should you consider more of one and less of the other for your business?

ans Serif">Many small business people (and some in larger corporates) think about marketing only in terms of advertising. Yet there are other elements which can make advertising more effective, or which in some situations can save that part of the budget entirely.

ans Serif">Recent research for AT&T in the United States has confirmed what most marketers always thought - not only do advertising and public relations each contribute separate benefits, the two disciplines can be even more effective if managed together. In periods of lighter advertising, public relations activity can compensate by supporting brand loyalty. In periods of heavy positive news coverage, less advertising may be needed.

ans Serif">On the negative side, the findings are equally provocative: Heavy advertising cannot compensate for bad news coverage. Not only is advertising in such circumstances a waste of money, it can make matters worse by focusing consumers' attention on the company.

ans Serif">The researchers concluded that advertising and public relations activity each has its own impact on consumers, and these impacts interact to influence perceptions, attitudes and behaviour. More than anything else, an organisation's news environment determines the impact of its advertising.

• ans Serif">In times of normal news coverage (mostly positive with some negative) advertising and public relations work together. Increasing advertising has a positive impact on attitudes.
• ans Serif">In times of widespread and extremely positive news coverage, the positive impact of increasing advertising is much less.
• ans Serif">In times of widespread of extremely negative news coverage, increasing advertising has no positive incremental impact and may even have a negative impact.

ans Serif">If you have a home-based business which is marketed solely by advertising, perhaps it's time to re-think your approach. You might like to consider:

• ans Serif">Why do advertising agencies, even large ones, rarely advertise?
• ans Serif">If they don't advertise, how do they get (and keep) their clients?
• ans Serif">When was the last time you made a significant purchase (either product or service)? Was your decision based at least partly on the reputation of the brand? If so, what were the factors which built your perception of the brand? How much did advertising have to do with it?
• ans Serif">What messages do you want to get across about your brand? How do your customers form their perceptions of you - and what can you do to manage that process?

ans Serif">For the full report on how PR affects advertising impact, click here and scroll to the Communications Professionals section.