Paid Advertising Will Strengthen Your PR Message

TL;DR:  PR builds credibility, but the message fades or gets lost without advertising. Advertising sustains momentum, ensures control, and turns awareness into action. Smart brands use both to maximize impact. 

On their own, PR and advertising can only achieve so much. Relying solely on earned media or paid placements limits the potential of your communications strategy. The best approach is to leverage both, shaping perception, maintaining control over messaging, and driving measurable results.

A PR campaign without advertising risks losing momentum and message control. An ad campaign without PR lacks credibility and organic audience engagement. When used together, PR and advertising amplify each other, ensuring a brand's story is heard and acted on.

Take Control of the Narrative Before Someone Else Does

PR thrives on third-party validation. When journalists, influencers, and industry experts talk about a brand, their endorsement carries weight. However, earned media has a significant drawback: brands do not control the final message.

Reporters choose the angle. Editors decide what stays and what gets cut. Influencers may highlight aspects of a product that are not the priority. Even the best PR placements can miss key points or, in the worst cases, frame a story in a way that does not align with a brand's goals.

Advertising plays a crucial role in maintaining message control. Unlike PR, where the final message is often out of your hands, paid media guarantees that your message reaches the right audience in the right way, without distortion. Digital ads, native content, and broadcast placements allow you to clarify, reinforce, and extend the impact of your PR efforts.

A well-structured paid campaign does more than promote a brand. It counterbalances incomplete or misleading narratives, ensuring the public receives the whole story.

Example: A sustainability-focused company receives PR coverage about its environmental initiatives, but the article also highlights criticism from activists who question its supply chain ethics. Instead of relying on a single press release to clarify, the company launches a targeted paid campaign, directing audiences to an in-depth case study on its transparency efforts.

Actionable Takeaway:

PR professionals should always plan for how media outlets may shape their message. Every major PR push should have a corresponding paid strategy ready to correct, clarify, or reinforce the narrative when needed. This proactive approach ensures that the message remains consistent and impactful.

Keep Your Message in Front of the Right Audience

A live segment on a local television morning show may bring a surge of attention, but how long does that impact last? Most articles trend for a day or two before being replaced by the next big story. A one-time hit does not translate to sustained visibility.

Paid advertising extends that window. It keeps key messages in front of audiences long after news coverage fades. More importantly, it ensures that the right people see and engage with the brand. (I'm not talking about pay-for-play media. I covered that in Adapting PR Strategies as Newsrooms Shrink and Sponsorships Rise. This is about legitimate advertising that complements PR.)

Advertising platforms allow precise targeting based on demographics, interests, and behaviors. PR generates broad awareness, but advertising ensures the message reaches decision-makers, potential customers, and key stakeholders.

Example: A B2B software company secures a glowing feature in TechCrunch, but most of its ideal clients do not read that publication. By running LinkedIn and Google Ads highlighting the feature and driving traffic to an owned content hub, the company ensures the right executives and procurement teams see the coverage.

Actionable Takeaway:

Do not let PR wins disappear after a single media cycle. Extend their lifespan by turning them into ad assets that reach high-value audiences for weeks or months.

Use Paid Media to Fix What PR Cannot.

PR teams often face situations where a brand's message does not land as intended. Sometimes, a key quote is buried deep in an article. Other times, media coverage does not include an essential call to action. Worse, a company's competitors may dominate the search results, drowning out earned media wins.

Advertising corrects these gaps. It ensures that the intended message is prominently included in the conversation.

Example: A nonprofit earns a news feature about its disaster relief efforts but notices that Google search results for its name primarily show outdated or unrelated content. The organization launches a paid search campaign that places ads directly to donation pages and emergency response updates, ensuring that users searching for them find the most relevant and urgent information.

Actionable Takeaway:

Monitor search and social media trends around PR coverage. Identify gaps where the brand's message is not fully landing and use paid campaigns to close those gaps.

Crisis Management Requires Both PR and Advertising

PR is essential for damage control when a brand faces a crisis. However, relying solely on earned media is risky. Journalists may not report the whole story; consumers may only see the most negative headlines.

Advertising gives brands a direct line to their audience without interference. Whether through paid search, display ads, or video messaging, advertising ensures that accurate information is widely seen and not just buried within news reports.

Example: A food brand faces a product recall—PR teams secure coverage in major outlets, clarifying that only a limited batch is affected. However, misinformation spreads on social media, leading to declining sales across all product lines. The brand responds with a paid campaign, targeting social media users with clear messaging about the scope of the recall and a link to an official FAQ.

Actionable Takeaway:

Brands should never rely on media coverage alone during a crisis. A crisis communications plan must include paid media to control the spread of accurate information.

If PR Creates Demand, Advertising Converts It

PR is excellent at building awareness and credibility but does not always translate directly into conversions. A media mention may spark interest, but without a follow-up mechanism, that interest may fade before it turns into action.

Advertising moves audiences from awareness to engagement. Paid campaigns can retarget people who have read about a brand, direct them to conversion-focused landing pages, or reinforce calls to action that PR stories may not include.

Example: A university receives widespread press coverage about its innovative new online program. Instead of relying solely on the news cycle, the marketing team runs a retargeting campaign, serving ads to users who visited the program page but did not enroll. The ads feature testimonials, enrollment deadlines, and scholarship opportunities, significantly increasing applications.

Actionable Takeaway:

Whenever PR generates a surge in brand interest, advertising should be used to capture and convert that attention into measurable business results.

The Future of PR is Integrated

PR, advertising, marketing, and social media are no longer separate functions. The most successful brands treat them as interconnected pieces of a broader communications strategy.

PR generates credibility; advertising ensures message control, and digital targeting places content in front of the right audience. When used together, these elements create an impactful and measurable communications strategy.

PR professionals must embrace paid media as a toolbox in today's competitive landscape. Brands that integrate these disciplines will secure media wins and turn those wins into lasting brand influence and tangible business results.