Executives ask this when money is on the line. You need to know which tactic moves buyers now, which one builds trust that lowers costs later and how to run both without wasting a dollar. The short version is simple. Ads buy reach. Promotions trigger action. PR earns credibility people believe.
The useful version is bigger. None of these tools should live alone they are integrated. At TrizCom PR we plan with The PESO Model©, developed by Gini Dietrich, so paid, earned, shared and owned work as one system. That helps you decide what to run, when to run it and how to measure each one without mixing signals.
This paper is your field guide. We start with plain definitions so your team speaks the same language. Then we break down where each tactic wins, how to set separate goals and what to track. You will see practical calls on direct mail, BOGO offers, loyalty programs and sponsorships. We close with a TrizCom PR case built on The PESO Model and a quick FAQ you can use in your next meeting.
What you will get from this guide:
Clear differences between ads, promotions and PR so you pick the right tool
Simple rules for when to use each one, alone or together
A monthly mix any small team can run
Metrics that prove value without overlap
A real example that shows how PESO turns a plan into results
If you want fewer debates and better outcomes, keep reading. This will help you choose the right move, spend with intent and show the board exactly what you got for the money.
Definitions And Basics
What is advertising?
Advertising is paid placement. You buy space or time and control the message, audience and frequency. Formats include, for example, search, social, display, print, radio, TV, streaming and sponsored content. The job is to put a clear offer or idea in front of the right people at the right time.
What is sales promotion?
Sales promotion is a short-term incentive that compresses action into a window. Examples include a limited time code, BOGO, bundle, gift with purchase, referral credit or contest. You can run a promotion inside any channel. The job is to move products fast, collect leads or tip fence sitters.
What is public relations in a PESO world?
Public relations is not a single tactic. In the PESO Model it is how the four media types work together.
Paid amplifies the best messages and fills reach gaps
Earned includes media relations plus analyst relations, reviews and third-party endorsements
Shared covers social channels, community engagement and partnerships
Owned is your content hub with articles, videos, guides, data and FAQs
Used together, PESO builds reputation, authority and measurable outcomes for the business.
What’s The Difference Between Sales Promotion, Public Relations And Advertising?
Control vs credibility: advertising gives full control; promotions add an incentive; PR trades control for credibility by earning space in trusted places
Time horizon: promotions are sprints; ads run as long as you fund them; PR compounds over time
Primary job: promotions push immediate action; ads build reach and demand; PR builds belief and access that lowers future costs
Cost model: ads cost media dollars; promotions cost margin; PR costs senior time, content and relationships
Is PR Two-Way Communication While Advertising Is One Way?
PR works best as a conversation. You listen, adjust, respond and earn the right to be heard. Media interviews, analyst briefings, employee forums and community work all bring feedback. Advertising is usually one way. You send a paid message and measure response. Both have a place. The difference is how feedback flows.
Does PR Always Mean “No Direct Sale,” Or Can It Drive Purchases Too?
PR can (and does) drive purchases when you connect the story to a path to buy. A credible article or expert feature lowers risk in a buyer’s mind. Add clear next steps on your site and you will see traffic, inquiries and sales. The bigger value of PR is its compounding effect. It shortens sales cycles, raises close rates and protects price because trust is higher.
What Counts As Ads, Promotions Or PR?
Is direct mail considered advertising or sales promotion?
It depends on the content. A postcard with a brand message and no offer is advertising sent by mail. A catalog with a code or coupon is a promotion using the mail channel. The channel does not define the tactic. The presence of an incentive does.
Is a BOGO offer a sales promotion or part of pricing strategy?
Both can be true. A one month BOGO to load trial is a promotion. A permanent BOGO structure is pricing and merchandising. If it is temporary with a hard end date, treat it as a promotion and track lift vs baseline. If it is always on, treat it as pricing and track mix and margin.
Is a customer loyalty program a sales promotion or CRM?
A loyalty program is CRM with promotional tools inside it. The system, data and lifecycle design are CRM. The points and perks are promotions. Measure it as a relationship engine first. Use promotions to shape behavior you want, such as repeat visits or trials of new items.
Does sponsoring a local charity or youth team count as PR?
Yes. Sponsorship is part of community relations inside PR. It can include paid components if you buy signage or naming and promotional elements if you add a code or event. Treat it as PR led with a clear community goal, then decide if you need paid or promotional layers to extend reach.
When I donate to a cause, how do I talk about it without it sounding like an ad?
Lead with the need, not your logo. Share the commitment in plain numbers. Put the nonprofit’s voice first with a quote. Show proof of delivery with photos or receipts. Invite others to help in ways that do not require a purchase. Keep the focus on impact and let others give you credit. (Read more here: Purpose Driven Brands)
Choosing The Right Mix
For a new product, when should I use advertising vs a sales promotion vs PR
Phase 1: Build the story with PR focusing on earned and owned media
Publish a clear problem-solution article, FAQs and a data point on your site
Brief a short list of reporters and analysts with proof and demos
Line up community or category partners who add trust
Phase 2: Add paid media to scale what works
Test two messages in search and social tied to one landing page
Use small budgets to see which proof points pull the best
Retarget people who engaged with earned and owned content
Phase 3: Pulse a promotion to spark trial
Time a code or bundle for the first two weeks after launch
Keep the window tight with a hard end date
Use unique codes by channel so you can see what pulled
Phase 4: Sustain with shared and earned media
Publish early user stories
Pitch bylines and podcasts that reach buyers
Keep issues responses and reviews active to protect momentum
How do I plan a simple monthly mix of ads, promotions and PR for a small business?
Use a four week rhythm that a small team can run.
Week 1: Earned push. Pitch one timely story or expert quote. Update the newsroom on your site
Week 2: Paid test. Run two creative variants to one audience. Keep the budget tight and learn
Week 3: Promotion pulse. Offer a short incentive tied to a real event, not a random discount
Week 4: Review. Check traffic, inquiries, footfall, calls and sentiment. Keep what worked. Drop what did not
If my market is niche with low traffic, should I prioritize trade PR or paid ads?
Start with trade PR plus pinpoint paid. A credible article in the right trade outlet reaches decision makers in one move. Pair that with account based ads and sponsored placements where your buyers already read. Skip broad awareness until you have proof that a wider net returns value.
Measurement And Goals
How do I set goals for PR vs advertising vs promotions that aren’t overlapping?
Give each tool a job with a metric native to that job.
PR: share of voice, message pull through, quality backlinks, qualified inbound, analyst or trade mentions, lift in branded search, organic traffic lift, referral traffic tracked with UTMs and AI search citations
Advertising: reach, frequency, CTR, cost per lead, cost per order, new file rate
Promotion: redemptions, incremental revenue, lift vs baseline, new buyers acquired, repeat rate after the offer ends
Judge each tool by what it is built to do. Then look at how the set performs together.
What’s the best way to measure a charity sponsorship’s impact?
Use three views.
Exposure: audience at the event, estimated impressions from signage, partner social reach
Engagement: QR scans, email or volunteer signups, traffic to a dedicated page, partner referrals
Reputation: sentiment in local media, message recall in a short survey, lift in branded search during the period
If you add a small promotion to the sponsorship, track a unique code so you can tie revenue to the activation. If it stays pure PR, focus on exposure, engagement and reputation.
How do I tell if a loyalty program is working vs just discounting away margin?
Watch four signals.
Earn vs burn: healthy programs have points earned and used in balance. If burn only spikes when you discount, you trained people to wait
Frequency: members should buy more often than non members
Average order value: if AOV drops after a perk, you may be discounting items people would buy anyway
Incremental margin: test vs control by cohort. If members do not produce more gross margin after perks, adjust the offer mix
Reward behaviors that matter: visits, full price trials of new items, referrals, reviews. Do not reward pure discount hunting.
What metrics prove PR value if I’m not running ads at the same time?
Track lifts you earn, not buy.
Month over month branded search
Referral traffic from earned articles and podcasts
Quality backlinks and the change in domain authority
Inbound speaking and partnership requests
Analyst and trade mentions tied to your messages
Win rate and cycle time if PR content is in the sales process
AI search presence: citations in LLM answers and referral traffic from AI assistants
Ask sales which objections shrink after coverage lands. If friction drops, PR is working.
Ethics And Expectations
When does a “PR” activity become advertising and need disclosure?
If money changes hands for coverage, it is paid. Sponsored content, paid influencer posts, native ads and advertorials need clear, near-the-message disclosure. If you provide a material benefit to a creator and expect coverage, they should disclose. Earned media that happens with no exchange does not require a paid label.
How do I talk about community donations in PR without looking performative?
Keep the spotlight on the cause and the community.
Name the need first
State your commitment with numbers
Let the nonprofit speak with a quote and link
Share proof of delivery, not staged scenes
Offer ways to join that do not require a purchase
Report back later with results, not self praise
Tone matters. Let others say thank you while you stay at work.
Budget And Execution
With a small budget, should I spend on local PR, run a BOGO or buy direct mail?
Match the tool to the problem.
Need fast cash flow: run a tight promotion to convert fence sitters. Protect margin with limits
Need to open doors: invest in local PR and community ties so future ads work cheaper
Need targeted reach in a radius: consider direct mail with a clear offer and a code, then retarget digital to households that respond
If you have zero ad history, start with a small digital test before a big mail drop. If you have zero story in market, run PR first so ads do not work alone.
What’s a starter checklist for running each: an ad, a sales promotion and a PR activity?
Ad checklist
One page plan with goal, audience, budget and timeline
One message, one call to action, one landing page
Two creative variants to test
Tracking in place: UTM, pixel or call tracking
Daily checks the first week, then twice a week
Follow up plan for leads you earn
Sales promotion checklist
Clear objective: trial, load-up, referral or win-back
Offer rules with caps and end date
Unique code or QR for tracking
Margin and inventory plan
Simple terms in plain language
Post promo plan to retain new buyers at full price
PR activity checklist using PESO
Core story with proof and a newsroom post ready to publish
Earned targets and angles mapped to outlets and stakeholders
Shared plan for social cutdowns and partner posts
Paid plan to boost the best performing owned or earned content
Spokespeople trained with key messages and FAQs
Measurement plan for share of voice, sentiment and inbound signals
How do I avoid mixing tactics in one message so people don’t get confused?
Pick one lead. If the goal is to tell a story, lead with PR and keep the offer in the background or on a different channel. If the goal is to move inventory this weekend, lead with the promotion and keep the story off the ad. Build a simple message map:
Lead idea: the first line and visual
Support: proof or detail
Action: the next step
Run that map across PESO and keep the order the same, then adjust weight by channel.
A TrizCom PR PESO Example: Total Eclipse DFW
A regional eclipse became a business and public safety moment. TrizCom PR created and led Total Eclipse DFW, a spinoff we owned and operated. We built the plan on the PESO Model from Spin Sucks and set three goals: make DFW the go-to viewing market, educate on ISO-compliant safety and win measurable search and traffic. The work earned PRSA Dallas’ Pegasus Award for Events and Observances.
Owned Media
We built TotalEclipseDFW.com as the hub. In just four months, it drew 60,300 users and 74,325 sessions, with 70.56 percent of traffic from organic search. The site ranked for 3,800 keywords against a goal of 500 and captured top clicks on “total eclipse dfw” and county pages that helped residents plan the day.
Earned Media
Media lifted credibility and fed search. We secured 374 placements against a 250 goal, many with backlinks. Coverage included The Dallas Morning News, CBS News, CW, Forbes and Univision. Referral traffic converted: DallasNews.com visitors produced $9,529 in sales and eclipse.aas.org added $1,000.
Shared Media
Social gave quick reach and useful signals. Facebook drove volume but light engagement, while LinkedIn and YouTube audiences stayed longer and interacted more. Real-time updates beat general content, which shaped what we posted in the final weeks.
Paid Media
We kept spend small and precise. With less than a thousand dollars, on Facebook, we generated 173,895 impressions and a 5.68 percent CTR. Email carried the heavier lift with high open rates and clear calls to action. The pairing built awareness and converted existing relationships.
Promotion
Free glasses from museums and retailers changed buyer behavior. We repositioned ours as premium collectibles, guaranteed ISO-compliant and offered early purchase incentives to lock orders before free distribution ramped up.
Measurement
We tracked traffic, search, referrals and sales by source. Google organic drove 29,523 users and $18,495.16 in sales. Timed coverage moved revenue: Feb 2 stories in The Dallas Morning News and eclipse.aas.org drove 94 sales and $3,345.35. Feb 6 coverage contributed 145 sales and $5,553.91.
What this shows
One plan. Separate jobs. Each PESO lane carried different weight at different times. Owned search kept the lights on, earned spiked momentum, shared tuned the message and paid scaled what worked. The mix produced authority, sales and community impact without wasting budget.
How Does PESO Change How You See PR vs Advertising vs Promotions?
The biggest shift is mental. Instead of choosing one tool in a vacuum, you decide how the four media types support the same goal. Advertising stops competing with PR. Promotions stop undercutting brand work. Owned content stops sitting idle. The plan becomes one system that moves buyers now and builds trust for later. That is what the PESO Model was built to do.
FAQ for leaders who want clarity fast
Is PR just media relations?
No. Media relations is one earned tactic. Public relations uses the full PESO Model across paid, earned, shared and owned. That means media outreach, expert content, social community, owned content and smart amplification work together. The goal is reputation, authority and outcomes tied to real business metrics, not headlines alone.
Can PR drive direct sales?
Yes. Credible coverage reduces risk for buyers and nudges action. Link every earned or owned piece to a clear next step. Use landing pages, CTAs and simple tracking. Let sales teams share articles and clips in follow-ups. Add light paid support to reach lookalike audiences and move qualified traffic.
Do I need ads if PR is strong?
Yes, if you want predictable reach and control. PR opens doors and lowers costs over time. Advertising lets you decide who sees your message, when and how often. The best plans pair both. Use PR to build trust. Use ads to scale what resonates and fill gaps in coverage.
Will promotions hurt my brand?
They can if you train buyers to wait for deals (Think Bed Bath & Beyond). Keep offers short, tied to real events, with clear rules and caps. Reward behaviors you want, like trial of new items or referrals. Measure lift versus baseline, not just redemptions. Protect price, then use promotions as precise tools.
Is direct mail advertising or promotion?
It depends on the content. A postcard that builds awareness with no incentive is advertising delivered by mail. A mailer with a coupon or deadline is a sales promotion. Track with unique codes or QR. Start small, test offers and creative, then scale the version that earns profitable response.
Does sponsorship count as PR?
Yes. Sponsorship lives in community relations. Start with a cause that fits your audience and values. Set goals for exposure, engagement and reputation. Let the nonprofit’s voice lead. Share clear numbers on support and impact. If you need extra reach or trial, add paid boosts or a short offer.
Put seniors on the work that matters
At TrizCom PR you work with senior professionals from pitch to results. We plan with the PESO Model so every dollar funds the right job. We build the team by market and specialty, keep one owner on your work and measure the outcomes your C-suite tracks.
If you want a plan your leadership can trust, email Jo@TrizCom.com or call 972 247 1369.
Author: Jo Trizila, founder and CEO of TrizCom PR. Three decades in earned media, issues management and brand storytelling for leaders who expect results.
