Discussion: advertising, sales promotion and PR compared
After watching the video on advertising, sales promotion and public relations, discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each form of communication and explain why marketers would choose each within a consumer products promotion, with specific examples.
Editorial process
Last reviewed · August 14, 2026
Control, credibility and cost pull in different directions
The three elements differ along one axis that organises the whole post: the more control a marketer has over a message, the less the audience trusts it. Advertising is paid and fully controlled — you decide the words, the images, the placement and the timing — which makes it excellent for building awareness and reinforcing a brand at scale, and weak on credibility, expensive per conversion, easy to skip and hard to attribute. Public relations sits at the opposite end: earned coverage carries third-party credibility that no advertisement can buy, reaches audiences who avoid advertising, and costs comparatively little — but you cannot control what the journalist writes, when it runs, or whether the story turns. Sales promotion sits apart from both: coupons, samples, bundles and limited-time offers are short-term incentives that reliably move volume and are measurable to the cent, while training customers to wait for discounts and eroding both margin and perceived value.
Then answer the second half — why a marketer would choose each within a consumer products promotion — by mapping the tools onto the buying decision rather than listing them again. Advertising does the top of the funnel, creating awareness and preference before anyone is in the aisle. Public relations does credibility and it does the launch, since a new product needs someone other than its manufacturer to say it works. Sales promotion does conversion and timing: it closes the gap between preference and purchase, clears inventory, defends shelf space against a competitor's promotion, and buys trial for a product people have heard of but never bought. Illustrate each with a specific, current example — a named campaign, a named brand, a real coupon or sampling programme — because the prompt asks for illustration and generic examples are what separate a passing post from a good one. Note too that the three work best together rather than in competition.
Likely learning objectives
Inferred from the brief — check these against your own rubric.
- 01Compare promotional elements on control, credibility, cost and measurability.
- 02Match each element to a stage of the consumer buying decision.
- 03Illustrate abstract trade-offs with specific campaigns.
- 04Explain why the elements are combined rather than chosen between.
Read the full question
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Course-wide instructions that accompany this question
You must proofread your paper. But do not strictly rely on your computer’s spell-checker and grammar-checker; failure to do so indicates a lack of effort on your part and you can expect your grade to suffer accordingly. Papers with numerous misspelled words and grammatical mistakes will be penalized. Read over your paper – in silence and then aloud – before handing it in and make corrections as necessary. Often it is advantageous to have a friend proofread your paper for obvious errors. Handwritten corrections are preferable to uncorrected mistakes. Strengths and weaknesses of each form of communication. Use a standard 10 to 12 point (10 to 12 characters per inch) typeface. Smaller or compressed type and papers with small margins or single-spacing are hard to read. It is better to let your essay run over the recommended number of pages than to try to compress it into fewer pages. 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We may be able to work out an extension based on extenuating circumstances. If you do not communicate with me before submitting an assignment late, the GCU late policy will be in effect. I do not accept assignments that are two or more weeks late unless we have worked out an extension. As per policy, no assignments are accepted after the last day of class. Any assignment submitted after midnight on the last day of class will not be accepted for grading. Communication Communication is so very important. There are multiple ways to communicate with me: Questions to Instructor Forum: This is a great place to ask course content or assignment questions. If you have a question, there is a good chance one of your peers does as well. This is a public forum for the class. Individual Forum: This is a private forum to ask me questions or send me messages. This will be checked at least once every 24 hours. Strengths and weaknesses of each form of communication.
Turn the brief into deliverables
- 01The strengths of each form of communication.
- 02The weaknesses of each form.
- 03Why marketers would choose each within a consumer products promotion.
- 04Specific examples illustrating each element.
- 05How the elements work together in one campaign.
- 06One reference and one in-text citation, as the brief requires.
Each element, its trade-off, and a real example
The organising trade-off
Control against credibility, with cost and measurability alongside.
Advertising
Reach, control and brand building against cost, scepticism and attribution.
Public relations
Third-party credibility and low cost against loss of control and timing.
Sales promotion
Immediate measurable volume against margin erosion and trained discount-seeking.
Mapping to the buying decision
Awareness, credibility and conversion as three different jobs.
Using them together
One consumer products campaign that combines all three.
Where promotional practice is regulated and defined
Recommended databases
- Federal Trade Commission business guidance
- EBSCO Research Starters
- Business Source Complete
- Trade press
Search sequence
- 1.Watch the assigned video and note the definitions it uses.
- 2.Read the FTC guidance on what advertising claims must substantiate.
- 3.Read a research starter on public relations for the earned-media argument.
- 4.Find one current consumer campaign that used all three elements.
- 5.Fix your examples before writing the trade-offs.
Reference shortlist
These are authoritative starting points, not a ready-made bibliography. A qualified reviewer must confirm that each source fits the assignment and supports the claim beside which it is cited.
Nothing here is cleared for citation until you have read it.
- 01
Advertising and Marketing
Federal Trade Commission · 2024
What paid advertising claims must substantiate, which is part of its cost.
- 02
FTC's Endorsement Guides: What People Are Asking
Federal Trade Commission · 2023
Where earned credibility stops being earned, which bounds the PR argument.
- 03
Public Relations | Business and Management | Research Starters | EBSCO Research
EBSCO · 2024
The third-party credibility mechanism and PR's limits.
- 04
Principles of Management
OpenStax, Rice University · 2019
The planning frame in which a promotional mix is chosen and budgeted.
Review before submission
Common mistakes
- Defining the three elements and never comparing them.
- Treating public relations as advertising that happens to be free.
- Ignoring the margin cost and expectation effects of sales promotion.
- Using invented or decades-old examples.
- Answering only the strengths and skipping the weaknesses.
- Omitting the integration point, which is where the choice question resolves.
Submission checklist
- All three elements are covered with strengths and weaknesses.
- The control-versus-credibility trade-off is stated explicitly.
- Each element is tied to a stage of the buying decision.
- Every claim is illustrated with a named, specific example.
- Integration across the three is addressed.
- At least one reference and one in-text citation are included.
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Written by
Aaron Bishop
MA, Education
assignment interpretation and research-methods coaching across disciplines
Aaron leads the EssayCrackers editorial desk. He works on how assignment briefs are read — what a rubric is actually asking for, and where students most often answer a different question than the one set.
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Dr. Nathan Cole
PhD, Rhetoric & Composition
Argumentation and thesis development
Nathan teaches first-year composition and directs a university writing center. He reviews EssayCrackers guides for argumentative soundness and citation accuracy.