PR vs. Advertising for a Personal Brand: What’s the Difference?
A column on the key differences between PR and advertising for personal branding.
PR conveys status and expertise, prompting people to connect with you as a person—not merely to buy your product or service.
Sometimes people come to me asking for production, promotion, or media placements—and expect immediate sales and a stream of clients after a single article, press release, or video. I understand those expectations, but they often come from confusing two different tasks: advertising and PR.
I want to dig into this, because it’s fundamental for anyone building a personal brand.
What is advertising?
Advertising is a short sprint. The goal is to prompt someone to buy or take a specific action here and now. You launch it—and immediately expect results: messages, orders, leads.
Typical advertising assets:
PR is different. It’s a long game.
Its job is to make your personal brand visible and meaningful to your audience. It signals status and expertise and creates interest in you as a person—not just in your product or service.
What counts as PR:
I often see this: people start selling aggressively without first curating the “shop window”.
There’s no presentation, packaging, detail, or atmosphere—just a bare product or service. As a result, even a top‑tier product feels like “warehouse stock,” not something unique and desirable.
Think about the difference: buying an item in a showroom—with curated presentation, careful display, a personal touch, and a story—versus the same item in a warehouse, among boxes, with no spotlighting. Your willingness to pay and your desire to buy are worlds apart.
It’s the same with food: the ingredients can be identical, but it’s one thing to get a dish in a plastic container and quite another to experience refined plating, beautiful tableware, attention to detail, and ambiance. We’re always ready to pay more for emotion, style, and service.
PR pays off over time.
Professional, well‑structured PR and image work are the design of your “shop window.”
It’s like compound interest. You build reputation, share stories, and grow your authority—and you won’t always see immediate returns. But a month, six months, a year later, that very client, partner, employer, or audience may show up because they “saw your interview somewhere,” “remembered your column,” or “were referred to you as an expert.” Your image keeps working even when you’ve forgotten about that particular piece. PR creates value, associations, and the desire to “be around you” and “come specifically to you,” not just make a one‑off purchase.
Olga Zhuravleva
I want to dig into this, because it’s fundamental for anyone building a personal brand.
What is advertising?
Advertising is a short sprint. The goal is to prompt someone to buy or take a specific action here and now. You launch it—and immediately expect results: messages, orders, leads.
Typical advertising assets:
- Sales videos (a punchy explanation of benefits with a push to buy now).
- Banners and social creatives, targeted ads, posts with a purchase CTA.
- Product shoots for offers; landing pages where the primary button is “Buy.”
- Collaborations and influencer marketing with explicit promo CTAs (“Hurry,” “Order now,” “Get a discount”).
PR is different. It’s a long game.
Its job is to make your personal brand visible and meaningful to your audience. It signals status and expertise and creates interest in you as a person—not just in your product or service.
What counts as PR:
- Interviews in the media; publications in industry and mainstream outlets where you share your experience and perspective.
- Case studies, expert reviews, and articles without a direct offer.
- Long‑reads about your journey; the brand story told through people, emotions, and values.
- Documentary/image videos that express your philosophy and mission.
- Lifestyle shoots that reveal your personality and worldview.
- Event coverage, expert columns, and storytelling around milestones and achievements.
I often see this: people start selling aggressively without first curating the “shop window”.
There’s no presentation, packaging, detail, or atmosphere—just a bare product or service. As a result, even a top‑tier product feels like “warehouse stock,” not something unique and desirable.
Think about the difference: buying an item in a showroom—with curated presentation, careful display, a personal touch, and a story—versus the same item in a warehouse, among boxes, with no spotlighting. Your willingness to pay and your desire to buy are worlds apart.
It’s the same with food: the ingredients can be identical, but it’s one thing to get a dish in a plastic container and quite another to experience refined plating, beautiful tableware, attention to detail, and ambiance. We’re always ready to pay more for emotion, style, and service.
PR pays off over time.
Professional, well‑structured PR and image work are the design of your “shop window.”
It’s like compound interest. You build reputation, share stories, and grow your authority—and you won’t always see immediate returns. But a month, six months, a year later, that very client, partner, employer, or audience may show up because they “saw your interview somewhere,” “remembered your column,” or “were referred to you as an expert.” Your image keeps working even when you’ve forgotten about that particular piece. PR creates value, associations, and the desire to “be around you” and “come specifically to you,” not just make a one‑off purchase.
Olga Zhuravleva
Sometimes people come to me asking for production, promotion, or media placements—and expect immediate sales and a stream of clients after a single article, press release, or video. I understand those expectations, but they often come from confusing two different tasks: advertising and PR.
I want to dig into this, because it’s fundamental for anyone building a personal brand.
What is advertising?
Advertising is a short sprint. The goal is to prompt someone to buy or take a specific action here and now. You launch it—and immediately expect results: messages, orders, leads.
Typical advertising assets:
PR is different. It’s a long game.
Its job is to make your personal brand visible and meaningful to your audience. It signals status and expertise and creates interest in you as a person—not just in your product or service.
What counts as PR:
I often see this: people start selling aggressively without first curating the “shop window”.
There’s no presentation, packaging, detail, or atmosphere—just a bare product or service. As a result, even a top‑tier product feels like “warehouse stock,” not something unique and desirable.
Think about the difference: buying an item in a showroom—with curated presentation, careful display, a personal touch, and a story—versus the same item in a warehouse, among boxes, with no spotlighting. Your willingness to pay and your desire to buy are worlds apart.
It’s the same with food: the ingredients can be identical, but it’s one thing to get a dish in a plastic container and quite another to experience refined plating, beautiful tableware, attention to detail, and ambiance. We’re always ready to pay more for emotion, style, and service.
PR pays off over time.
Professional, well‑structured PR and image work are the design of your “shop window.”
It’s like compound interest. You build reputation, share stories, and grow your authority—and you won’t always see immediate returns. But a month, six months, a year later, that very client, partner, employer, or audience may show up because they “saw your interview somewhere,” “remembered your column,” or “were referred to you as an expert.” Your image keeps working even when you’ve forgotten about that particular piece. PR creates value, associations, and the desire to “be around you” and “come specifically to you,” not just make a one‑off purchase.
Olga Zhuravleva
I want to dig into this, because it’s fundamental for anyone building a personal brand.
What is advertising?
Advertising is a short sprint. The goal is to prompt someone to buy or take a specific action here and now. You launch it—and immediately expect results: messages, orders, leads.
Typical advertising assets:
- Sales videos (a punchy explanation of benefits with a push to buy now).
- Banners and social creatives, targeted ads, posts with a purchase CTA.
- Product shoots for offers; landing pages where the primary button is “Buy.”
- Collaborations and influencer marketing with explicit promo CTAs (“Hurry,” “Order now,” “Get a discount”).
PR is different. It’s a long game.
Its job is to make your personal brand visible and meaningful to your audience. It signals status and expertise and creates interest in you as a person—not just in your product or service.
What counts as PR:
- Interviews in the media; publications in industry and mainstream outlets where you share your experience and perspective.
- Case studies, expert reviews, and articles without a direct offer.
- Long‑reads about your journey; the brand story told through people, emotions, and values.
- Documentary/image videos that express your philosophy and mission.
- Lifestyle shoots that reveal your personality and worldview.
- Event coverage, expert columns, and storytelling around milestones and achievements.
I often see this: people start selling aggressively without first curating the “shop window”.
There’s no presentation, packaging, detail, or atmosphere—just a bare product or service. As a result, even a top‑tier product feels like “warehouse stock,” not something unique and desirable.
Think about the difference: buying an item in a showroom—with curated presentation, careful display, a personal touch, and a story—versus the same item in a warehouse, among boxes, with no spotlighting. Your willingness to pay and your desire to buy are worlds apart.
It’s the same with food: the ingredients can be identical, but it’s one thing to get a dish in a plastic container and quite another to experience refined plating, beautiful tableware, attention to detail, and ambiance. We’re always ready to pay more for emotion, style, and service.
PR pays off over time.
Professional, well‑structured PR and image work are the design of your “shop window.”
It’s like compound interest. You build reputation, share stories, and grow your authority—and you won’t always see immediate returns. But a month, six months, a year later, that very client, partner, employer, or audience may show up because they “saw your interview somewhere,” “remembered your column,” or “were referred to you as an expert.” Your image keeps working even when you’ve forgotten about that particular piece. PR creates value, associations, and the desire to “be around you” and “come specifically to you,” not just make a one‑off purchase.
Olga Zhuravleva
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