While advertising is a powerful tool for maintaining awareness, it is not the most efficient tool for creating or shifting attitudes. That is the job of public relations, or PR.

PR usually transmits messages through a respected third party. When a story, for example, is reported in a newspaper or on television, people tend to believe it because the medium carries the credibility and implied endorsement of the journalist, the editor and the publication.

A well executed PR program performs a vital function in the selling process - a function that advertising cannot easily carry out - providing information to gain understanding and acceptance. If PR has done its job well, when an interested consumer is subsequently exposed to a sales pitch his or her reaction will be more favourable to making the purchase.

PR addresses the various stakeholders who impact or are impacted by a product or company. Stakeholders could include customers, prospects, industry professionals and bodies - each having a role in the telling of the brands story.

There are a variety of PR tools to catalyse and shape perceptions and attitudes in the marketplace. The most commonly used is media relations, whose purpose is to generate favourable editorial coverage for a company or product in newspapers or magazines, on television or the radio, or on internet sites or blogs.

Such coverage benefits firstly from being visible and secondly by being perceived as unbiased, independent and therefore credible.

Thirdly, media coverage has additional value when recycled as web content, promotional sales collateral and direct marketing material.

PR relies on real news and information. PR is most successful when one tactic or tool supports another (integration) and where a consistent story or message is told across the various stakeholders.