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Paid ads stop working the moment you stop paying. Earned media compounds. Here's an honest breakdown of when each works, what each costs, and how to use them together.
It depends on your goal and your stage. If you need revenue in the next 30 days and you have a tested offer, paid advertising will outperform PR. If you're building a brand worth something in 3 years, PR builds compounding assets that paid advertising never can.
Third-party credibility, brand search volume, SEO backlinks from authoritative domains, and sales call close rates. A TechCrunch article still drives traffic and closes investors two years later. No paid ad does that.
Testing velocity and short-term revenue. The best thing about paid ads is the feedback loop: you can test 10 angles in a week and know which one works.
The winning playbook: use PR to build credibility and brand awareness, use paid to scale what's already converting. PR makes your paid ads work better by raising brand recognition and trust.
If you have $5,000/month and have to choose: before PMF, spend it on PR and content that builds lasting assets. After PMF with a converting offer, lean into paid.