Two founders in Nairobi launched almost identical products in the same month.
The first spent most of her budget on billboards along Mombasa Road and radio spots during the morning drive. People saw the ads. Sales moved, then stalled as soon as the flight ended.
The second spent less on ads and more on telling a story: a feature in a business paper about why she quit her job to build the product, an interview on a morning TV show, and three respected voices in her industry talking about it on LinkedIn. Sales grew more slowly at first, then kept growing.
Neither approach is wrong. The question is what each one is good at.
What advertising does best
Advertising is paid attention. You control the message, the timing, the placement and the frequency. That makes it ideal when you need:
- Reach, fast: a product launch, a promotion or a deadline.
- Repetition: reminding people over and over until a brand becomes familiar.
- Precision: digital ads target by location, age, interests and behaviour.
The trade-off is trust. Audiences know an ad is an ad, and attention stops when spending stops.
What PR does best
Public relations is earned attention. A journalist, an influencer, a partner or a community leader chooses to talk about you. That makes PR ideal when you need:
- Credibility: third-party endorsement is more persuasive than self-promotion.
- Depth: a feature article or interview explains complex ideas an ad cannot.
- Longevity: good coverage keeps appearing in search results for years.
- Reputation protection: relationships built in good times help in a crisis.
The trade-off is control. You cannot dictate exactly what a journalist writes.
The Kenyan context
Kenya’s media landscape rewards both. Radio still reaches deep into every county, and vernacular stations carry enormous trust. TV news sets the national agenda. Digital, especially X, TikTok, Facebook and WhatsApp, now decides what people talk about by lunchtime. A message that appears in news coverage, on the radio and in a well-targeted digital ad is far more powerful than any single channel.
How to decide
Ask three questions:
- Do people already trust us? If not, start with PR. Ads from an unknown brand are easy to ignore.
- Is there a deadline? If you need results by a date, advertising guarantees visibility.
- Is the message complex? Policy, health, finance and development stories need explanation. PR and content do this better.
Most organisations need both, in sequence: PR builds credibility, advertising amplifies it, and PR keeps the conversation going after the ads stop.
A simple split that works
For many Kenyan campaigns we see the best results when earned and paid work are planned together from day one: the press release, the media interviews, the social content and the paid placements tell the same story in the same week. The ad that says “as featured on” is worth more than the ad alone.
How Reznick Communications can help
We are one of the few agencies in Kenya that runs public relations and media buying and planning side by side. That means one strategy, one message and one report showing what each shilling achieved.
Ready to put this into practice? Our team in Nairobi can help.
Frequently asked questions
Is PR cheaper than advertising in Kenya?
PR usually costs less than a large media buy, but it is not free: you pay for strategy, content and relationship building rather than placements. The value is credibility that ads cannot buy.
Can a small business in Kenya benefit from PR?
Yes. Founder stories, local media and trade publications are very accessible to small businesses, and the credibility they create makes every advert work harder.
Should NGOs advertise?
Sometimes. Behaviour-change and awareness campaigns often need paid radio, TV and digital to reach enough people, combined with PR to build trust.
