In marketing, the product and the potential markets are analyzed, a strategy is devised for the targeted markets and then implemented to sell the product. The function of public relations is to package the product in a favorable light and to present the product to the appropriate market to increase awareness of the product. The media takes press releases, press kits and promotional materials more seriously when submitted by a professional publicist.
Publicists provide and present information to the media in the accepted, correct format.
The fact that an artist has retained a publicist raises the artist's image in the eyes of the media. It is easier for the media to work with an unbiased professional publicist than to deal with an artist directly. An individual artist or group is a product, for sale as a concert act, a club gig, a live performance on television or in a motion picture. Advertising is one avenue to secure awareness. Publicity is the other, and much less costly, way.