You shouldn’t look at publicity as a replacement for direct response advertising and marketing.
You CAN use publicity for lead generation in a direct response fashion, and I do so all the time. However, sometimes you need to think of it as a low-cost, more-believable alternative to image advertising. As such it’s not necessarily your #1 priority.
But what others say about you is more believable than what you say about yourself. This makes up for the lack of control that you have over it. So don’t look at the next section as an alternative to doing the basics. Rather, think of it as a lowcost, high leverage component of your multi-faceted marketing system.
