| It's a phrase I hear over and over again
from many entrepreneurs, small businesses owners and inventors: "I'd love to hire
someone to launch our publicity campaign professionally, but we can't afford it, so I'm
just going to have to do it on my own."
Over the past several months, I have been conducting an
informal survey among entrepreneurs and business owners who have contacted me about my
services. I have found that due to their lack of information or knowledge on the topic,
many businesses typically over-estimate or over-budget the cost of a prospective public
relations/publicity campaign. During my PR consultation with them, I asked: "How much
do you think it will cost to launch a solid, effective PR/publicity campaign for your
product/business?" Of the 102 people I've queried:
- 11% - Thought a professional PR campaign would cost $10,000+
per month
- 32% - Thought a professional PR campaign would cost
$5,000-$10,000 per month
- 39% - Thought a professional PR campaign would cost
$3,000-$5,000 per month
- 12% - Thought a professional PR campaign would cost
$1,000-$3,000 per month
- 6% - Thought a professional PR campaign would cost less than
$1,000 per month
The truth is -- you can get a publicity/PR campaign in all
of those price ranges. What you get for your money and how effective the campaign will be
is the real question. It is true that the more you pay the more you get. But getting the
most publicity/PR exposure doesn 't mean you have to get most expensive PR agency or
specialist.
A good rule of thumb is to align yourself with a PR
business that best reflects your business size.
Most times their rates will be in line with your
prospective PR budget. If you are a small business owner with two employees, you need not
hire a high-dollar PR agency with dozens of employees. Find a PR business whose office
size and capabilities closely resemble your business.
Case in point -- there is a large PR agency in a fancy
building downtown a few miles from my office. Frankly, we are not even competition to each
other - in fact we have even referred clients to each other. Why? They typically work with
large corporations and implement campaigns of around $10,000 per month. My business works
with small/medium-sized businesses. Mechanically, the downtown firm and my business do the
same thing when it comes to PR campaigns: professional media release composition;
extensive media market research; articulate personalized distribution to the media; months
of media relations (article placements/interview scheduling/media request fulfillment,
clipping/tracking of media placements, etc.).
Signing up with the big firm doesn't mean you'll
necessarily get an experienced associate working on your campaign. So are you getting what
you are paying for? A friend of mine who works at a major PR firm gave me the following
breakdown of billing fees in his office:
- Interns/Junior Executives - bill at $75 / hour (Very little,
if any professional experience)
- Account Executives - bill at $100 - $125 / hour (1-3 years
of professional experience)
- Senior Account Executives - bill at $125 - $200 / hour
(Multiple years of professional experience. Agency decision makers.)
Compare those prices to many small PR shops or individual
PR specialists. Many have started their own PR businesses after years of experience in the
industry and typically charge $50 - $100 per hour to professionally launch and maintain
your campaign. Many times, you can get a seasoned PR veteran who will work directly with
you and your staff for cheaper than the "Intern/Junior" executive rate at a
downtown firm.
However, one word of advice -- when choosing a smaller firm
or individual to do your PR, make sure they have the same tools that the bigger agencies
do: updated media lists/contacts; personalized media distribution capabilities;
professional clipping/tracking services to get copies of each of your media placements
(articles, tapes from TV/radio shows) as well as the intangibles of expert
communication/media relations skills and professional pitching prowess. If they are
cheaper, but don't have all the tools to help you in the best manner possible, you are
probably better off spending a little extra money to make sure your campaign is launched
and maintained correctly.
The major benefits of hiring a professional (individual PR
specialist or PR firm) to launch your campaign are:
- Proper Campaign Implementation - Improperly composed or
poorly pitched campaigns are the major downfall of many PR efforts. Poorly written,
over-commercialized media releases; uncalculated, misdirected mass e-mailing of the
release pitch; no follow-up media relations/media request fulfillment; etc. Your first
impression to the media is a lasting one - make sure it's a good one.
- Media Contacts - Most PR agencies have established multiple
media contacts over several years that can lead to much better and more numerous media
placements for your campaign. Let their foot in the door benefit you.
- Efficiency and Effectiveness - PR specialists/agencies
generate publicity full time, 8-12 hours per day and know the ins and outs, shortcuts and
secrets to getting the job done better and quicker. Sure you could hang your own drywall
or do your own plumbing, but do you have the tools, the time and the expertise to make it
cost effective? I always tell my clients, "You do what you do well, I'll do what I do
well and we'll collectively move this business further up the ladder."
One caveat when it comes to choosing a professional PR
agency or individual to work with - signing up for a higher priced campaign doesn't
necessarily mean you will get better results than a cheaper campaign. And the inverse is
true as well. Over the past year or so, many "low-cost PR/publicity services"
have begun to pop up all over the Internet. Ones that promise to write and launch a press
release for as low as $99. They are low in cost - because frankly many are low in quality.
Bigger is not necessarily better, and cheap does not always mean a good bargain.
If you have the time, tools and talent to launch and
maintain your own campaign, you should definitely do so. If not - there are a number of
public relations/publicity firms, specialists and services out there. Research to find the
one whose services and fees match your business plan. Once business owners, entrepreneurs,
and inventors learn more about their options when it comes to launching a PR campaign --
many find that they can't afford NOT to have one. |
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