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Should I Hire a PR Agency?

Before you launch your PR campaign, figure out the answer to this important question.

By Al Lautenslager

Q: I have a small catering business and I'd like to drum up some publicity, but I'm not sure how to go about it. Can I do the PR myself? Should I hire a PR agency?

A: The most important step is realizing that PR should be done in the first place. PR is a very important, but frequently overlooked, approach to marketing. For many entrepreneurs, there is no budget available for hiring an agency or outsourcing the PR, but there are several ways to achieve free or very cost-effective publicity.

The time it takes to plan and execute this PR vs. the time you could be spending on what you do best in your business has to be evaluated. You should also consider how effective the do-it-yourselfer can be vs. the professional with all the contacts, efficiencies, methods and tools to spread the word effectively. Will you be able to contact the necessary editors, distribute your press materials and get your articles placed between now and the time of your event, or will you need someone else to spend their time doing it, especially with tight deadlines right around the corner? Lets look at the various PR components that will work, whether done by an agency or done by you, the entrepreneur:

Press release
Press release distribution
Media interview
Editorial contribution
Guest columns
Letters to the editor
Feature articles
Article placement
Seminars
Workshops
Speaking engagements
Press conference
Market research
Media relations
Contact lists

If doing it yourself would mean there's a risk that your campaign will be improperly composed, poorly pitched, over-commercialized (editors do not like promotion; they like news) and misdirected with no follow-up, then you would be better off hiring a professional. Here are some key considerations that will help you determine who can best handle your PR campaign:

If you don't have the media contacts, hire someone who does. Most PR professionals have established contacts in the media that have been groomed and cultivated over several years, leading to a greater number of media placements in higher-profile places.
Writing is key. Can you provide the catchy headline that every editor is looking for? Can you provide the newsworthiness angle to your event, announcement or information? Yes to these may suggest a do-it-yourself campaign, provided things like time and efficiencies are available.
PR specialists/agencies generate publicity full time and know the ins and outs, shortcuts and secrets to getting the job done better and quicker. You could do your own auto mechanics, string your own telephone wire or rebuild your own computers, provided you had the right tools, the right amount of time, and of course the expertise to be efficient and cost-effective. If you could spend your time doing what you do best and get one more sale for your business, what is that worth to you vs. hiring a professional?

If you have the time, tools, talent and know-how to launch, maintain and follow up on your own campaign, then you should definitely do so. If not, there are plenty of public relations/publicity firms, specialists and services available. Only hire what you can afford. Remember to view this expenditure as an investment, and weigh that investment against what one more piece of business could be worth to you. Regardless of whether you do it yourself or hire someone, when it comes to launching a PR campaign, many businesses find they can't afford not to have one.

Alfred J. Lautenslager is an award-winning marketing and PR consultant, direct-mail promotion specialist, principle of marketing consulting firm Marketing Now, and president and owner of The Ink Well, a commercial printing and mailing company in Wheaton, Illinois. Visit his Web sites at http://www.market-for-profits.comand http://www.1-800-inkwell.com, or e-mail him at al@market-for-profits.com.

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How To Hire A Public Relations Firm

Robert Wynne,

Smart PR can deliver huge bang for your marketing buck--if you know what to look for.

Robert Wynne

How To Plan A Buzz-Building Corporate Event

Making The Media Your Mates

The value of good PR is easy to see: Positive news stories help companies retain clients and attract new ones. Delivering that value, though, and at the right price, is hard--and getting harder.

The media industry downturn has left fewer scribes to go around, which means there are millions of press releases chasing fewer megaphones. To be heard above the chatter, many companies will hire public relations agencies. This article--the first in a new series, called "A Different Lens" on smart PR strategy--will guide you through the process.

While a professional PR firm can deliver huge bang for your marketing buck, this business isn't rocket science. Truth be told, you could do a lot of it yourself--if you had the time and the connections, which you probably don't. That's not self-serving (I'm a PR pro), it's just plain fact. So for companies that aren't scraping to rub their very last two pennies together, hiring PR help, in some fashion, makes a lot of sense.

Why is PR so powerful? It's "earned media" in the form of an article rather than "paid media" in the form of an ad. An old friend who worked in the advertising department of the Los Angeles Times explained it to me this way: If a half-page ad in the Business section is worth $20,000, a story on the front page of the same size is worth roughly five times that much. Advertising salesmen will disagree with me on this figure (it's their job), but ask yourself: Do you buy Forbes for the punch and perspective of the articles, or for those dizzyingly dense pharmaceutical ads?

Now that you know you need PR, what kind of firm should you look for, what specific services should they offer, and how much should you pay for them?

Let's be clear: There are loads of sub-par PR firms. The trick is to find a gem among the crowd.

First, look for a nimble, hungry shop. Remember: The goal is to land positive and meaningful media placements. If your new PR partner spends three months getting to know you, deciphering your "value proposition" or colorizing your aura before sending a single pitch or press release, you've wasted money. Within the first month, a good firm should prove its grasp of your business and formulate a strategy in writing that details explicitly whom they will target and what message they will communicate.

The services should correlate to the amount of work that goes into them. This includes rooting out the most scintillating, defensible story angles (this requires some elbow grease) and matching those up with the most receptive outlets, be in the form of an event, a press release, pitch letters, informational interviews or all of the above.

The price varies based on the size of your company, the PR firm and the audience you intend to reach. For example, I once worked on a three-month assignment for a major defense contractor that wanted to get the word out about its new technology. These guys wanted the full treatment, the kind that costs $15,000 to $30,000 a month. Smaller firms can't afford that, of course, but they can get some decent help starting around $5,000 a month. (Crisis PR, which we'll discuss in coming weeks, costs a bit more.) Typical contracts run six months, with a review after three months that allows you to walk away if you aren't satisfied.

Interview at least three firms before pulling the trigger. Here are five factors to consider:

Culture. Is your company bureaucratic or entrepreneurial? Fast-paced or deliberate? You will be more comfortable with a firm that mirrors your own culture. I recently pitched a California university that wanted the second part of a four-part "branding platform" to be completed in strict order, including a series of focus groups, before any materials could be presented for PR purposes. By contrast, I work quickly to line up reporters and get the word out. Not a good fit.

Experience. Is it best to hire a specialty firm or a general-services firm? This may be your toughest decision. Specialty firms will understand your business faster and have contacts at the trades; however, they may also represent firms exactly like you, so their pitches, press releases and events may all look tired and stale.

Take, for example, PR agencies that only represent law firms. They are used to pitching the local law journal, the law firm trades and the legal reporters and the local paper--just like every other law firm. The audience for those stories? Lawyers! So the agency is essentially marketing is clients to their competitors. Better to pitch lawyers to reporters covering a particular industry, so an entertainment attorney, say, should appear in Variety or The Hollywood Reporter. (A not-so-secret PR truth is that trade magazines are the easiest pitches because they desperately need information on a particular industry.)

Samples. Review the agency's work. Did it get a few quotes at the bottom of the story for the Springfield Shopper that no one saw? Or did it get clients on the Today Show for a five-minute interview that tripled sales on a new product?

References. A good firm should give you at least two clients who can vouch for it. Ask these references what specifically the firm did for them, how long it took them to gain traction with the media, and whether or not the press helped increase business. (Remember, that's the point of all this.)

Contact. In larger PR firms, the senior, experienced person you initially meet may not be the one working on your account. After you’ve signed the deal, a first-year associate--and even an intern--may be writing your pitch letters and calling the press. Make sure you know who's working for you on a day-to-day basis.

Even if you hire a competent firm, you can't just wind them up and let them go. Plan to hold weekly calls to get progress updates. If your agency sends you a long spreadsheet with incomplete action items along the lines of "Left e-mail to Reporter X; faxed press release; left voice message," you probably aren't getting your money's worth. Which leads me to the final quality you should look for in a PR shop: unrelenting persistence.

Robert Wynne is a public relations professional based in Manhattan Beach, Calif. and a former journalist Newsweek and the Los Angeles Times. He has consulted for large firms, start-ups and leading universities. His firm's Web site is www.wynnepr.com. He can be reached at rob@wynnepr.com.

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Recession-proof your business with PR

By David Culver

Many American businesses have already weighed in on whether or not we're in a recession through their actions—one of the surest signs of such a decline is corporate America's recent mass retreat from the marketing and communications strategies that fueled growth during healthier economic times. But contrary to these marketing cutbacks, there is plenty of evidence that says continuing to engage in marketing during an economic downturn can sustain business and provide a competitive advantage.

A number of studies that analyze past recessions have consistently shown that sales and profits have dropped off at companies that reduce their marketing efforts. During these downturns, advertising was the marketing communications strategy of choice. But today, another strategy has now triumphed as the most effective—and most efficient—tool to weather the storm: public relations (PR).

Here are six reasons why PR is the ideal marketing communications strategy, especially during a recessionary period.

1. PR-based communications are credible, which is key in a recession. During a slowdown in economic activity, the critical nature of many purchase, investment and business decisions is magnified. So, customers and potential business partners look for credible communications on which they can rely. Consumers increasingly do not trust marketing messages and are using technology—such as Tivo—to tune out messages they deem irrelevant. Instead, they rely on advice from friends and other contacts in their various communications "circles" or communities to make product decisions.

2. PR programs can incorporate a myriad of effective communications techniques, providing important flexibility during a downturn. Different key audiences—such as customers, prospects, employees, suppliers, investors, the local community and regulators—have unique information needs that require different communications strategies. Likewise, a company's array of business challenges can best be addressed by selecting from a variety of communications techniques. Utilizing public relations, important corporate messages can be communicated through numerous means: face-to-face meetings; news releases; media interviews and commentaries, letters to stakeholders; facility tours and other special events; newsletters; video or audio recorded messages; Webinars; podcasts; and blogs.

3. PR enables companies to do more with less. Many marketers initially turn to PR because it is less costly than advertising. But public relations messages also are credible, flexible and target-able. Public relations not only drives strong branding messages, but advantageously positions a company and its product or service in the market, providing the information prospects need in order to make a purchase decision.

4. PR professionals become more valuable to journalists during a recession. Over the past few years, the editorial staffs of hundreds of publications have been reduced. As a result, many editors are more open than ever to intelligent, targeted story pitches from public relations professionals. And during a recession, many publications' editorial focuses change. Wanting to provide valuable information to readers on how to survive tough economic times, they frequently focus on case studies that demonstrate ROI—for example, "How company X succeeded, and how you can too." More than ever, editors need substance, not fluff. A recession simply offers PR practitioners more opportunities to provide good content.

5. Personal connections and interactivity beat one-way communications when business activity slows. Digital communications and new media have opened up new distribution channels for PR. And in a recession, when consideration trumps awareness, the effectiveness and value of these channels grows. MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, blogs, discussion groups, e-newsletters, word-of-mouth and online surveys help keep a conversation going and encourage consideration—and purchase decisions.

6. PR is measurable—a must during a recession. While many marketers have long considered public relations to be unmeasurable, it is every bit as measurable as other marketing communications disciplines. In fact, a number of evaluative strategies can be used to measure the effects of a public relations program. "Outputs" has been a traditional measure of PR effectiveness and includes press coverage in the form of "clips," advertising equivalency, key message exposure, etc. But more and more, marketers are looking to measure outcomes—such as changes in perceptions, attitudes or behavior with common metrics including changes in sales, an increase in market share, attendance at an event and "opens" or "click throughs" on a company e-newsletter.

Increasingly, marketers are discovering the value of public relations as an integral part of their day-to-day marketing activities. But, as a strategy to reach key audiences during a recession, public relations may hold the key to an organization's ability to withstand the financial and competitive challenges of a down economy, enabling it to emerge intact—perhaps even healthier—when brighter economic times return.

David Culver (dculver@btcmarketing.com) is vice president of public relations at Boyd Tamney Cross, a full-service marketing and communications company in suburban Philadelphia. Culver has provided "leadership communications" strategies for marketers in business-to-business, financial services, hospitality and other business segments for more than 25 years. The company offers national and international marketers traditional fee-based as well as "pay-for-performance" programs.

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Public Relations Consultant

The biggest job responsibility of a public relations consultant is to make her clients as well known and positively viewed in the community as possible. This means meeting with clients, finding out how they want to be perceived by the target audience and then designing campaigns and media events to ensure that it happens.

PBS Communications, Inc. public relations consultant has a good understanding of marketing techniques and strategies, as well as being in touch with the community. Our company has contacts within the community that provide feedback and information on clients current perception and what options the company may have for moving in the right direction.

PBS Communications, Inc. meets with clients, managers or board and develop written and oral presentation as to the best possible routes to increase public awareness and perception for the company.

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