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I Can't Afford a Publicity/Public Relations Campaign -- Can I?
By Todd Brabender (c) 2007

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 the 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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Todd Brabender is the President of Spread The News Public
Relations, Inc.. His business specializes in generating media
exposure and publicity for innovative products, businesses,
experts and websites. (785) 842-8909 todd@spreadthenewspr.com
http://www.spreadthenewspr.com
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