I Can’t Afford a Publicity Campaign—Can I? PR professionals can create campaigns to meet all business budgets.
By Todd Brabender
It’s a phrase heard over and over again from many entrepreneurs, small business 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.”
Many businesses overestimate or overbudget the cost of a public relations campaign.
The truth is, you can have a professional develop a PR campaign that ranges in price from less than $1,000 a month to more than $10,000 a month. What you get for your money and how effective the campaign will be is the real question. Getting the most publicity and exposure doesn’t mean you have to hire the most expensive PR agency or specialist.
Finding the Right Agency A good guideline is to align with a PR business that best reflects your business size. Most of the time their rates will be in line with your budget. If you are a small business owner with two employees, you don’t need to hire a high-dollar PR agency with dozens of employees.
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’re paying for? Many small PR firms or individual PR specialists have started their own businesses after acquiring years of experience in the industry. So, you get the experience, but not usually the big agency price tag when you hire them to create and launch your campaign.
Professional Benefits You may be thinking, “The most affordable way to launch a PR campaign is to do it myself.” Most small business owners find out that’s not true in the long run. But often that realization comes after the owner has spent considerable time that could have been better spent elsewhere on the business or, even worse, after a failed campaign.
The major benefits of hiring a PR professional to launch your campaign are numerous: • Proper campaign implementation. Improperly composed or poorly pitched campaigns are the major downfall of many PR efforts. Poorly written media releases, misdirected mass e-mailing of the release pitch, no follow-up with the media and so on are the major culprits in a PR campaign gone awry. Your first impression with 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 generate publicity full time. They know the ins and outs, shortcuts and secrets to getting the job done better and more quickly. 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?
Necessary Tools When considering a smaller PR firm, make sure they have the same tools the bigger agencies use: updated media lists and contacts, personalized media distribution capabilities, professional clipping and tracking services so you can have copies of each of your media placements (e.g., articles, tapes from TV/radio shows, etc.). They must also possess the intangible tools: expert communication and media relation skills as well as professional pitching prowess.
Even if the firm you are considering is cheaper than others, if it doesn’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.
Todd Brabender is President of Spread The News Public Relations, Inc. His business specializes in generating media exposure and publicity for innovative products, businesses, Web sites and inventions. He can be contacted at (785) 842-8909 or by e-mail at .
