How much is reasonable to pay PR agency?

[trixie]

I have just launched a new fashion ecommerce business and have discussed with a PR agent how they can help me to get into magazines (editorials). I undertstand that there is a lot of 'keeping in touch' calling and meeting to be done with the magazine editors. For this work the PR agent indicates that this will cost £2000 per month. This is a lot of money for a start-up but I am not sure what is a realistic price to pay. I was considering to pay around £500/month. Has anybody got experience in this. I would be grateful for any tips.

Thank you all so much!

Trixie

 

[BelindaM]

It's all entirely dependent upon the size of your campaign, how many different target sectors and titles you want to hit and the amount of upfront work that will go into creating your press pack, strategy and so on, including awareness raising work. there's certainly a job of work to be done up front, but you may well have been quoted for a little more than is realistic for the size of your business and what you can also realistically achieve over that period of time.

Have you gone to an agency or freelancer? I work freelance as well as in agencies, and the cost different is significant (my direct client work is about three times cheaper than if I charged through the agency I work for, but you get exactly the same service, use of the same resources and contacts, and of course the same expertise.

Please do PM me if I can help with some additional advice based more precisely on your PR and business objectives, or give you an equivalent quote. FYI, £500 per month can get you a significant amount of freelance time which, without looking at your strategy plan, is likely to get the resource and results you're looking for.

 

[Be Known PR]

How long is a piece of string?

Sorry to be difficult Trixie, but there really is no simple answer to that question. Much depends on who you are working with, but to get the cheapest deals it is better to go with a freelancer than an agency because they can afford to charge less as they have less overheads. For example, I used to work for an award winning agency where we would turn our noses up at anything less than £3000 a month and had some clients paying £10-15,000 a month. The average fee was around £5,000.

It also all depends what your expectation and needs are. Most agencies will work out their fees on an hourly basis so they will look at the time they think they will need to dedicate to you in order to achieve their targets. It is fairly standard to work on the basis of around £90 an hour for junior staff and up to £200 for their directors.

There are a number of (from what I can tell) good freelance PRs on this forum who I am sure will be happy to offer you a service for £500 per month and will no doubt be along to add to this thread and/or PM you.

 

What are your intended avenues to market your products.?

Earl

 

[Chris Fickling Design]

My experience with magazines that have a smaller market share is that they are always on the look out for well written and original content and so if you can write your own articles and do some of your own footwork to begin with you will gain experience of working with editors and journalists. You may have to take out adverts in the magazine but that's not a bad thing. Choose your publications carefully. In my experience if you can present a magazine with a well written and photographed article they can mould it into their style - they will want paying but you will have gained exposure and experience.

At least if you do some of this stuff in a small way to begin with you will then get a feel for pricing and the work that PR agencies put in for the magazines that have a larger market share. As ever I think it's down to plenty of research and a cool head.

 

[BrightIdeasTrust]

yeah, it very much depends on what you want them to do, and where you want them to aim?

 

[Jonathan Drainey]

Obv. I'm not sure of the size of your new venture and the scale you have in mind. For example do you have a team to support an online strategy? My advice would be to maximise the usage of social networks like Twitter and Facebook before commencing any expenditure. I'd imagine your demographic is pretty targeted (what age etc. are you aiming for?) - hold on before entering into any pr contract would be my advice.

 

[trixie]

Thanks, got a 10 month deal based on 500 per month. Let's see how this goes.

 

[andav]

It is fairly standard to work on the basis of around £90 an hour for junior staff a

I'm now pondering a career change...

 

[ethical PR]

Hello Trixie

Good luck with promoting your business, I hope it goes well. I am glad you have found the PR support you were looking for, at a price that you can afford.

For anyone looking for external PR support, I would suggest, that when evaluating which freelancer or agency to work with, you look for;

• Someone who has experience of working with the media you want to target and the audiences you want to reach
• That will agree a results led approach - for example aiming to achieve 4 pieces of quality media coverage each month covering 2 - 3 key messages in consumer, national and trade media, setting up 1 meeting a month with journalists from your target media list, developing a feature piece for use on your website and to place with target media
• Someone who will supply you with references from current clients
• Someone who has a proactive, creative approach that includes not just reaching traditional media, but how you can build your reputation and win more customers through competitions, entering awards, promotions, social media and other PR activity

Best wishes
Helen

 

[BelindaM]

Hi Trixie, good news that you've found a contract within your budget - let us know you get on!

On a general note, I totally agree with Helen on ensuring your PR agency or freelancer has the necessary experience and contacts in your industry sector - media relationships are everything and if your PR has to build bridges from the start, that's likely to have an impact on the speed of delivery and results. Also, as an ecommerce business, it's even more important to have someone who understands digital media and how to implement this creatively. Good advice!

 

[Be Known PR]

Indeed. Keep us posted and good luck.

Out of speculative interest was it as a result of this thread that you found someone?