PR – do you really get value from it?

[Frimley111R]

Morning All,

We use a small company to publicise news of company sales that we facilitate. However the coverage in the media is usually only a small piece in the local papers business sections (where we are, the seller is and the buyer is). Given the cost of doing this, i.e. the PR agency costs and then a large cost for reproducing the press cuttings for marketing materials (Newspaper Licensing Authority) I can’t see that economically it makes sense. I know PR is difficult to measure and we do use a press cutting service but all on a ROI basis it just doesn’t seem to work.

I feel that we should have it but the money could also be better spent elsewhere generating business.

Thoughts anyone??

Thanks

 

[fisicx]

Well if the ROI is poor then don't do it.

 

[Call Tracker]

It sounds like you have made a little inroad with it but you need to take it to the next level to get some benefit. You should ask your agency for a meeting and discuss the possibilities of feature articles, interviews and some online pr to drive traffic to your website.

You also need to ensure that your are appearing in publications read by your target market. You didn't mention what kind of business you are in but if you are appearing in local press and you are business to business then this will have little benefit.

 

[gemboy]

If your only PR is about company sales then I'm not surprised that coveage is minimal. Your PR company should be working with you to identify other news items that editors would be interested in covering, not just in local papers, but regional publications and market sector press (depending on your market) As Mediamonitor suggests, they should also be creating articles, getting you coverage in future features, generating case studies for publication... the list goes on. There are also better and more cost effective ways to use your PR stories that paying NLA and reprinting. PR does work if well planned and done properly, so maybe you should be reconsidering who you use rather than PR itself.

 

[Frimley111R]

If your only PR is about company sales then I'm not surprised that coveage is minimal. Your PR company should be working with you to identify other news items that editors would be interested in covering, not just in local papers, but regional publications and market sector press (depending on your market) As Mediamonitor suggests, they should also be creating articles, getting you coverage in future features, generating case studies for publication... the list goes on. There are also better and more cost effective ways to use your PR stories that paying NLA and reprinting. PR does work if well planned and done properly, so maybe you should be reconsidering who you use rather than PR itself.

Yes, I think you are partly right. Local papers are a waste of time IMO for us. Industry magazines are the place to be and I'll get the focussing on this more.

How do you avoid the NLA (in a legal way obviously!)?

 

[fisicx]

Simple, don't use the press cuttings.

All they are is self promo pieces so don't actually provide any value to your customers. Why not write proper articles about recent projects: the problems you encountered, the procedures that were changed and finish with a response from the happy customer with a cheesy picture of the handover.

 

[publicityheaven]

Give your existing PR company the chance to go after the coverage that you really need. Maybe they haven't fully understood what you really need.

Saying that, local papers are easy fodder for a lazy PR company.

Your NLA fee shouldn't be that bad unless you are republishing content. And if you are you should be republishing it in a way which helps to drive sales.

In my book PR Success Made Easy I talk about the need to establish a direct link between PR and revenue. You can get a free copy posted to you (it's a real book not a PDF) at http://www.publicityheaven.com/ukbf

 

[Frimley111R]

Thanks all, that'll give me some food for thought. As you say (above) perhaps I am not giving enough direction to the agency.

 

[Pressman]

If local papers are a waste of time for you then clearly you need to communicate this with your PR agency and ask them to target the media which would be more useful to you - such as trade or the national press.

It does sound like they need to take a more creative approach than just creating NIBS on deals etc.

 

[David White]

Sounds like they might be a bit small or lazy to me, suppose it all depends on how much you are paying them. If you are paying only peanuts for the service then you get what you pay for, but if you are spending lots then it might be worth seeking other PR firms or sourcing your own advertising/PR options to see what else you can get for your money.

Feel free to request a no obligations package via our site and we can let you know how far your advertising/marketing budgets can go: http://www.advertiserbay.com/pages/campaign_planner.html

 

[G. Lasagne]

Ive mentioned this before but what exactly do a PR agency do?
I mean do they write articles and submit them online and offline and hope that they get published or what?

Also how much would i PR gaency cost roughly for a small local plumbing business, £100 p/m? £1000p/m?

 

[David White]

For a small local plumbing business I would say a PR agency might not be a relevant idea unless it is a small local agency of course in which case the costs would vary on where your local area is. Some may charge £100 and some may charge £1,000.

PM me if you want some advice on where best to advertise your business and I can throw a few ideas your way.

Ive mentioned this before but what exactly do a PR agency do?
I mean do they write articles and submit them online and offline and hope that they get published or what?

Also how much would i PR gaency cost roughly for a small local plumbing business, £100 p/m? £1000p/m?

 

[publicityheaven]

A good PR agency will find ways to help support your business goals, by promoting your business into the mainstream media and across the web.

All the work is done for you by the agency.

You want web traffic? Sales leads? To be seen as the number one expert in your industry? To gain more credibility?

No problem. There are PR strategies to achieve these things and more

 

[eventdomain]

PR Agencies, are supposed to 'build you up' so you get noticed, once interest starts flowing, the media takes off on its own and stories are published without you probably even realising this. Er, but you got to get to that point first and the press won't just run a story on anybody or anything - it must be newsworthy, unique, special etc.

Expect to pay about £1000 per month in fees for a proper campaign, even the smaller agencies charge this, although a one-off story piece of PR, might be cheaper. Eg: 1 single press mention.

There are 'Freelancers' that are cheaper and others that engage in phone-call blitz work, and just do the introduction bit for you, leaving you to talk with the media yourself... There are some cracking smaller agencies about, but like anything, you need to search for them. Some can be quite rude and very aggresive with clients, so look out and avoid those - you don't want a bunch of nutters representing your interests now do you..

 

[Be Known PR]

Some good points made already here. To add my tuppance worth:

- ROI & PR is almost impossible to measure. Unlike advertising, you are not going to see a direct response per item of coverage. PR works on an ongoing basis, building up awareness of your company and should support other marketing activity to give them strength. Ie. When someone sees your advert, they are more likely to respond to it if they have also read about you somewhere else and recognise the name.

- Your PR agency should be pushing you for more info and creating better opportunities for you. Personally I hate sending out 'new business wins' or staff promotions' for clients because my time could be better spent chasing the bigger coverage that is more likely to benefit the client. You need to look at your areas of expertise and see about providing expert comment pieces where you are providing objective advice to potential clients. If you are B2B then you want coverage in the trade/business publications that your clients are reading.

Definitely give your PR agency a more detailed brief, but make them do some work as well so don't spoon feed them everything. A PR agency shouldn't just be about writing and distributing a press release but they should be actively looking at how best to add benefit to your business through clever use of media opportunities.

 

[Be Known PR]

For a small local plumbing business I would say a PR agency might not be a relevant idea unless it is a small local agency of course in which case the costs would vary on where your local area is. Some may charge £100 and some may charge £1,000.

Agreed - I would say that, unless you want to run a specific one off campaign, PR is not going to be cost effective for you because opportunites for media coverage will be minimal.

I know it is too late now, but for example, you could have paid an agency a few hundred to arrange a bit of local coverage on what home owners needed to be doing to protect their pipes during the extreme cold patch last month.

 

[Frimley111R]

Thanks everyone, meeting booked with our PR agency. I'll be using your advice to direct them more effectively. I think that with our own heavy workload we are also contributing to the lack of effective PR.

 

[Be Known PR]

Thanks everyone, meeting booked with our PR agency. I'll be using your advice to direct them more effectively. I think that with our own heavy workload we are also contributing to the lack of effective PR.

Good move. Also highly refreshing to see somone on the client side appreciating that their heavy work load may be contributing to the problem! For PR to really work it needs time commitment from the client, not only to help steer the PR agency in the right direction, but to make sure that requests are dealt with quickly.

One of the most frustrating things for PR agencies are clients that take days to respond to requests for information or interviews because it generally just leads to missed opportunities and irritated journalists.

Good luck with your meeting and I hope your agency understands what you want/need and goes on to deliver the results you deserve.