What is Public Relations?
What is Publicity?
At its core, publicity is the simple act of making a suggestion to a journalist that leads to the inclusion of a company or product in a story. Trade Pubs, Newspapers, Magazines, TV programs and Radio shows have large amounts of space to fill and depend upon publicists to help provide story ideas, interview subjects, background information and other material.
For the most part, the act of making a suggestion to a journalist, when successful, will lead to one of two types of coverage:
A story created from scratch built around the story "angle" you suggest (e.g. a feature story on your company; a story about a trend that you present to a journalist; an interview segment, etc.)
The inclusion of your product, company or service in an already existing story (e.g. the reporter is already working on a story about your field and your contact with them results in your product being included in the piece).
What is Public Relations?
Public Relations is a broader field that encompasses publicity, but also includes such things as Business Counseling, Communications Audits, Community Relations, Consumer Marketing Communications, Crisis Communications, Employee Communications, Industry Communications, Investor Relations, Media Relations,
Public Affairs, Publications, Special Events, Speech Coaching, Video Communications and other activities designed to mold opinion.
What's a Press Release?
The most important tool for making a suggestion to a journalist is the press release. Simply put, a press release is a psuedo-news story that presents the most newsworthy aspect of your product, company or service in a format and language familiar to the journalist. A good press release places the newsworthy angle at the very top (much as the lead paragraph of a well-written news story does), and is free of hyperbole and overt promotionalism. Paragraphs subsequent to the lead may include background information, spokesperson quotations and other information that can help put the newsworthiness of the story in perspective.
What's a Pitch Letter?
While the press release is written in third person, the pitch letter allows for direct communication between the publicist and the journalist. It's an opportunity to pique interest, form a relationship and persuade. Bad pitch letters begin with boring formalities or promotional hype. Good pitch letters begin with a striking opening that immediately alerts the journalist to an interesting story possibility (e.g. if you're promoting sunscreen: "In the time it takes to read this letter, seven new cases of melanoma will be diagnosed." Or, if you're an accountant: "Americans who were unaware of a new tax break needlessly paid more than $5 billion in extra taxes last year -- and time is running out for them to get that money back."
The pitch letter has one purpose: to persuade the journalist to read the attached press release. Personalize it, keep it short, sign it and clip it to the front of your press release.
I Can't Afford A Publicity/Public Relations Campaign... Can I?
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 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 most expensive PR agency or specialist.
A good rule of thumb is to align yourself with a PR consultant 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 consultant whose office size and capabilities closely resemble your business, like me.
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? My experience with agencies has shown me that the following breakdown of billing fees:
Interns/Junior Executives bill at $100 / hour (Very little, if any professional experience)
Account Executives bill at $125 - $150 / hour (1-3 years of professional experience)
Senior Account Executives bill at $200- $250 / hour (Multiple years of professional experience. Agency decision makers.)
I added my own PR businesses to my services after years of experience in the agency industry and typically charge $100 per hour to professionally launch and maintain your campaign. And as a seasoned PR veteran, I will work directly with you and your staff for same price as an Intern/Junior executive rate.
I write the publicity myself . I have the same tools that the bigger agencies do -- updated media lists/contacts, personalized media distribution capabilities, as well as the intangibles of expert communication/media relations skills, editorial contacts and professional pitching prowess. If anyone is cheaper, but don't have all the tools to help you in the best manner possible, you are probably better off spending the little extra money to make sure your campaign is launched and maintained correctly.
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