 |
Five questions we are most often asked
about public relations:
How do I know that I'm getting the value
for the money I'm paying?
Our philosophy, which has evolved from more than 25 years
of public relations experience, is that if the practitioner
and the client have planned well, built a strong level of
trust, and developed a results-oriented program that will
meet the objectives, the client will receive plenty of value
for the money being spent. Our other rule of thumb, which
was reinforced more than ever in the recent dot.com bonanza,
is that one's agency should start getting results during the
first three months and at the extreme, the first six months.
Can you get me into The Wall Street
Journal or The New York Times?
While nothing is impossible, we
try to assess right up front with our clients why they believe
they belong in those publications and other major publications
like Business Week, Fortune and Forbes.
Is the story strong enough? Is the size of their transaction
large enough? Each of those
would have similar criteria.
But
very often a client's best opportunities should be in trade
publications, germaine to the client's industry; or in vertical
trade publications from related industries. Trade reporters
are usually very receptive to clients in their “beat”
areas and are open to story ideas, case histories and bylined
articles which will generate more coverage.
Can you get me results yesterday?
We can't get results yesterday, but we can get results. Results
can take many forms; e.g. just being a little more responsive
than the client's last agency; just getting one more placement
than the last agency. Just completing a press release and
distributing it. While none of those may seem like major results,
for some clients they are everything. From our perspective,
getting a client as many quality placements in the publications
or broadcast venues of his or her choice is the best result.
Who are your media contacts?
We do have media contacts at many national and trade publications,
but the value of those contacts will always depend on the
client with whom we are working. We have often had excellent
results just from cold calls to reporters, because the bottom
line is that a good story will always sell itself.
Do I really need public relations?
If you have doubts, our suggestion is to talk with consultants
like uswho aren't afraid to give potential clients an honest
opinion from the agency, as well as the corporate side. For
instance, some companies are in a start-up mode and aren't
quite ready for a full public relations program. In other
cases, high fees are a concern for the client. To tell the
story candidly, our approach always is to begin with a meeting.
That enables a prospect to meet us first and build a trust
level. At this session, we can assess where the client is
in terms of communications needs. Then we can recommend the
best approach.
|
