Making Your PR Efforts Worth the Money

When times get tough, some of the first to cuts to the budget are PR efforts. Sometimes the PR budget looks as if more is spent than what the company sees in results. This needs some explanation and Bonnie Harris gave some great insight to it in her article, "Is PR Worth It?"

Bonnie explains that businesses need to look at long term results rather than monthly results. And she goes on to list some tips improve the way you measure results. For instance, she says to look at both "long-term and short-term goals. Understand what you’re after." And then she asks:

"Do you want to be in the top ten natural search for Google? Do you want to establish credibility for you and your product or service online? Drive traffic to your website? You must identify what you hope to gain from public relations." Following is a piece from her article.

"Stay on top of your public relations efforts. Check in with your publicist on a regular basis to see what he or she is working on, and what seem like likely placements in the next 60 days. At the same time, be patient. Placements take time, and if you haven’t done any media outreach before, it can take a while to get you on the radar screen.

Have a “wish list” of key target publications and outlets. A lot of people don’t understand their demographics well enough to do this, but you must have that list identified, if nothing else than to focus your own or your publicists’ efforts. And don’t try only for Oprah or Ellen. Pick media outlets that are attainable. Shoot for the moon, but spend most of your time on reasonable targets for you.

If your public relations firm tells you the hook needs to be more unique, believe them. Don’t think you are special or that there aren’t 10 or more people doing what you do. I’m sorry if this is blunt, but it’s true. Too many people get defensive when their publicist is hunting around for angles. Trust that they know when a story’s been done. Otherwise you’ll end up paying them to send outreach that is not compelling.

This is implied from my other comments, but don’t just sit back and wait for results. Be ACTIVE in your publicity campaign. If you want to get into a particular magazine, read it often and make suggestions on particular angles. Watch the shows you want to be on. Become an expert in your targeted media outlets.

Write, and if you can’t write, hire someone who can write for you. Custom content can be much easier to place in trade magazines and online. Come up with ideas for new articles, and make them unique.

Finally, be upfront and honest with your PR firm. If you feel things just aren’t getting going, don’t get frustrated. Sit down with them, review your goals, and if they can’t show marked progress, let them go. (and then call me.)"

Using Bonnie's tips above will definitely lead to making your PR efforts worth the cost.

NOTE: Bonnie Harris is the president of Wax Marketing, a marketing and PR agency for small business. She also operates waxcoach.com, a DIY marketing and PR site for entrepreneurs. Bonnie can be reached at bonnie@waxcoach.com.