Last week I blogged about ways you can get yourself ready for outsourced PR and save yourself some money.
This week is all about where to start looking for that PR person…
1) Decide on your budget
As I discussed last week you need to have a clear idea of your goals (get 5,000 more sign-ups, raise investment, boost sales, change perceptions, announce something new etc etc). With this in mind, you now need to work out how much you hav
e to spend on PR. This is crucial - its not a good idea to say “how much do you think I should spend?”.
As you would with any other expenditure, check what you can afford. Thinks of it in terms of investment and give the perspective PR company/person a ballpark figure. They will either tell you to get lost (some PR companies are simply not interested in small accounts!) or they’ll go and devise a plan to get you the most out of your cash.
How much should you spend = how long is a piece of string? For example, I have a client with a €200 onlinePR budget with which she wants to attract more traffic to her website - I would think of that as minimal, but not impossible.
As a guide, think about what you need done in terms of hours for example writing a press release (if all the information required is supplied would take at least 2-3 hours.
If you want an event, like a launch or press conference, think about the costs of hiring a venue, photographer, speaker, DJ etc etc. Remember to ask your PR company to get suppliers to bill you directly - some PR companies are in the practice of adding 20% to these suppliers costs for the pleasure of paying for those things themselves and adding it to their final bill.
The right, creative, innovative PR professional will be able to make the most of your budget, whatever you have to spend.
2) Go forth and seek…
There are a number of places you start your search for an Irish PR professional to suit your needs:
- Public Relations Institute of Ireland
- Public Relations Consultants Association
- Piaras Kelly’s Irish Marketing Blogs list
Remember: Some PR consultancies specialise in different fields/industries/areas of expertise while others will turn their hand to anything - if you are looking for something in particular, narrow your search terms and be sure to mention it in your initial contact.
3) What should you look for…
PR is all about relationships, its not just a cliche! If you don’t click with the person immediately its unlikely to work.
Look for some knowledge of who you are and what you do (if they have had time to do some background research between your request to meet/talk and the actual meeting!). At the very least, knowledge and understanding of your industry is crucial. If you’re selling a service to web developers - a PR campaign based on traditional media outlets is not going to cut it.
Ask about how their company works - if a team of 5 are looking to earn from your custom, its likely to cost you more.
Ask for details of how they charge, the hourly rates for account executives, account managers and account directors. This is not an unreasonable question.
Two like signs make a plus! If you are a modern, innovate company look for a modern, innovative PR consultancy.
Look for creativity - national newsrooms receive up to 300 different press releases between 7am and 12 mid day daily - yours needs to stand out.
Seek out someone with energy, who allows themselves get excited at the thought of representing you.
Finally, harping back to my ‘Get Flexible‘ post - look for a bit of flexibility. If you don’t want a retainer initially, don’t be bullied into signing up for one!
Wasn’t it the case that the public sector never batted an eyelid at retainers? Ah, back in the old days… you could pick a figure out of the sky, an estimate of how much time you’d spend on an account each month, and those lovely, accommodating people in Dublin 2 would happily sign up. What fun was had preparing the statement of hours at the end of the month… ‘charge this under account director, charge that under account manager’.
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