As you know, I enjoy talking to you about the challenges our agency NATA PR faces. Quite often, we’ll be asked if we can work on a project basis rather than full-year.
Here are four reasons why investing in a very short-term contract with a public relations agency isn’t the best decision you can make:
- Unless you’re already well known, your PR agency will need time to get the attention of media and influencers.
- The major media outlets and influencers are already highly sought after. They’re not waiting around for your news.
- No one knows you’ve written a press release or planned an event.
- The key media choose their topics weeks ahead of time – or months, when it comes to magazines.
If you retain the services of an agency just so they can invite the media and influencers to your event or launch, you’ll most certainly be denying yourself the major benefits of publications that might talk about you after your event, simply because the journalist in your section wasn’t free to attend your launch, or maybe that influencer who’s crazy about your product category is on vacation or unavailable for personal reasons.
That’s why we always recommend several months, even for a store opening, because that’s how you’re going to maximize your visibility and your investment.
So, you can work with PR agencies on a non-annual basis, but if they’re trying to sell you one month’s services, don’t fall for it. You’ll be disappointed with the results.
With media relations, you can make sure you’re being talked about by a third person (journalist or influencer), which will give you credibility. Advertising can’t play that role, although we do believe in targeted ads that bring you sales.
One of our clients, who we did PR for when they opened their first store in Canada, is still getting mileage out of several articles that appeared in major papers in that market for weeks and months after the store’s unveiling. While some customers see these articles and then go to the store, others discovered our client in fashion magazines that covered its new store after the opening.
If our job had just been to announce that opening, our client wouldn’t have seen any profit from those major after-effects, which often appear in publications weeks after the launch or, in this case, the opening of a flagship store.
Time is extremely important for public relations. Even though we sometimes get a winning hand and can generate appearances and spontaneous coverage, it’s not generally the case.
Public relations is a very powerful tool for ensuring your credibility over the long term. PR isn’t a substitute for advertising, and advertising is no substitute for PR.
The best recipe is knowing how to blend them. Pairing public relations and social media is the first step, if your budget is limited.
Join me and sign up to our lists and training sessions where I show you step-by-step public relations tactics that you can implement immediately.
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