I was just looking at your blog regarding media coverage or pr for free,well jen what our pr lady does for us in the UK and Ireland is paid for results.
She does very well doing it this way and she does get us some very good coverage, we are happy with this arrangement as is our pr lady,and it gives us as a company a lot of faith in our pr.
We are looking for pr in different countries as we have people joining us and running their own business, our products are amazing and coverage is not hard to get for us.
So it would be silly not to go down the road of paid by results as coverage is so important to the business seeking it, and no doubt businesses will stick by you if you went down this road with them.
If you are trully good at your job you will know that you will get the results for your clients, however you might not get it for all of them, but i am sure that most of them you will.
This is the road that pr is going now in the UK and Ireland, which i am sure these pr people going down this road are the ones getting the business now.

Kind regards

William

Thoughts about distinguishing the craft into specializations – so that the publicists can focus on publicity, communicators on communication, media trainers on training, lobbyists on lobbying, …

No more jack of all trades, master of some…

Thank you – good work.

What our members can do is provide professional advice on the best way to achieve results based on our professional training and experience. We should also temper that advice by pointing out the limitations of our power. We will do everything we can to build good relationships with your publics but in the end it is the quality of your product and its value to the target audience that determines whether it gets a run in the media.

Can you trust a doctor that guarantees a cure for cancer that all other medical practitioners have found untreatable? Would you believe an accountant who promises you will make a profit? PR is a professional service, not a product that can be made to specifications.

This is the basis of Clause 6 of the PRIA’s code of ethics, which specifically states: “Members shall refrain from proposing or agreeing that their consultancy fees or other remuneration be contingent entirely on the achievement of specified results.”

Tracy Jones
National President
Public Relations Institute of Australia

I think what Sally has done is a clever way of generating some awareness of her own business simply by communicating very effectively what most agencies do – commit to generating publicity for an agreed fee with a client.

Unfortunately there are a number of agencies out there who promise the world and then severely under-deliver and hence are doing a great job of destroying the reputation of other PR agencies to clients as well as media. As the saying goes – once burned, twice shy.

I don’t believe I would agree to work with a client who I wasn’t confident I could generate publicity for or successfully deliver a PR campaign for them as it would only be doing myself and the industry a disservice. I’ve even recommended potential clients to other agencies/consultants who I think would be better suited to them.

While I think our industry has come a long way in communicating the importance of effective PR to potential clients, I think we have minimised our potential for more far-reaching work that goes beyond media relations and generating stories.

Jen, I agree that the only way you can guarantee coverage is through placing an ad. But as I mentioned before, if I don’t think I can achieve the results a client is looking for, I’ll quickly tell them. My skills are based on my knowledge of my media contacts and what they look for in a story. My pet hate is PR professionals who flog a dead horse on a story that’s got no legs and then feel they can “pull favours”. It’s those sort of PR hacks that clients need to be wary of.

Sally, I hope the campaign is successful for you! Would be interesting to hear some stats when you have them.

I think one of the greatest fears as a client is that you will be handing over a relatively large amount of the business’ money for potentially no benefit at all. The spend on PR can be a huge risk/gamble. Obtaining a mention/story/product image in a magazine or newspaper does not necessarily guarantee sales but what if your PR company does not achieve any mention at all? Even if the guarantee does little more than reassure the client that their money will not be totally wasted, what is wrong with that? The client already has an expectation that at least some PR will be secured or else why would they be parting with their money?

And as a PR company if you are not confident that you can secure at least one piece of PR for the client in 3 months then is it not unconscionable to accept the brief in the first place? I’m sure the client would rather keep their money if you think it is impossible to achieve some PR.

Perhaps my view will be considered naive and I acknowledge that I have not read all of the comments preceding but from a client’s perspective I think Publicity Queen’s strategy is a good one. It is an appealing and reassuring commitment that the PR company is going to do everything they can to get you PR – isn’t that what the client is entitled to expect anyway.