|
Go Public
Listed under: Retail Clinic
Published: Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Free publicity? Surely not. Trevor Palmer explains why hiring a PR agency could get you just that
Placing adverts in magazines aimed at your consumer group can be a fantastic way of hooking in more business. But what if it just doesn't seem to be enough any more? If your brand's message is falling on deaf ears then it might just be worth taking on a PR company to do some shouting for you.
Trevor Palmer, associate director for BCS PR, says the advantages of getting into the media are numerous. “It’s a commonly-held belief that media coverage is one of the most effective methods for a business to convey its message to customers and stakeholders, as people perceive this coverage to be largely unbiased third-party accounts – i.e. more believable! PR, for the most part, is the practice of placing these messages within the media and, unlike adverts, the coverage is not directly paid for,” he explains.
“As the monthly retainer paid to the PR agency for its services can be far less than a monthly advertising spend, most companies find improved public relations a cost-effective marketing tool – especially given that a good agency should return at least double the ‘column centimetres’ in unbiased coverage that they would get for their advertising spend.”
Hiring a PR agency has been a great move for card designers Lello. The company has been running for just over eight years, beginning life as a small shop in Leicester. “We were focused more on the print side then and, as we had just opened the shop just before Christmas, we did not have time to buy our family and friends any cards. So we thought, why not make them? A local design agent came in and saw them and liked them so much he asked us to produce a range. It all started from there really,” says Karen Wilbourn, managing director of Lello.
“We decided to sign up with a PR company to push forward our brand name and website a bit more. It's really important for us. We have taken adverts with some of the glossy magazines but I think ads are so expensive and when we counted up how much we were spending on advertising it was about the same amount to hire a PR company. If you can afford it, I'd say it was well worth it.”
Trevor Palmer, associate director for BCS PR, says the advantages of getting into the media are numerous. “It’s a commonly-held belief that media coverage is one of the most effective methods for a business to convey its message to customers and stakeholders, as people perceive this coverage to be largely unbiased third-party accounts – i.e. more believable! PR, for the most part, is the practice of placing these messages within the media and, unlike adverts, the coverage is not directly paid for,” he explains.
“As the monthly retainer paid to the PR agency for its services can be far less than a monthly advertising spend, most companies find improved public relations a cost-effective marketing tool – especially given that a good agency should return at least double the ‘column centimetres’ in unbiased coverage that they would get for their advertising spend.”
Hiring a PR agency has been a great move for card designers Lello. The company has been running for just over eight years, beginning life as a small shop in Leicester. “We were focused more on the print side then and, as we had just opened the shop just before Christmas, we did not have time to buy our family and friends any cards. So we thought, why not make them? A local design agent came in and saw them and liked them so much he asked us to produce a range. It all started from there really,” says Karen Wilbourn, managing director of Lello.
“We decided to sign up with a PR company to push forward our brand name and website a bit more. It's really important for us. We have taken adverts with some of the glossy magazines but I think ads are so expensive and when we counted up how much we were spending on advertising it was about the same amount to hire a PR company. If you can afford it, I'd say it was well worth it.”
