Ink Inc. Media Relations/PR

Dick Grove

PR…Charging for the Cure and Not the Couch Time

06.26.11

A friend once told me that a hobby is something you do for the fun of it.  It may cost you money and you may even make a little back on it in winnings or even sales, and of course there’s the peer esteem; but over all it’s usually break-even at best.  A business however, he went on, is where you get strangers to write you checks for providing a measurable service or product…real dollars for something tangible in return.  Big difference.

I consider public relations not only a profession but very much a business.  And if I follow my friend’s definition, which means that my PR business must provide a measurable service or product…something tangible…in return for the checks I expect my clients to write.  In my company’s case, this tangible product is media coverage.  It’s what we’re hired to produce for our clients and it’s what we must deliver before we ask for the check.  Simple it would seem.  Nothing particularly nebulous or abstract about it.

And yet, daily, I read or come across multiple instances of PR agencies or individual publicists that are conflicted over what they are charging for, how to charge for whatever it is, and how much to charge.  A recent blog in WSJ.com went on way too long and from a standpoint of very little first hand knowledge about “how much is publicity worth?”

While this particular blogger didn’t show much insight and a good deal of naïveté’, he did explore an interesting comparison of advertising and PR values and pricing.

The problem appears to lie in both how most PR folks define PR and their profession. PR, many believe, should not be viewed like advertising or direct marketing with defined and tangible goals utilizing defined materials and even real mathematical models.  Oh no.  Rather PR is a consultancy that provides strategic wisdom to guide companies and their executives through difficult periods and offer advice on everything from getting customers to buy…to getting elected.  And sometimes they even might provide advice on media relations through the crafting of a dynamite press release or two.  All very nebulous and abstract.  And since these services are often more similar to a psychologist than an ad executive, why not charge the same way…by the hour.  Makes sense.  The more nebulous and abstract the service, the better the hourly fee sounds.  Ever hear of a psychologist charging by the cure?

But what’s wrong with comparing PR pricing to our sister communications discipline, advertising? I’m not saying the value is the same for a positive story in the Wall Street Journal versus an ad of equal length. Not at all.  Individually each has it’s own value in how it affects the reader and the responses it may cause, as well as the credibility it may solicit.  However what is the same is that both the ad and the story are the tangible results of skill and hard work and the intangible strategic planning behind the effort.  Therefore why not charge in a similar manner…for the cure and not by the hour.

That’s my opinion…what’s yours?

Categories: Behind the scenes, Grove Report, pr marketing, pr news

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