7 ways to reduce your pr budget by $161,620 (from firecracker pr)
DESCRIPTION
How can you reduce your PR budget while still getting great press? Find out 7 (actually 8) specific ways to start today.TRANSCRIPT
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7 Ways to Reduce Your PR Budget by $161,620 This Year
(While Still Getting Great Results)
By Firecracker PR
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1. Go with a Hybrid Agency
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1. Go With a Virtual Agency
Potential savings: $60,000 annually ($5,000 per month with one or two
less agencies)
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2. Use Different Wire Services
DON’T just automatically use a high-end wire service like BusinessWire or PR Newswire.
-press releases can cost upwards of $400 (depending on type of distribution and word count)
-starts from $159 per distribution
-free press release distribution
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2. Use Different Wire Services
Potential savings: $3,120 annually
$600 X 12 = $7,200 if you used a high end service for every release.
Using a hybrid mixed model would be ($600 X 6 = $3,600) + ($80 X 6 = $480) = $4,080.
That’s a savings of $3,120 per year.
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3. Rethink Tradeshows
“Why the heck are we at this tradeshow?”
-…because everyone else is?-Do you have a clear strategy and goal?-What is the total cost of each show? (Booth and
graphics, shipment, insurance, electricity, wiring, accessories, hiring union personnel to set it up or modify, the cost of the space itself, as well as travel and accommodations for personnel.)
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3. Rethink Tradeshows
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3. Rethink Tradeshows
Tradeshows can be one of the largest line items for your marketing:
-Exhibitor Magazine put the average cost of a new exhibit at $107,149
-Exhibitor Magazine found that space can cost from $9.50 to $42.85 per square foot
-Return on Investment is difficult to accurately gauge
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3. Rethink TradeshowsThe Alternative?Skip this…
…and go with a smaller private suite with a “by invitation only” marketing campaign.
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3. Rethink TradeshowsSample “by-invitation” suite:
1. Invite media contacts for sit downs2. Invite top clients for briefings and “sneak peeks”3. Invite top prospects for sales efforts
-Provide a more intimate, quieter, refined environment
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3. Rethink Tradeshows
Potential Savings: $80,000 per year
(Not included in final savings tally, but important to note)
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4. Quality, Not Quantity for Press Releases
Question to ask yourself before each press release: “Is this really newsworthy?”
DON’T spam press releases indiscriminately.
DO build relations and target releases to specific media contacts.
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4. Quality, Not Quantity for Press Releases
Good uses of press releases:-build consistent timeline on your website’s News section-keep customers and stakeholders updated
Bad uses of press releases:-hoping a press release alone will get you media coverage…it will NOT
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4. Quality, Not Quantity for Press Releases
Other alternatives to “lazy” press releases:
-opinion pieces-bylined articles-Q&A with industry media-conduct survey and release results
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4. Quality, Not Quantity for Press Releases
Potential Savings: $6,500 per year(through cutting the number of press
releases sent out in half)
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5. Scrutinize Overbilling by PR Agencies
PR Agency Horror Story (unfortunately not that uncommon):
“Our previous PR agency was billing us $10,000 a month and producing about one press release a month.”
General Manager of North America, major technology manufacturer
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5. Scrutinize Overbilling by PR Agencies
Potential Savings: $60,000 per year(Slashing retainer of $10,000 per
month by 50%)
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6. Outsource Instead of Hiring Internally
Base Salary
Total Cost
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6. Outsource Instead of Hiring Internally
Potential Monetary Savings: $27,000 per year
Other Potential Savings:-time required to place ad, screen
applicants, interview-headaches involved with dismissing
employees
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7. Get Rid of Media Monitoring Services
The Old Way: Clipping services such as Luce to monitor radio, television, newspapers
The New (and cheaper) Way: Google Alerts for online newspapers, magazines, websites, blogs, etc.
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7. Get Rid of Media Monitoring Services
Potential Savings: $5,000 per year
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Summary of Potential Savings
1. Go with Hybrid Agency $60,0002. Use Different Wire Services $3,1203. Rethink Tradeshows $80,000 (Not Included)4. Cut Back Press Releases $6,5005. Avoid Overbilling $60,0006. Outsource PR $27,0007. Get Rid of Media Monitoring $5,000
$161,620
Annual Savings
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The Bottom Line
Technology is enabling you to get PR results at much lower costs of
traditional methods.
Take advantage of it.
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Shameless Plug
Why Firecracker PR?
-Agency with clientele ranging from small startups to NASDAQ publicly-traded companies.
-Deep experience in public relations, search engine marketing and social media.
-Results, results, results.
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Contact Us…
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