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PR Guarantees

Written by: Anthony Mora

Article Overview: If a public relations company guarantees you specific placement or a successful campaign, I suggest you start looking for the exit. But you can access what a company can do in the future by taking a look at their past track record.

PR Guarantees

Neither advertising nor media placement can guarantee a return. Advertising can guarantee what an ad will say, where it will appear, and when and where it will run, but there are no guarantees that that ad will generate customers, sales, patients or clients.

With media relations as well, there are no guarantees. When prospective new clients demand that I offer them a guarantee, I explain that the only guarantee I can offer is my track record. I can show media I've placed in the past and give an honest assessment of whether I believe I can put together a successful campaign for the clients or not. If a public relations company guarantees you specific placement or a successful campaign, I suggest you stand up, walk out and start looking for the exit. Because, in reality, there are no guarantees. But you can access what a company can do in the future by taking a look at their past track record.

There are some prospective clients who want me to promise them that within two weeks I'll have them on 60 Minutes or in Time. They believe that their pitch is a natural a slam dunk.” Well let me assure you, unless you have a breaking news story, or have a top notch celebrity willing to talk about your product or service – THERE ARE NO EASY PITCHES. Unless all the stars have aligned in your favor, every campaign needs to be worked, and your job is to understand that is part of the process. Each campaign has a life of its own, and you just can't predict how it's going to go. Nor is it possible to determine exactly how long it will take to start placing stories. Sometimes you land your first story in a couple of days, sometimes it takes a month.

I generally work on a six-month initial contract, so that it gives us some time to put together an effective campaign. Being both patient and prepared are two of the most important aspects of an effective campaign. If you pull the plug after one, two, or even three months, you'll never know what a real campaign could have accomplished.

For example, we worked on one campaign for three months, with little to show for our efforts. Needless to say, by the end of the third month, our client was more than a bit nervous. He had paid us a retainer fee for three months and had received very little in return. But he stuck with it. We formulated a new direction for the campaign, wrote some new releases, and by the end of the fifth month we had placed stories on CNN and NBC TV, as well as in Newsweek The Los Angeles Times, and various other media outlets. That's why it is so important to be committed to a campaign. If the client had stopped after three months, the entire campaign would have been for naught. If you offer the media good stories and you're professional, creative, and tenacious, eventually, you will get placement.

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Article Tags: 60 minutes, breaking news, celebrity, couple of days, guarantees, honest assessment, initial contract, job, media placement, media relations, news story, pitch, pitches, prospective clients, public relations company, slam, three months, top notch



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