Avoid Being Overcharged by PR Agencies

They gotta deliver more than press releases

I could charge $11k a month for a lengthy press release every 30 days. Plenty of agencies do but…

It’s painful that innocent people still fall into the trap of paying agencies to strictly pump out releases. Many are not opened or read. For decades, PR agencies and consultants have gotten away with overcharging clients for releases, and nothing else. One reason is there’s some mystery in how releases are put together.

Anyone *can* do press releases. There are countless how-to articles and YouTube videos on the topic. Also, it's simple to upload releases to wire services.

By not telling clients releases aren’t ideal and making releases a go-to communications channel, PR agencies have allowed people to believe absolutely anything is worthy of a release, or worse, the only thing agencies do. It's common for prospects or people I meet at events to say public relations means sending out releases every few months. Goodness no.

The truth is that 90% of releases don't need to exist. But agencies, afraid of losing a client or causing a shitstorm with a client, are rarely honest enough to tell them releases won't achieve much. I used to work at an agency where upper management said to do what the client wants.

That's anything but strategic. That’s not acting like a good partner.

Client: "Okay. We're busy with other stuff. Send us a draft."

So the cycle continues. And it leads to PR getting a bad rap.

Tech is guilty of hiring “fancy” PR agencies who don’t push back on client requests. An agency should advise clients on what communications methods make sense and what’s newsworthy. If you think a board member joining your company will get the media’s attention…

Those “momentum releases” may indicate progress in your industry, fill the gaps between bigger news items, and even get you on the radar of prospects, but reporters won’t write about it. The news of a fresh board member has to be combined with something else before you think of telling the media about it.

To the marketers who keep expensive (mostly big city) PR agencies, don't they want the money for other initiatives?

What are these budget-draining marketers saying to higher-ups when asked why a PR team is doing something a college kid can do?

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-John