PR Agencies/Reps/Etc.?

EricVonDoobie

EricVonDoobie

FAQ it
Dec 23, 2009
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Sunnyvale Trailer Park
Anyone ever used one? I've got a site that has very wide appeal and naturally getting in the media and getting more offline exposure would be incredible. I've looked into agencies but haven't gone too far--just doing research right now.

Anyone here ever used one and if so: How were your results? Any tips or advice you have? How much did you wind up paying?
 


I've used an Australian company before and it was an OK experience. The biggest problems I faced was not being able to accurately track how 'well' they were doing, in the online world it's extremely easy to see how effective a campaign was. In the offline world it's extremely hard to see how effective it is.

Sure you can be syndicated to a magazine with 300k monthly readers, but how many of them actually read the whole magazine? How many of those that read the article will visit your site/buy your product/get brand recognition?

Some people will say that you can just see if there is any spike in traffic, but the fact is if you are running a large enough site there is a million other reasons that could have caused that spike to occur. (I have one site that goes from getting two hundred visits a day to 10,000 visits a day for no real reason that I can work out).

Set some clear goals, communicate those goals to the agency and make sure that the agency follows through and achieves those goals. If I was to do it again, I'd probably try to work with a company that would work on a semi CPA basis (each paper appearance is worth $XXX, each television appearance is $xxxx etc and base it off the viewing/readership levels of each publication).

No, I won't share the company I used. Don't PM me about it.
 
I've worked with publicityguaranteed.com before. They got some decent results in newspapers and they don't get paid unless they do. But I don't think they'll really make you the hit the bigtime. I think they're good if you have a low budget of $15k or less.

One of the benefits of PR I find, is that they will get you into some publications...which can do some good things for site conversions.
 
EricVonDoobie said:
Ok thanks for the input everyone. I hadn't heard of publicity guaranteed, looks interesting but their pricing is a bit weird (seems somewhat misleading). Thanks for the input though
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Yeah, I wouldn't give them a full endorsement, they likely won't get you into USA today or anything major, but they'll get some results. They were always honest with me though, so not sure what's misleading.
 
voila

Don Crowther - 101publicrelations.com
Donna Fontenot - ebuzzcoach.com
Joan Stewart - publicityhound.com
Marc Harty - prtraffic.com
 
Haro is a fantastic resource and EVERYONE here with a product should be on his FREE list. He sends 3 emails out a day, with reporters looking for experts in various fields for stories that they are working on.

If you genuinely try to help them, a lot of times (if they can use your stuff) that will get your name into a magazine/newspaper/TV etc.. E.G.: Read a story of the biggest dance magazine in the country, looking for 'dance instructors that trade dance teaching for dance lessons at the same studio'. Told them about my daughter who was doing that at the time (You'd be surprised what these f'ing lessons cost!) and they interviewed her. Ended up running a long article about the topic in their magazine. She got some great exposure from this and her picture was half a page etc.. :) (Yes, Daddy was proud!)

Also got some other small products pitched which ended up getting some exposure. HOWEVER, it is 'hard' to measure exposure from that. A lot of times it just gives you a bit of credibility on your website/place of business (If the NYTimes thinks its good - you should give us a try).

However, you can also advertise with Peter directly... FYI - if you have fun product, he happens to have a slot to fill and your aren't a douche etc. 'sometimes' he does trades. (He is a genuinely good guy and is not above 'helping someone out'.). Since 90% of the folks that get this are in the PR industry - if it's REALLY hot - you'll get some nibbles. However, sometimes one is all it takes.

We worked with a PR company for one product I was involved with and they introduced us to a TON of people in the industry. They were really good to us and things turned out pretty well. A lot of times its as much about meeting the right people and those guys tend to have a big rolodex. They are national and good to work with BUT not cheap... http://www.moroch.com If you want to contact them I'll give you a couple of names with them that are, good people.

Also check these people out: Global Prairie | Integrated Marketing Communications Again.. you get what you pay for....
 
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Gertex said:
Haro is a fantastic resource and EVERYONE here with a product should be on his FREE list. He sends 3 emails out a day, with reporters looking for experts in various fields for stories that they are working on.

If you genuinely try to help them, a lot of times (if they can use your stuff) that will get your name into a magazine/newspaper/TV etc.. E.G.: Read a story of the biggest dance magazine in the country, looking for 'dance instructors that trade dance teaching for dance lessons at the same studio'. Told them about my daughter who was doing that at the time (You'd be surprised what these f'ing lessons cost!) and they interviewed her. Ended up running a long article about the topic in their magazine. She got some great exposure from this and her picture was half a page etc.. :) (Yes, Daddy was proud!)

Also got some other small products pitched which ended up getting some exposure. HOWEVER, it is 'hard' to measure exposure from that. A lot of times it just gives you a bit of credibility on your website/place of business (If the NYTimes thinks its good - you should give us a try).

However, you can also advertise with Peter directly... FYI - if you have fun product, he happens to have a slot to fill and your aren't a douche etc. 'sometimes' he does trades. (He is a genuinely good guy and is not above 'helping someone out'.). Since 90% of the folks that get this are in the PR industry - if it's REALLY hot - you'll get some nibbles. However, sometimes one is all it takes.

We worked with a PR company for one product I was involved with and they introduced us to a TON of people in the industry. They were really good to us and things turned out pretty well. A lot of times its as much about meeting the right people and those guys tend to have a big rolodex. They are national and good to work with BUT not cheap... http://www.moroch.com If you want to contact them I'll give you a couple of names with them that are, good people.

Also check these people out: Global Prairie | Integrated Marketing Communications Again.. you get what you pay for....
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+1, thanks a lot for that post--great info. I hear people talk about HARO all the time and I was sub'd to that list when it first started but I never got anywhere with it, so I just unsub'd--I'll rejoin now and check out your other rec's.
 
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