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An effective PR campaign should help you to achieve your business objectives. Basically, it's all about communicating effectively. Its aims should reflect those of your organisation. PR is a crucial part of the marketing mix. Even as a stand-alone activity it can be effective. If budgets are tight, a strategically designed PR programme can generally do far more to kick-start a new venture or product than advertising, direct mail and other above-the-line activity - and more cost-effectively too.

A well designed and implemented PR campaign can achieve a number of objectives. This might include:

• building brand awareness
• changing perceptions
• increasing sales enquiries, leads and prospects
• extending audience reach
• creating opportunities for strategic partnerships
• influencing decision makers and key audiences
• raising the profile of your key personnel - establishing them as expert spokespeople for your organisation and/or industry
• communicating your brand's personality to your target audiences
• gaining support within your local community
• improving communications with employees, industry bodies, government or other key audiences.
  

What sort of value for money can I expect to get from PR?

You should be disappointed if your PR doesn't at least pay for itself over a twelve-month period in terms of what the coverage you receive would have cost you if you had paid the going advertising rates for the space.  For example, TextOnTap typically achieves four to six times the PR spend.

How much will a PR campaign cost me?

Bit of a length of string question this. It depends on a number of factors; what you want to achieve, whether internal and external elements are required, who your audiences are, how much time is required to deliver the PR programme etc... A better way is to decide how much you are prepared to invest for the year then ask several consultancies to tell you what they can deliver within that budget. You'll get more for your money that way and you can always increase the budget if necessary.

Are there any standard PR consultancy rates?

Rates vary from consultancy to consultancy. Generally, the bigger the name, the higher the charge. London agencies also tend to be more expensive - understandably, as their overheads are much higher.  In terms of billing, some agencies bill by the hour, others quote a daily rate. With larger consultancies, the hourly rate often reflects the level of experience of the person working on your account. For example an account executive will be billed at a lower rate, an account manager will command a higher fee and an account director will be charged out at top rates.

How can PR be evaluated?

Evaluation of a PR campaign is crucial to ensure that your organisation is getting a good return on investment. Evaluation is easiest if defined objectives are set at the beginning of a PR programme. For example, if a campaign's main aim is to raise awareness of a company or product within a target market then research can be undertaken before the campaign begins and again after twelve months so that shifts in perception can be more accurately measured. Research is also a good way of generating newsworthy material for use within the campaign itself.

Coverage received can also be measured against what it would have cost to place an advertisement in the newspaper/publication concerned. The PRCA (Public Relations Consultancy Association) suggests that this figure should be multiplied by four to give a better indication of value gained (on the basis that editorial coverage is more authoritative and worth more than straight advertising.) Even if you just double the figure, you should be gaining more in coverage than you are paying in fees.

Alternatively there are organisations that will undertake a campaign evaluation for you.