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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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