I Need a Publicist

If you run your own business, and you believe that getting media attention will help your business grow by attracting customers or burnishing your reputation, you may conclude that you need a publicist. How do you get from “I need a publicist” to getting your business covered by the press? This article explores some of your options and examines the potential to hire an affordable public relations provider.

So, You Want to Hire a Publicist?

If you think, “I need a publicist,” what do you actually need? You need press coverage. That’s your goal. Three different kinds of providers can help you achieve that goal:

• Full-service public relations firms
• Freelance or contract public relations professionals
• Publicists

There can be an overlap between freelance professionals and publicists. Often, they are one and the same. The main difference is that a freelance professional usually offers a more complete service that includes messaging, media strategy, and crisis PR. A publicist’s job is usually just publicity—getting you featured in the news.

Freelancers or publicists may be the best fit for a small business. Full-service PR firms typically charge a retainer that can be anywhere from $10,000 a month to over $100,000 a month. This is not in the realm of reality for most smaller firms. A freelancer almost always offers more flexibility, with rates ranging from $60 per hour to over $200, depending on skill level and media contacts. Comms Factory has a different approach. We offer professional PR services on a fixed-price, pay-as-you-go basis.

How Do I Hire a Professional Publicist for My Small Business?

Why would you need a professional publicist for your small business? Why not just do your own publicity? The reality is that you can do your own PR these days, and it won’t reflect poorly on you. The question is one of bandwidth and skill sets. You may not have the time or knowledge to do your own publicity.

A professional publicist contacts the media on your behalf. As part of the process, he or she will determine the best way to pitch your story to the media. Most publicists charge by the hour, though some, like Comms Factory, offer fixed-priced gigs. In some cases, a publicist might be an employee of the company that wants press. (This is why, when you see a movie, there will be a credit for “Unit Publicist.” That’s usually someone who works for the movie studio or production company.)

What does it cost to hire a professional publicist? That really depends on a lot of factors, but you can control your publicist budget by shaping the scope of the project. For example, a publicist might want to engage in a lengthy messaging process. If you don’t need that, don’t pay for those hours. Still, you’re going to have to spend some money to get something done right, e.g., paying for 20 hours of publicist time to write a press release, pitch it to the media, follow up, schedule media interviews, and sit in on press interviews. At $100 per hour, you’ll be spending $2,000 on that project. Comms Factory’s media outreach gig performs most of those tasks (except follow up, scheduling, and sitting in on interviews) for $325.

I Need a Cheap PR Firm. Now What?

What kind of publicist can you afford? You may think, “I want a cheap publicist or a cheap PR firm.” Let’s break it down. PR firms are expensive, so a “cheap PR firm” might charge $5,000 a month as a retainer. They may be totally worth it, but they’re still out of your budget range.

There is such a thing as a cheap publicist. It may not be so about the hourly rate, but rather about the scope of services. PR is one of those “you get what you pay for” areas of business, so if you see a publicist on Fiverr who works for $20 an hour, you can be fairly certain they won’t be what you want. However, even a publicist who charges $100 per hour can be economical if he or she scopes the work so it only takes three hours to perform the required tasks. That’s how Comms Factory works. We have done so many gigs (5,300 and counting) that we know how many hours it will take to write a press release and pitch it to the media. We can charge a flat rate for the public relations service.

Hiring a cheap publicist comes with its share of risks. Quality can be an issue. It can also be a problem if the scope of the project changes and you’re left with it half-finished because you only budgeted a certain amount. It pays to be thorough in selecting a publicist and getting clarity about what they will do and how long it will take.

Conclusion

You need a publicist, but you don’t have a large budget for PR. That puts you in good company. Thousands of small businesses, startups, authors, musicians, non-profits, and medical businesses are in the same position. What’s the solution? Are there cheap PR services available? Yes, and you have several options. You could hire a freelance public relations professional. That would be the right choice if you need a complete service that includes messaging, media strategy, and perhaps crisis PR. If you just want to get media exposure, a publicist might be a more affordable option. By carefully scoping the work, too, you can make your public relations project affordable.

To learn about Comms Factory’s fixed-priced publicist services, visit our services page.

Photo by RDNE Stock project: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-in-dress-sitting-in-front-of-a-laptop-10375901/