Public Relations

How Much Time is a Project Worth?

Whether you bill by the hour, by the project or by retainer, the bottom line for all of us as PR practitioners is that we want our clients to feel that they got value for their money; and we want to feel that we were adequately compensated for our time and expertise.

In the equation Finished Product = Time + Expertise, occasionally hiccups arise.

I ran into this frequently when I worked at a large PR firm. Someone working for me would write the ultimate press release and hand me a time sheet documenting the fact that they’d spent 17.5 hours on their masterpiece.

The problem is, at any billing rate imaginable, the time billed would far exceed the value of the press release to the client. If a client expects someone to spend approximately 4 hours on something, what do you do with the remaining 13.5?

Some of this is just youthful exuberance. You want to to “the best” job possible and you lose track of the fact that time = money. You are also desperate to fill up your time sheet so that you look productive. Over time you get a better sense for what something is worth to a client and plan your time accordingly. Sometimes, thanks to your own skill, expertise and efficiency, you are able to produce work of such great value to a client with such alacrity that your effective billing rate actually goes up! Occasionally, something takes you longer to complete than you thought, but you don’t bill the extra time because, while you still want to deliver a quality product, the client would not think the extra cost worthwhile.

The other cause for excessive time consumption is inexperience. This occurs when someone undertakes a project for which the skills are learned on the job. The trick here is to determine what the project is worth to the client before you step in the morass of potentially unbillable hours then to decide whether being paid that sum is worth it to you, given that at the end of the project you will have skills and experience that make you a better practitioner. Keep in mind that no matter  how much time you think you will need to invest in this endeavor, it will take longer than you expect.

Under no circumstances, however, should you ask for your client to pay for your learning curve.

Of course, the third situation is when a client significantly changes the scope of the project mid-stream. When that happens it is extremely important to raise a flag immediately and explain why this is outside the scope of the project and how much the change in direction will alter the budget. This is not the time to assume that the client understands that they’ll pay more, because believe me, they won’t! There have been times when clients have come to me and said they didn’t think they’d paid enough for the services provided given how much extra had been added, but those instances are few and far between.

Lead Generation is the Bottom Line

What are clients looking for today? Lead generation. Not impressions, not visibility, not any of the intangible leadership positioning that they would have embraced in prior years.

Right now they want names, titles and contact information so they can convert those interested parties into customers.

And who can blame them? Almost every company I know is cutting staff. Recently I went to a meeting that had been scheduled less than two weeks earlier and found that one of the two people I’d been planning to meet with was gone . . . and the other looked nervous.

So how do you deliver what your clients need? One effective way to garner names is to give away information in exchange for registration: Webinars, white papers and “how to” information is highly sought after, especially as remaining employees are working harder to be smarter and more productive. Contests are also an excellent way to capture names. Your best tool in this regard is your Web site. Use it effectively and you can cultivate prospects and engage existing customers without a large budget or a large staff.

When your client becomes an industry resource, you can help them stay relevant and stay in touch with all those prospects that might become customers.

The Power of PR in the Social Media Environment

In today’s economy, maintaining a company’s good reputation is essential.

Over the past week, I’ve watched the power of PR and social media combine to achieve results that a single person found impossible. The issue was a custom made saddle for a professional rider. The rider had ordered the saddle from a “high end” French saddle maker at a cost of $4K.

Unfortunately for her, when said saddle was delivered, it didn’t fit her horse, despite the fact that the manufacturer’s rep had measured the horse. You’d think that in the interest of customer satisfaction, the manufacturer would take the saddle back and make it work. Well, they did take it back, but when it was returned to the customer it still didn’t fit. Two years later, the company had neither fixed the saddle or given the customer a refund.

In an act of frustration, the rider posted the story on a popular equestrian bulletin board. Watching the post expand was an interesting experience. Some readers expressed their outrage at how the rider had been treated by the custom saddle manufacturer; some shared their own customer service nightmares with the same company; and many people talked about the positive experiences they’d had with competitive companies.

After 37,868 views the company finally offered the rider a settlement. But at what cost? At least 10 writers said flat out that they would now look at other manufacturers, losing the company at least $40K in sales . . . and the long-term effect of this negative publicity is incalculable.

Website for Radiology Practice Features Browser-Updatable Content

As a PR practitioner I’ve always hated working on client websites that don’t have a content management system that I can access. Yes, I know they have legal issues to contend with, but inevitably even the smallest changes take forever to implement and typos manage to creep into the copy . . . requiring yet another round of changes and additional charges.

Recently I helped a radiology practice in Springfield, Mass. create a website. One of their requirements was that the site use a content management system that allowed them to make regular updates and additions.

When I work on a website I generate the information architecture, write the copy and serve as the interface between the client, the designer and the programmer. While this was supposed to be a “down and dirty” site to get them started, it ended up being pretty comprehensive, including information about the practice and educational information about the different aspects of radiology.

The site was built using Drupal which has a very user-friendly content management system and a lot of flexibility. Even I can make the updates as it requires only a minimal knowledge of HTML.

Radiology & Imaging

What Happens When Someone Types Your Company’s Name on YouTube?

Many corporate PR types and agencies still overlook the newest (and most dynamic) medium for managing their brand (or customer’s brand) on line: YouTube.

YouTube videos are flying under the radar and creating impressions that may (or may not) support your corporate identity. This is particularly an issue in the educational environment where user-created videos abound and where the creative content is well . . . different.

Is the Paper Newsletter a Thing of the Past?

Recently I had cause to change the service I use to produce HTML newsletters and I was amazed by how many options are now available. Just a few years ago, the choices were limited: if you didn’t know html or have a designer on staff, there were only a few companies that offered solutions with good templates and WYSIWYG software. Not any more! With the options that are now available, there’s no longer any excuse for not integrating an electronic newsletter into your program.

There are several compelling reasons to choose an electronic newsletter over print.

  1. Measurability. With an electronic newsletter you know who received it, who opened it and what they read. It’s a real eye-opener when you find out what topics your readers really care about and it allows you to leverage that knowledge by making your outreach tools more relevant.
  2. Interactivity. Print newsletters are just another way that we push information on readers. An electronic newsletter enables you to create a dialogue with your readers. It’s simple now to insert surveys, enable direct purchases, or enter promotions.
  3. Integration. Your newsletter is part of your image. An electronic newsletter allows you to create actual links among your communications outreach tools to bring the reader full circle. Most important is that the electronic newsletter helps drive traffic to your company – or client – web site, where they can get more information about your products or services. Plus, you can archive your old newsletters on the Web site, keeping that information just a click away.
  4. Cost. No printing and no postage. Need we say more? See how to choose a supplier (below) for more on distribution costs.
    Timely information. HTML newsletters typically allow you to get news out faster because the production time is so much shorter.

What’s the downside of going electronic? The only one I can think of is that people no longer have the paper in their hands. This can be a problem when your customers are not comfortable reading information on a computer screen or when they use downtime such as airline travel to read the newsletter.

E-Newsletters are Simple with the Right Supplier

Now that this technology has gone main stream, there are a lot more vendors to choose among. Too many, in fact. If you do a Google search, pages of different companies offering email solutions are listed. To choose a supplier, there are several criteria to consider. I’ve listed several of the features that I look for below. I also always take advantage of the free trial period offered by most companies to try out the features. In this article I’m only looking at hosted solutions, not software which would allow you to distribute newsletters from your own computer or server. I have assumed that the services all offer standard subscription management, the ability to import and export data, and preview and scheduling capabilities.

  1. A proven track record and a stable product. You want a company that has already worked out all the bugs in their product. You might also ask about recent and intended upgrades and how the company handles them. I had an account with a company where one day I tried to log into my account only to find out that in the upgrade process, they had changed the log-in procedures so that my password no longer worked. Even worse, so many customers were having problems with the upgrade that it took days for customer service to get back to me!
  2. Outstanding customer service. Many companies now offer extended – or even 24 hour – support. This is really important for those days when you’re working after hours and come up against a technical problem. Make sure that the customer service reps are available and knowledgeable. You don’t want to wait hours for a call back, find out that the person is not well versed in their product or learn that customer service shuts up shop at 5 p.m. I suggest making a few calls during the trial period to find out how each company handles questions. Some companies also limit how much free support you get, make sure you understand what is included in your standard fee.
  3. Flexible templates. If you are not a coding wizard, good templates are one of the most important parts of the package. Look for a variety of templates that have interchangeable modules. For example, you should be able to add blocks for new articles, for promotions, Web links, etc. Plus, none of the graphics should be fixed; you should be able to import your own to fully customize the templates. Some companies try to generate income money by selling you their services to customize their templates. With an intuitive interface and range of standard modules, this shouldn’t be necessary.
  4. Survey capabilities. Not all e-newsletter providers also support the ability to write surveys. This is a real shame because you can learn a lot from your readers by inserting questions into every issue. Many companies offer integrated products.
  5. Excellent reporting and tracking capabilities. You need to know more than just open rates, you want to be able to track who clicks on which links within your newsletter or how someone answers a specific question.
  6. Data segmentation capabilities. There are going to be times when you want to send different newsletters to targeted segments, or from separate email addresses. Your supplier needs to have the flexibility to allow advanced distribution while enabling comprehensive and integrated tracking.
  7. Finally, if you are an agency, you need a supplier that will allow you to maintain multiple accounts with separate identities. This will allow you to collect statistics over time and maintain graphics for each of your clients. Some companies want to charge you separately for this feature which can add up quickly if you are using them for several clients.

So what does all this cost?

HTML marketing companies typically charge a monthly fee based either on the number of contacts in your stored database, or the number of emails you send each month. The range in pricing can be large. For example, maintaining a database of 5,000 contacts can cost anywhere from $300 to $75/month. Some companies charge a set up fee in addition to the monthly fee, some companies charge more for an “agency” account that enables you to maintain separate identities. This is a case where doing some research can result in significant savings.

A Good Investment

In conclusion, with the cost of html email distribution services coming down and the range of services increasing, there is capability that no PR firm need (or should) do without. I find that I use html regularly and for more than just newsletters – it is an ideal way to send out press releases, invitations, surveys and announcements, all tools that benefit from the medium’s measurability, interactivity and reasonable cost.

Getting Started

Here are a few companies that offer these services to get you started.