We’ve helped many companies teach the masses about their products by getting reporters to do stories about them. Some, such as BreatheRight® nasal strips, have gone on to become dominant brands. We’re different from traditional PR firms, though; our Pay Per Interview Publicity® pricing model makes our agency a bit of a renegade.
I remember talking to a new employee who had once worked at a large home goods store. She told me that every time a news story would come out about a product, they would sell out of it. The power of the media to spread the word about a product is widely known, but most promotional plans all but skip PR. I think it’s because PR firms have the bad reputation of charging big retainers and not delivering. Most of the people my sales staff contacts are turned off until they hear we charge per placement.
You won’t be able to get your local PR firm to charge this way. It’s too risky for them. I got used to the concept of not being paid unless you did the job at an early age. When I was a kid, I worked with my dad who was a carpet layer. He was paid by the square yard, not by the hour. Our family of eight lived quite well off this performance-based concept. We worked hard but we made a good living.
My company takes a lot of flack from the PR industry for selling publicity by the placement rather than hourly. They look down their noses at us, but I don’t care. Our clients like us and that’s what counts.
Our services are modestly priced compared to advertising. I wish we could charge more but surprisingly the market will only pay about one tenth of what they will pay for ads. You’d think people would pay more to be the story rather than the ad but they won’t.
We’ve been in business almost 30 years now. We make thousands of calls to reporters and producers every month. We’ve arranged tens of thousands of product news stories: the kind that can have stores selling out of a product. We’d love the opportunity to arrange publicity for your product, too. To learn more, call Heather Champine at 952-697-5269 or complete our online form. Tell Heather about your product and find out how much publicity is available for you in your target market.
