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Kevin Ainsworth, Elle Naylor and Adrian Maguire of Clickinto PR.com.

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1:00 am, April 21, 2008
Pay-as-you-go PR

When times are tight, clients won't pay for chat

By Joanne Birtwistle

Public relations people say it can take months of careful planning for a strategy to come to fruition. They would say that. Most prefer a retainer payment model, where a client is charged for calling on the agency's services for a given number of days each month.

Few agencies will give you their rate if you ring up and ask — most will want a meeting to assess your requirements and determine your budget first. But, as a guide, you can expect to pay between £600 and £1,000 a day for a city centre agency; £500 to £700 for a younger agency or one that is outside the city centre; and between £300 and £500 a day for a one man band.

Some agencies expect a minimum monthly spend though, which could range from £2,000 to as much as £8,000 at the top end.

Rob Baker of Artisan Marketing Communications is a one man operation. He says that it's important not to choose an agency just because it might be £100 cheaper than the next. “The key question is: are they enthusiastic and do they really want your business. That way you'll get more out of it than if you are just another account. Also, it's important that you get on with them and feel they are trustworthy and honest.”

But exactly what do you get for your money and how can you measure the results?

The client's desired return on investment is coverage in the media, so how about payment by results? Some PR agencies in Greater Manchester are giving it a go.

Media coverage



Tangerine and Pazang both have clients on retainers but are also trying out an alternative charging model based primarily on how much media coverage is achieved.

“This is a way for people to justify the marketing budget within their own company,” said Tanya Arturi, managing director at Pazang.

Pazang, based in Wilmslow with annual revenue of £300,000, has offered its new model since January 2008. Arturi's approach is to sit down with the client and mutually agree minimum coverage levels in advance. “This gives transparency and tangibility but we still operate like a normal agency. The client still pays a fixed amount each month but they have a money back guarantee, on a pro-rata basis,” said Arturi.

There are criteria for what constitutes coverage: that it is an original piece; that the piece carries a minimum of two or three key messages; and that the coverage is from a pre-agreed list of key media. But there are limitations to this approach. “Most existing clients have switched, but not everyone,” said Arturi. “Things like event support are not covered by this model.”

Pazang also has a waiver, in case a client is unable to sign off a press release or piece of news quickly enough and misses coverage as a result. “That's why we agree upfront what's expected on both sides of the partnership,” said Arturi.

Adam Chinn is in charge of marketing at car servicing and MOT company Nationwide Autocentres and has been working with Tangerine for over a year. He asserts that working on a payment by results basis should not be viewed as a cheaper option nor as an excuse to put in less effort.

“In fact it tends to bring out the best in the agency because they know they have to deliver quality results for the client; it just means you are 100 per cent satisfied that you're paying for what you get and not — as often happens with other PR consultancies — paying for time and chat,” he said. “In the current uncertain economic climate and with ever tightening marketing budgets, agencies need to deliver performance and value for money options for their clients.”

Payment by results



Sandy Lindsay, managing director at Tangerine, which is based in Manchester's Castlefield district and has a £1.6m turnover, applies a payment by results model on simple product placement PR campaigns, where there are no complex messages and the client is purely interested in gaining media coverage for its products and services.

Both agencies emphasised that they do not offer pay-as-you-go press release writing services. “I think that devalues PR,” said Lindsay. “To help a business get better you have to learn about it. You can't do that by being on the end of a phone and writing a press release — it's absolutely pointless.

“I'd recommend that rather than going for a pay-as-you-go ad-hoc press release machine, smaller businesses should learn how to do it themselves. There are one-day courses that are relatively cheap that a small business person could go on. They know what their business needs.”

Neither Arturi nor Lindsay would say how much they charge for coverage achieved. “For the client, whether he is paying by results or the normal retained way, he will look at whether a page of editorial is worth more than a page of advertising. We would say editorial is worth more than advertising,” said Lindsay.

Ainsworth Maguire, a three-person agency based in Bury, does not charge a retainer fee. It says it “works like a traditional PR agency”, but charges an hourly rate. For year end April 2008, the business expects to achieve a turnover of £150,000.

It developed an online PR service in 2004, which partner Adrian Maguire says is ideal for smaller businesses as it keeps costs down. This side of the business, branded ClickintoPR, is expected to generate £25,000 by the end of April 2008.

Clients go online, fill out a form containing set questions, pay the fee by credit card, then the agency's team create the press release from the information provided. Press releases are issued once the client has confirmed approval.

Basic costs



A basic press release about an appointment, product, service or event costs £225 for a three-day turnaround, rising to £320 for the one-day express service, while a case study is £475. ClickintoPR adds a further £110 for the distribution of that release in one country. Other services include writing website copy (£95 per 200 word page), electronic mail shot letters (£195), advertorial copy (£750), writing feature articles (£895) and then placing that feature (£775).

“Our genuine belief is that smaller businesses don't get a look-in because most PR agencies turn them away as not being of sufficient value. There is a market out there that is not being serviced very well by the traditional PR set up,” said Maguire.

“If you were to place a half page advert in a single magazine, its going to cost you more than giving this service a go,” said Maguire. “For the people who have chosen to use the service we have a good return rate. Nearly everyone that uses it once uses it again.”

The ClickintoPR website is being refined at present. “We are planning to take off some features — we perhaps have too many on now. We'll try to eliminate the confusion, streamline it and simplify it. But it's certainly here to stay,” said Maguire.



COMMENTS? jbirtwistle@crain.com