How To Hire A Public Relations Firm by Robert Wynne (picked up from Forbes)
The value of good PR is easy to see: Positive news stories help companies retain clients and attract new ones. Delivering that value, though, and at the right price, is hard--and getting harder. The media industry downturn has left fewer scribes to go around, which means there are millions of press releases chasing fewer megaphones. To be heard above the chatter, many companies will hire public relations agencies. This article--the first in a new series, called "A Different Lens" on smart PR strategy--will guide you through the process. While a professional PR firm can deliver huge bang for your marketing buck, this business isn't rocket science. Truth be told, you could do a lot of it yourself--if you had the time and the connections, which you probably don't. That's not self-serving (I'm a PR pro), it's just plain fact. So for companies that aren't scraping to rub their very last two pennies together, hiring PR help, in some fashion, makes a lot of s...