Take a look at any marketing initiative, from advertising and e-marketing to Web development and trade shows. They all have the constraint of a fixed budget, and finite staff
resources mandates that marketing pros make a focused, disciplined and strategic allocation of their marketing and sales resources.
That is, except for public relations.
For all the talk of bringing strategic value to the management table -- and many PR professionals do -- we take on projects with vague goals no more specific than "getting
buzz." While our advertising colleagues impose a disciplined approach to allocating time, budget and resources, PR people too often justify their work with rationales like "PR is
an inexpensive way to get our product seen."
It's not that PR pros aren't smart or strategic thinkers. They understand the value of PR in the marketing mix and its contribution to a corporation or organization.
Rather, in the rush to promote PR as the "can-do-all-solution," PR sometimes sets the wrong expectations, takes on too much and delivers too little. We're then left wondering
why management and clients are frustrated that PR isn't measurable or accountable to well-defined business goals.
PR is Not a Limitless Resource
The problem is that PR is rarely viewed as a fixed resource. Sales mangers only have so many sales people to cover a targeted territory. Ad budgets are not open-ended. Yet PR
is tasked with an ever-expanding list of tactical deliverables to be executed with a fixed set of resources.
A "fixed resource" doesn't mean the budget is too small. A "fixed" PR resource -- budget, time, people -- is finite. There are only so many people, working so many hours with
so many dollars and support, who can do the job well.
Presented with the many jobs PR people are tasked with -- make our company stand out from the competition, generate sales inquires, persuade analysts, protect our reputation --
we too often just grab our set budget and get started. We've taken on too much with too little support and, in the end, produce meager results.
One answer to this problem may be found in imposing a disciplined approach to using our fixed resources in a manner that forces us to put hard thinking against the "Why" of
what we do, before the "What" of our tactics. This discipline often begins with the budget process.
'Dollar Bill Budgeting'
When clients ask us "how much should we spend?" we advise them to think about their PR budget and resources as a single dollar bill. One dollar or a hundred thousand dollars,
it doesn't matter, it's still a fixed resource.
Just how far can that dollar go? Well, what do you need to do? Attract channel partners, use PR to reach eight vertical markets, launch three products, get out two (or 10)
press releases each month, build a crisis management plan, gauge market issues? Based on your business plan, and anticipating the unanticipated, make an inventory of what needs to
get done.
Now take that dollar and an imaginary pair of scissors and start cutting. Whether you have one dollar or $10,000, how much of the dollar goes toward vertical marketing? Snip,
snip.
How much of the buck goes toward trade shows? Sure, PR for a mid-sized trade show might cost $5,000 or $25,000 depending on the scope of work, but don't worry about that yet.
Let's say you snip off 15 cents. Now move onto writing technical articles, or the financial relations program.
How to Slice and Dice
Faced with fixed PR resources, watch what happens next. Instead of management asking, "What can PR do, how much and how fast?" they'll start asking "Why should we do A versus
B?" "Is there another way to accomplish X?" "We've always launched a new product with a media tour, but is there another way?" Management is now asking PR the strategic "why"
questions instead of the tactical "what." And isn't that the value PR professionals want to present?
By looking at PR as a fixed resource, regardless of the size of the budget, it forces us all to think about the "why" of what we're recommending, rather than just responding to
an every-filling file of requests that can't be met with any measurable success.
Contacts: Roger Bridgeman is president of Boston-based PR firm Bridgeman Communications Inc. He can be reached at 617.742.7270, [email protected]