Finding the Perfect Fit

Finding Public Relations specialists that will perfectly fit your needs can be overwhelming. Important factors to consider are budget, time, ideas, and media connections. Understanding what will be included in your package is extremely important. Anyone can find a public relations specialist, but one needs to know what he or she is looking. When searching it is imperative to thoroughly consider these factors so you are able to obtain a public relations specialist that matches your needs.

Budget is an extremely important factor and crucial element to consider when looking for a public relations specialist. A common response from business professionals is that they cannot afford a public relations specialist. However, there are many agencies and specialists available that the average person is unaware of. Normally the high-end PR firms can charge anywhere from $20,000 per month and $1,000 for a single press release. However, the level of service one will receive is included in the price, but the big question is who will be working on your project?

Usually there are different levels of specialists; Interns/Junior Executives can cost $75 per hour (Very little experience), Account Executives can cost $100-$125 per hour (1-3 years of experience), Senior Account Executives can cost $125-$200 per hour (Multiple years of professional experience).

There are some PR firms that can offer a one-time press release at an affordable price. But what quality of service are you going to get? Press releases will range from $300-$500 dollars but they send it and hope it delivers it is really low cost but really risky with no guarantee. This is affordable but one must ask is it worth it? Is it what you are looking for?

There are many PR specialists that have worked at high-end firms that now own their own boutique agency. These PR specialists are the hidden gems in the industry; they have the media contacts, the experience and usually can work with any budget. They usually charge per hour or for project itself which can range anywhere from $50-$100 per hour. Not only will the budget work but they will have the media contacts and provide amazing customer service throughout the project.

When finding a PR specialist key factors to remember;

Do they understand what you are looking for?

Do they have media connections to make this successful?

What is the time frame designated for this project?

Goodluck!

-Sara 

New Age of Marketing for the Big Game

The Super Bowl is the biggest game of the year! The one game that sports fans wait anxiously for and marketers spend the entire year in preparation. The main reasons why people love the Super Bowl are; the big game, the halftime show, and the infamous commercials during the game. It is a great year for the Super Bowl, the 2007 Rematch New England Patriots and New York Giants and the amazing line up for the halftime show featuring Madonna with special guests Nicki Minaj, M.I.A and LMAFO. Then of course, are the commercials. Which commercial will be talked about come Monday? Personally my favorite Super Bowl commercials have been Budweiser with the frogs and Coca-Cola with the polar bears.

A few years ago marketers for big companies would spend a majority of their time preparing for the big commercial for championship game and not to mention the money that is spent for a 60 second commercial. Today the average for a 30 second commercial during the Super Bowl on the NBC network is $3.5 million dollars with an average of 70 commercials during the game. The competition is fierce with over 111 million viewers glued to their television sets not wanting to miss a second. A few years ago marketers would focus on just the commercial, knowing that everyone would return to work the next day talking about the game.

That was then and this is now, marketers are now promoting the ad itself rather than the product. A few of the top companies participating in promoting the ad for the Super Bowl have been Coca-Cola, Honda, Kia, and Volkswagen. These companies have been promoting their big advertisements for Super Bowl Sunday mainly through various social media sites.

Volkswagen used social media sites such as YouTube and Facebook for their promotion outlet. The teaser ad debuted on January 18^th and has received more than 10 million views on YouTube with over 676,000 shares on Facebook. This has become the new trend and why not when you’re spending a few million dollars for a 60 second commercial. With clutter being the big problem in advertising, social media provides a different platform for marketers to stand out from the competition.

What song are the dogs singing?

 Coca-Cola is heavily promoting the come back of the polar bears. They have created a website dedicated for the come back of the polar bears. The website includes a count down clock and the teasers for the big upcoming commercial. Coca-Cola encourages visitors to RSVP to the main day event and by doing this the visitors assist Coca-Cola with meeting their goal. They have set a goal of reaching so many RSVP’s and once the goal is reached they donate 100,000 to the arctic home project which distributes funds for the polar bears of the arctic. They have already surpassed their goal with four days left before the big day and currently have already donated  $165,667 dollars to the fund. It will be interesting to see if these companies are the ones talked about on Monday. 

"The world is changing, We needed to come to the party with something new and different." - Pio Schunker, Coca Cola's Vice President 

It will be interesting to see if these companies are the ones talked about on Monday. I don’t know about you but I can’t wait for Super Bowl Sunday!

-Sara