Securing high calibre business and financial media coverage is a specialist skill

Late last week I was speaking to the MD of a company that raises funds for private, pre-IPO companies.  He was very dissatisfied with the media coverage his PR consultant had secured and was considering bringing the role inhouse.  

Other reasons for this move, as well as his dissatisfaction, were transparency and the opportunity of making money as they would charge back the service to their clients.  

When he mentioned the fees he was paying his "underperforming" PR it was in the vicinity of 3-5k per month.  The amounts his firm was raising for clients range from 300k to $3million.  

I was very straightforward with him that the fee was very low and would definitely be a large part of the reason for the poor results.

Do I think that paying his PR more would get better results?  No.

However, as with any profession, you get the results you pay for.  It is extremely easy when you're representing a media interested company such as Apple, Microsoft, David Jones, Flight Centre, Qantas, Caltex and others who rarely, if ever, have to chase media interest.  Just type up a media release and the next day it will in the media. Of course their concerns are the desired outcome of the media reporting and often trying to not be in the media at all.

I'm talking about securing media coverage for companies that have a low profile, or none at all, and need to be sold into the media.  Or companies who quite simply are just not that interesting.

Companies who, because they are raising capital, listing on the ASX, or for other reasons require major media coverage - full pages, double pages in leading publications such as BRW, Australian Financial Review, The Australian, ABC Business Lateline, ABC 7.30 Report and so on.  

This level of media coverage is not an easy task and it is not achievable by your run of the mill PR person earning 80k or 100k or consultant charging 5k per month.   

To be able to secure media coverage of this high calibre considerable years experience is required as is media specialisation which really requires, in my opinion, a journalist background. 

It's similar to comparing a lawyer to a barrister, or GP to a medical specialist. 

Media relations is a specialist area of public relations and there are very few people in Australia who specialise in it.  

Furthermore, securing an article in Australia's leading business and finance media is significantly more difficult than, for example, getting a piece in a fashion magazine, a cafe review, or software/computer article. 

So if you are wanting to secure high level media coverage, which is extremely valuable, be prepared to pay for a specialist.  Or another option is you can book an advertisement which does not have the credibility of an article written by a journalist.  

To buy a full page advertisement in BRW will cost $16,500 but it's an ad and when was the last time you read an ad?  

You wouldn't scan and place an ad booked in BRW on your website or send it to potential clients.  There's no point, everyone knows that you bought that page.

It's common to hear complaints about PRs but clients really need to assess what results they want and what they need to be prepared to invest to get these results.