Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

Fees For Pay-for-performance Pr

Posted by josiah.filler on 7/16/2012 at 9:18 PM ET 25 Points
Hello, first time posting here.

I work at a small e-commerce start-up that is looking to install a pay-for-performance PR model in the near future, most likely with an individual PR rep (rather than a firm). After extensively reading up on the topic on this board and elsewhere we've decided to go with a three tier fee model based on a combination of publication relevance, audience size and brand value.

I'm about to begin negotiations to determine how much to pay for coverage within each tier, can anyone provide benchmarks for what a fair compensation range typically looks like?
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by ben.singkol on 7/17/2012 at 5:04 PM Member
    I would have to agree with this. Everyone wants the best performance for the price, but this is not always feasible. Not to mention that paying based on performance is a bit of a contradiction. Performance is subjective, and determining a rate based on a subjective idea is only going to cause problems. I hope you do find what you are looking for, but the idea seems a bit complicated.
  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 7/17/2012 at 7:49 PM Accepted
    I guess I also am not big on the pay for performance model. One worry is that you will spend a lot of time trying to track performance, that any cost savings you hoped to get would disappear. Audience size can be cut and dry a lot of the time, and you can say what the relevance of publications is up front (you should), but the brand value is very subjective.

    One challenge you will have is finding someone to take it on. To start with, the person will not be getting any money for months, as PR work takes time. And they aren't in full control - they still need experts from the company to be available to talk to media and speak well. A bad expert can ruin all the work of the PR person.

    On setting a price - guess you could figure out how much you expect to have done, how much time that would reasonably take (think in regards to percentage of full time), and then multiply by what a PR person could expect to make if they worked 40 hours a person billing hourly. Keep in mind that consultants generally make more than internal people because they have to pay a chunk of taxes on their own (that companies pay if they are employees), pay for their own benefits, and have to spend unbillable time finding new clients.
  • Posted by susanne on 7/19/2012 at 4:19 PM Member
    Agree with everyone here. I would never work on pay per performance. Rather, I build measurement into everything I do, and tie all of my work directly to my client's business goals. As we move forward, we are constantly assessing to see if what we are doing is working, and adjusting what isn't working.
  • Posted by josiah.filler on 7/20/2012 at 8:20 PM Author
    Thanks you for all of your responses folks. Very helpful!

    Susanne - would love to hear more about how you build measurement into your work. Any specific metrics you would be willing to share?

    Also, any insight you can provide around how you structure your updates with your clients? (e.g., agenda, length, etc)?

    Thanks so much
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