These days, everyone is trying to get more for less. And when you’re a public relations practitioner, that especially includes your clients.  We’re in a recession, so smart business owners are out to get more than their money’s worth. Clients want to see the impact of each dollar spent.

But what can you do to add value to an existing public relations contract without investing too many precious hours that you don’t plan to bill? Here are a few ways to easily add components to your contract and enhance the public relations work you’re already doing. Tip: Assign these tasks to a PR intern who is eager to learn.

Set Up a Facebook Fan Page

The new Facebook Fan Pages are much better than the old Facebook groups because they allow you create a profile for a business much like you would create a profile for yourself.  Fan pages allow businesses to list standard business info like hours of operation, web address and phone numbers, as well as update the status bar to answer the “What are you doing?” question much like you would do on Twitter.  I like the fan page because it allows business to combine the lightweight functionality of Twitter with a photo gallery, video, and more. The client can update their fan page to quickly reflect changes in hours, menu, prices, sales, promotions, etc. The client can also upload photos to show potential customers the interior of the establishment, etc.

Offer to Set Up a Blog 

I happen to love setting up blogs for clients because I’m a writer and content is my middle name.  If you’re a writer, researcher, or creative type (which you are if you’re in PR) suggest helping your client set up a blog focusing on their industry. But be sure to make the blog industry and solutions-focused, not company service-specific. Readers don’t want to feel like they’re getting sold; they want to feel like you’re helping them solve a problem.

Your client may want to build out a blog section as a part of their custom site. If not, there are tons of free blog publishing platforms out there, so the investment will be nominal. My personal preference is WordPress, but there are a few other blog services that offer powerful publishing capabilities for little or no cost.

Setting up a blog can be time consuming though, because you want to get the colors, design, fonts, headings, and taglines just right. If you need some help on this, subcontract some of the content development  out to a professional writer.  Be sure to suggest topics for your client to blog about, or be prepared to provide the first few posts to get the ball rolling.

Set Up a YouTube Channel

Another easy, free way to get your client maximum exposure is a YouTube channel.  Take the blog beyond mere words by embedding video. Bonus: Once you upload your video on  YouTube, you can tag it with keywords to make it instantly searchable.  This, of course will aid in SEO-one of those ROI factors clients love. Videos are also a great way to incorporate “how to” messages, product demonstrations, on-site facility tours, employee interviews and more. There really is no limit to where you could go with video. And again, since YouTube is a free service, the investment is only your time.

What have you done to add value for your clients?

I had lunch with a PR colleague last week and we did what we PR folks always do: talked shop, dished about our clients and ultimately built each other up. I have these sort of sessions often with my brothers and sisters in the public relations and marketing world, but for independent practitioners especially, I find it’s almost a required activity.

While lunching with my colleague, she said the most insightful thing.  One of the reasons our professional lives are filled with so much anxiety, aside from the fact that our jobs are built on countless uncertainties–the impossible to guarantee media coverage, the unforseen bad weather on the day of an outdoor event–is because we’re always trying to silence that annoying little voice in the back of our heads that says we’re only as good as our last project.

You know the drill. You do a great event, then another and another. But inevitably, you’re working on a project that was the victim of the organization’s poor planning, unrealistic expectations, or both.  The budget runs short and time runs out. You have to jerry-rig your way through, and you do, but you’re left with that unsavory taste in your mouth because as a PR professional, you take the good with the bad. You take full responsibility for the slightest mishap; and you’re understandably unnerved when the small  details don’t quite come together.

But you are not your last project, or even your next. Your career will not be judged on a tiny mistake, nor will it ultimately be gauged by a singular success. And since the big picture is so hard to see from the eye of the storm, here are a few ways to calm your nerves and boost your confidence when you’re in the middle of a public relations or marketing maelstrom.

Review the Home Runs: Every now and then, it does the ego good to glance back over your portfolio and take a gander at those projects that exceeded you and the client’s expectations.  Own that success and give yourself a pat on the back. Continue Reading

A lot of you are transitioning from journalism or another industry to public relations, and are wondering how to gain the experience that will help you land your next gig. Some of you have volunteered as much as you can afford to and need to start bringing in the money while you continue to gain experience.

Subcontracting, or offering a specific service or skill on a project under another person/company’s contract,  is a great way to break into the industry and make money without the added responsibility of being in charge. You may not be ready for prime time but that doesn’t mean you can’t work under someone who is.

So how do you go about subcontracting? Where do you find projects and how do you convince someone to hire you? If you’re a recent graduate who’s looking to get a PR gig, or a mid-career professional who wants to make the leap over from another industry, here are some tips to guide you.

Take Stock. Identify your strengths as well as your weaknesses.  I recently discovered that I’m not really the party planner in terms of making an event look visually beautiful. I am gifted however, with event scripting and planning how an event will flow from moment to moment. So if I got a lead on an event planning project, I would not bill myself as the expert in floral arrangements or banners. But remarks? Run of show? I’m your girl.

My point is, take stock of what you’re really good at, and use that to get your foot in the door. During your subcontracting gig, you’ll invariably learn new skills to add to your repertoire.  Build your skill set with each project so each time you approach someone, you’ll have more and more services to offer.

Create a Portfolio. I  recommend creating a  portfolio and posting it online, and adding the hyperlink to your e-mail signature.  But this document should also come in an easy to email format (preferably an easy to e-mail pdf).  When you’re pitching yourself, you will inevitably hear the words “Send me something,” so  be ready with samples of your best work. If you’re a great writer, have your best clips handy. If you’re a graphic designer, your most beautiful creations. If you’re an event planner, create a portfolio that visually captures the essence of your most memorable events. Done a little media relations? Mock up a case study or two that includes your pitch and resulting coverage.

Analyze the News for Buried Leads-Pun Intended. This may sound like a no-brainer, but it bears repeating anyway.  You should always read the paper and follow the business section, your town’s business journal and any industry publications that pertain to you.  Look for interesting events, developments and projects that will be coming down the pipeline in the coming months.  Do some digging to find out who is doing the PR for a particular project so that you can approach them with your portfolio. Continue Reading

Heathere Evans-Keenan is the immediate past president of PRSA’s National Capital Chapter (for the Washington,DC region), founder and president of Arlington-based Keenan PR, winner of countless national and local PR awards, and one of my most valued mentors. She agreed to meet me on a recent frigid morning in DC to have coffee and talk shop. I shot this short video of Heathere (please ignore my lack of camera skills and the background noise at the coffeeshop) talking about how to handle PR in 2009.

With the economy throwing everyone for a loop, public relations, marketing and media professionals need wise counsel  to help us make the best decisions for our readers/clients and ultimately  our careers.  To that end, I’m pleased to introduce  Mopwater Senior Counsel, a  column that will feature specific advice from senior-level PR and marketing professionals with at least 15 years experience in the field.

Paul Duning is the founder of the DC-area’s communications resource Capitol Communicator.  Duning founded CC after he lost a senior communications job during the economic downturn of 2001.  Instead of getting defeated, Duning got busy creating one of the most exciting platforms for communications networking in this region. Read more about Duning’s creative lemons-to-lemonade story of innovation and entrepreneurship.

Mopwater asks: What do you do when you get laid off from your media or PR job?

Answer: Take time to regroup, get creative, and get to work on a completely new endeavor.

Paul Duning, Founder of Capitol Communicator

Prior to starting Capitol Communicator, I   spent 30 months as the merger & acquisition lead for a company consolidating communications-related companies in three markets. During that period, I met with several hundred communications companies across a broad spectrum of disciplines and was instrumental in bringing together 17 companies.

Then came the bust of 2001 and 2002.

My role quickly changed from integrating to re-organizing, which resulted in multiple rounds of difficult layoffs including, in the end, my own.

So I took a bubble-imposed sabbatical and spent the summer traveling with my family. During that time, I was struck with this idea to create a resource for communications professionals.   [I wanted] to bring a community back together that had been terribly fragmented by 911 and the economic downturn that followed. Continue Reading

It doesn’t feel very good to have your client call you up and break the news that they’re cutting back.   But since we are well into what appears to be an ever deepening recession, it’s something you’ll probably experience this year if you haven’t already.

It happened to me a few months ago. One of my clients relies heavily on government funding; about $31 million or so worth of it.  By and large, their programming dollars come mostly from one government agency.  Our city government, like many others around the country, is facing the prospect of furloughs, so millions are getting trimmed from the operating budget.  Naturally, my client’s twice-removed $31 million program ended up on the chopping block.

I knew something was up when I could never reach my  contact directly. When I finally did get her on the phone, she informed me that my invoices were being held up by the funding agency for further review. The funders wanted more details about what I was doing (that hard to define PR work), etc. At the same time, the agency’s financial woes had been leaked to the papers and were all over Internet. I’m no dummy.  I knew where this was going.

My contract, which was actually up for renewal, was put on hold.  One of my specialties is multi-month, multi-year, multi-tier communications and marketing programming, so I couldn’t stop working cold turkey without letting a lot of time and effort go to waste.  Pulling the plug meant that quite a few irons I had in the fire would not only cool, but go cold all together.  A few projects that had stretched out over several months were finally nearing completion. But I was no longer receiving payment, so what was I to do?
Continue Reading

To say that economically, things are rough around here would be an understatement, and at this point also a cliche. For entrepreneurs, things are tougher than they once were, no question. But that’s not to say that there aren’t still opportunities for marketing and PR professionals to turn a profit.

It’s really tempting to get so excited about the prospect of a new client that you underbid yourself. Not to mention the dynamics of this recession. You might start thinking “Wow, things are really tough right now, and I’m sure they can’t really afford my normal rate. We’re in a recession. Let me lower my fees, so that I can close the deal, just this once…”

But you’re never going to turn a profit if you don’t get paid what you’re worth. And you can’t get paid what you’re worth if you hedge every time someone says they can’t afford you. Furthermore, that will really come back to bite you once this recession is over. Your clients (who didn’t know you were doing them a favor) will think that you’re only worth the peanuts that you charge.

Scenario: You meet with a new client. You absolutely love them. They love you and you’re both giddy about working together. You promise them a proposal/quote for your services and they tell you they’re looking forward to it. You go home, happy and start slaving over the proposal. You painstakingly detail the scope of work and deliverables. You decide how long all of this will take, outline the budget and break down your fees. You submit the proposal and wait. Continue Reading

We all know someone in journalism who has lost a job over the past year. Some of us (like myself) started out in journalism, got laid off, and are now working in public relations. Many of my former media contacts are now in-house public relations counsel or are now my competitors on the independent PR scene! So the question becomes, with newsrooms shrinking all over the country, what’s a PR pro to do when her contacts take the buyouts or get laid off?

Bulldog Reporter has an article today that posts some pretty simple tips on what to do when your media contacts move on. It’s pretty standard stuff, but worth reading.  To sum up: get on social media, blog like crazy and make use of twitter to rebuild your media contact list. Read the story here.

Yesterday I spoke with my friend and mentor Karen Alston over at Alston Marketing Group. I knew someone who was looking to do a national marketing campaign and I couldn’t submit a proposal (due to a conflict of interest) but I knew Karen’s firm would be perfect. (See tip # 4) Anyway, she was getting my thoughts before she prepared her proposal, and we began to chat about how things were going in her world.

I love Karen: she is frank and honest and will let you know when things aren’t going so well. She said she can gauge how the overall economy is doing by her phone. If the phone rings, things are okay. If it sits there silently, things are definitely not good.

Not surprising that her phone hadn’t rung in months. But what you may find interesting is that she’s noticed a little bit of an upswing.

Just this week she’s gotten 4 calls to bid on new work.

And she’s apparently not the only one. The Firm Voice just posted an article about 2009 budgets. They’re saying that businesses aren’t arbitrarily cutting PR and Marketing budgets, because those businesses still recognize the value of their PR and Marketing programs. (Someone in our industry must be doing their job!) Business and organizations are however, focusing more on results and added value (see tip # 1). Continue Reading

Can independent PR and Marketing professionals survive the economic downturn? Absolutely. While we all keep hearing about how bad things are, there are still opportunities for marketing and PR pros to grow our businesses, even though many see what we do as the icing on the cake.

Here are 8 ways consultants like me can bring in new clients and hold on to current clients during the downturn.

1.ADD VALUE. Gone are the days of billing your client monthly with no clear, measurable results. Customers these days want to see that the thousands of dollars they pay you each month are giving them million-dollar results. Send them detailed reports that describe more than just your number of billable hours, or build measurement into your scope of work. Offer them fresh ideas and new deliverables outside of your marketing or PR calendar. Consider it a part of your own marketing and retention strategy to give your clients a little more than they pay for.

2. PLANT SEEDS IN FERTILE GROUND. Entrepreneur Magazine has posted its 2009 trends to watch. Among the areas that are expected to experience growth are green/environmentally friendly products and services, health and fitness, web applications, and products or services geared toward baby boomers. So if you’re looking for a new client to pursue, check out businesses in your area that offer these things.

3. KEEP NETWORKING. It’s tempting, especially for start-ups, to forgo the hefty pricetag of many networking events held by professional associations. But in these economic times it’s even MORE important to network, network, network. Who knows, you may be really great with media relations and meet someone who’s an incredible writer. Then they hear of a gig writing and pitching a series of op Eds for a company executive, they remember meeting you, and they pull you into the project. Which brings me to my next tip…

4. FORM COLLABORATIVE PARTNERSHIPS. The power of collaboration is amazing. Brian Clark over at Copyblogger wrote a really great post about collaborating that you should check out. But anyway, form partnerships with people who have skills that complement yours so that whenever big projects come up, you can each take a little piece of the business. Form arrangements with other independents and routinely offer a combined list of services when you’re sending out proposals for new business. No one can do it all, but if your network is strong and talented, you can handle any project.

5. DON’T FORGET YOUR OWN PR. Never miss the chance to get your name and your company’s name out there. You might work hard for your clients, but if you want to increase the name recognition of your agency and eventually land more clients, you’ve got to get out in front. So pitch a story about your company (not just your client) to the media.

6. TELL PEOPLE WHAT YOU’RE DOING. The general public doesn’t always know what we PR and Marketing professionals do on a day to day basis. So join Twitter and post tweets about what you’re doing for your clients. It will remind people of what you do and what you’re good at, so they’ll think of you first if they ever need those skills and services.

7.PUT SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKS TO WORK. Update your Facebook page and linked in profile with your blog and/or company Web site url and professional bio. You never know who might see your profile. Your long lost high school calculus tutor might be running a company that could use your services. If s/he sees your company web site on Facebook, s/he might just check you out.

8.GET INVOLVED IN INDUSTRY ORGANIZATIONS. Position yourself as a leader by speaking at your local PRSA, IABC, AMA or AD Club functions, or sponsor an association event and get your company name and logo on display. If you can’t afford to sponsor an industry association event, work out an exchange for services. You can edit the newsletter or volunteer your time some other way in exchange for sponsorship status.

So what are your tips? What are some ways you’ve been able to keep clients or get new ones during these tough economic times?