Why PR?Why not advertise instead?

How will PR benefit my business?Is it measurable?

What am I going to get out of it?

What's that offensive growth on the side of that guy's head?

A lot of companies ask these questions.

[caption id="attachment_1890" align="alignnone" width="206"]

An offensive growth yesterday.[/caption]

Unfortunately, as someone who works in PR, a lot of these questions are put to me.

So that I never have to answer them again, because each time they're put to me I feel like running myself through, I thought I'd get the answers down on page here instead.

So if anyone ever asks me again, I'll simply say: w, w, w, dot....

After the FO bit.

Stuff PR does not do

Let's flip this on its head a bit by looking at what PR doesn't do, or rather what it shouldn't be relied on to do.

Stuff PR does do

How do you measure PR?

This is another question we always get asked. It's also another of those questions that drive me to drink.

My answer is that you can't accurately measure the value of PR. There are a few methods PR morons use, such as equivalent advertising value, and stuff like that, but they're a load of old rubbish.

Basically, people will either see the value of PR or they won't.

Today, for example, one of our clients, the
.

Look, I'm not making it up, here's a scan.

[caption id="attachment_1902" align="alignnone" width="478"]

Advertising can't ever give you this kind of great publicity: front page editorial mention on a national newspaper.[/caption]

I can tell you now that the phone is unlikely to have rung on the back of that article, despite the fact that Garrington will have been exposed to many millions of people.

But does that mean it's not valuable?

What value do
place on being on the front page of a national newspaper, on the TV or in The Guardian?

Because that's all that matters.

If you value it, then PR may well be for you.