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Getting Started Example

As a simplified getting started example, consider a hypothetical PR program in an electronics company. The PR program promotes the company's products and, to a lesser degree, the corporation.

The program has four goals, with an annual budget for each goal. The budget amounts shown include allocated manpower costs.

  1. Stimulate product reviews in the electronics trade press ($30,000).
  2. Try to get news coverage (company and product) in the electronics trade press ($80,000).
  3. Participate in four trade shows this year ($255,000). Last year, this program included only two shows.
  4. Write five speeches per year for the CEO ($50,000).
  5. TOTAL: $415,000.

For this program, as for any program, there are two overarching measurement questions:

Is It Profitable?

Does the total program pay for itself? That is, does it generate at least $415,000 in incremental gross profit? This is the question that a CEO or president is most likely to ask (if he asks any questions at all) about the PR program.

And of course, that question really means: "Should we leave this in place, or should we shut it down and use the money somewhere else?"

In a larger company, $415,000 may not be large enough to catch the attention of senior management. But it will be visible to, say, the head of sales and marketing.

In a smaller company, $415,000 is probably a significant line item in the budget, and the CEO or president typically would be interested in the profitability of this investment.

Is It Optimized?

How well optimized is each part of the program? That is, is each part tuned up so as to generate the maximum possible results, or something close to the maximum?

Remember, now, this is a hypothetical getting started example, and we are ignoring many important questions such as company health, market share, market position, barriers to entry in the market, the intelligence of the senior managers, internal politics, the skill level and maturity of the PR staff, and so on.

I have some tactical advice on how to proceed safely and efficiently.

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