How to Measure an Effective PR Campaign

Posted on July 10, 2019 by Mark Macias

By Mark Macias

How do you measure the performance of an effective PR firm? It’s a question I hear a lot from potential clients. There are several traditional ways to evaluate the performance of your PR agency, and you can read more on that with this blog on How to Measure the ROI of PR. If you’re short on time, the CliffsNotes are below:

Number of Media Placements
Demographics and Reader base for those Media Outlets
Increased Credibility, which Helps Close Sales;
Actual Sales, which can be measured through links published in news stories or through Analytics.
Improved SEO – since search engines use news stories and blogger stories to measure the value of a website.

But there is another way to measure the ROI of PR that is frequently overlooked. It’s more difficult to quantify than any Google Analytics Report but according to researchers out of Motista – a consumer intelligence analytics firm – it’s actually more persuasive and leads to higher revenue for brands. This is where the art of PR contrasts with the science of data.

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What is Public Relations? Does your business need PR?

Posted on July 8, 2019 by Mark Macias

By Annalee Tacuri

What is PR? It’s a simple question that many business owners ask MACIAS PR in conversations. In short, Public Relations introduces your brand or story directly to consumers through a third source. The media is one of the most popular platforms used in PR. Unlike advertising, public relations doesn’t buy media placements. The PR firm places your story in the media.

How is PR different from advertising?

Credibility: When commercials appear, you just want them to be over and return back to what you were watching. Consumers don’t trust ads, because the ads are trying to sell you a product. However, a TV segment brings more credibility to your product or service since it’s coming from the media.
Target Audience: Ads focus on targeting potential customers. PR can also target your desired customer by placing stories in the desired media outlet. But unlike advertising, PR continues working for your business long after the budget is over. With advertising, your ads are immediately pulled when your budget runs out.
Goals: Public Relations builds brand awareness through influential media placements. They also build trust with consumers who watch the story on TV or read it in the newspaper.

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MACIAS PR Releases Q2 Media Report – Client Coverage April to June

Posted on July 1, 2019 by Mark Macias

NEW YORK, July 1, 2019 (Newswire.com) – The healthcare and tech PR agency — MACIAS PR — has released its second quarter publicity report, detailing the media coverage it secured for clients from April to June 2019.

In the second quarter, MACIAS PR secured local TV segments in Baltimore, Maryland and St. Paul, Minnesota, as well as prominent business and tech publications across the country.

May was a busy month for MACIAS PR. The NYC PR agency led a media campaign that publicized a recent fundraising round for a healthtech client. The news announcement was covered by more than 30 news publications. TechCrunch, AlleyWatch, Entrepreneur, MobiHealthNews, Axios, and Fortune were just a few of the targeted media outlets that highlighted the $58 million fundraising round.

MACIAS PR secured publicity for other campaigns and clients with NBC News, Reader’s Digest, Barron’s Magazine, Women’s eNews, Popsugar, Innovation & Tech Today and others.

Helping Veteran Nonprofits gain Media Exposure

MACIAS PR led two local media campaigns for veteran-related nonprofits in Q2. Military.com published a profile feature on the veterans nonprofit, showing how it’s helping veterans find jobs in technology. A second story in Military.com detailed how the veterans nonprofit organization is a valuable research tool for active military and veterans, looking for work. MACIAS PR also secured a local TV segment in Baltimore on this nonprofit.

In May, MACIAS PR launched a local media campaign in Minnesota to help promote a VA Housing Summit in the Twin Cities. That media strategy led to stories on local radio, TV and the community newspaper.

“Local might sound too ‘small’ to the outsider, but when these campaigns are targeted, they can be extremely productive and effective,” said Mark Macias, the founder of the PR agency. “In many cases, local TV and community newspapers can be one of the most targeted campaigns, providing a better ROI. And since it’s not advertising, the story continues to sell your brand long after the campaign is over.”

MACIAS PR Launches New Growth Hacking Services

MACIAS PR launched a new growth hacking service under MACIAS LABS. The new digital marketing service leverages technology, content and strategy for maximum brand exposure.

“We’ve been tweaking this growth hacking process for years with clients,” said Macias. “We’ve discovered certain tools and approaches work better when it comes to blanketing the web and getting your message out there. We’re now making this growth hacking marketing tool available to our clients.”

About MACIAS PR

Marketing peers named MACIAS PR the 2017 and 2018 Strategic PR Firm of the Year. In 2015, 2016 and 2017, Finance Monthly named MACIAS PR the Financial PR Firm of the Year. The founder – Mark Macias – is a former Executive Producer with NBC and Senior Producer with CBS in New York. He’s also a frequent contributor with CNBC and author of the books, Beat the Press: Your Guide to Managing the Media and the Tao of PR.

What is the Cost of PR? How much are PR Fees?

Posted on July 1, 2019 by Mark Macias

How much does PR cost? New calculator reveals cost of PR

By Annalee Tacuri

How much is the cost of PR? Every business owner wants to know the answer to this question. The PR agency, MACIAS PR has developed a free calculator to reveal the answer for any industry.

PR firms typically tailor the price of a PR campaign based on the company’s goals. Since every company is different, a PR firm will customize a PR plan with different strategies. Before we break down the factors that go into the cost of PR, you should first understand the benefits of PR.

Benefits of PR

Public Relations will improve the overall reputation and credibility of your company. Earned media from using a PR firm would bring in the most lasting benefits to your company’s image. Some of the top benefits of PR are:

Impressed Investors: Investors will be extremely impressed to see how your company has appeared in influential media placements. An unbiased journalist writing an editorial on your company will present your company more attractive to invest in.
New Business and Clients: Media placements will also build your credibility to new potential clients. A potential client would pay more attention to an editorial article of your company rather than an advertisement.
Improved SEO: SEO is important for a website to not get lost in a google search. You gain more organic web traffic and user loyalty.

All of this information leads to the next common question, what exactly do PR firms do?

What are PR services?

Before you see the factors that determine the cost of PR, you should understand what you services you are going to be charged and what do these services entail. The following are examples of the initiatives that a PR firm would typically do:

Media relations: Pitch a compelling news story about your product or service for their media connections to pick up the story.
Content marketing: Using blogs and/or news outlets to create high quality content about your product or service in order to market it to the targeted audience and increase the time on page of the website.
Digital marketing: Increasing SEO of your website and implementing marketing automations to encourage more organic web traffic and user loyalty to your website.
Social media: Build up the company brand through a strong and consistent social media presence.
Crisis communication: Implement crisis strategies, such as media training to react to any negative situation or press releases against your brand.
Strategy consulting: Construct a strategic approach that is specifically tailored to the company’s goals in order to maximize media placements.

Now we understand the benefits of PR and PR services, let’s break down the elements that go into determining the price of PR campaign.

Factors that determine the Cost of PR

There is no straightforward formula to calculate the PR fees of a campaign. Similar to the Accounting industry, the PR industry needs to consider various factors. When determining the price of the campaign, PR firms consider the following:

Targeted audience: The targeted audience of a PR campaign could be B2B or B2C. PR firms use different PR tactics and resources to target each one of these audiences. So, there will be a variation in price between the two types of campaigns.
Campaign reach: A PR campaign can reach to the local, regional, national scale. Different resources from the PR team will be required depending on how large is the audience range the company wants to reach.
Type of coverage: Another factor on the PR fees of a campaign is how influential are the targeted media placements. Prestigious media placements, such as the national newspapers, require more intense PR strategies to land a story than local blogs.
The product or service: The more unique your product or service is, then the less complicated it would be to create a news angle for media placements. The PR fees for the unique product’s or service’s campaign would be less than a campaign with a difficult news angle to pitch.
Website for the product or service: The PR team would use less PR tactics to improve your website traffic if your company has credibility. A creditable company would have user loyalty that a PR team would be able to build on.

Considering the elements that go into determining the cost of PR, head over to FreePRQuote.com to receive an estimate on your next PR campaign.

Use the free calculator to determine the cost of PR for your next campaign

The founder and owner of MACIAS PR, Mark Macias created this free PR calculator to save time for business owners inquiring about the price of PR. The free calculator will determine the PR fees for your campaign without you hearing a sales pitch from a PR firm on the phone.

The virtual tool is made up of 8 questions regarding information about you company and your company’s goal. A business owner could fill out the Free PR Quote tool in less than 30 seconds. Within 48 hours, a detailed cost and proposal will be sent back to you. Try it out here!

Interested to learn more about Mark Macias and Maicas PR, continue to read along!

About MACIAS PR

In 2017 and 2018, MACIAS PR was named the Strategic PR Firm of the Year by marketing peers. In 2015, 2016 and 2017, Finance Monthly named MACIAS PR the Financial PR Firm of the Year based on their media deliverables, expertise and innovation in PR. MACIAS PR has run branding, media and crisis campaigns for tech and healthcare organizations, financial groups, nonprofit organizations, politicians and trade organizations. The firm is based in New York City. MACIAS PR was founded in 2009 by Mark Macias – a former executive producer with NBC, senior producer with CBS in New York and author of the business books Beat the Press: Your Guide to Managing the Media and The Tao of PR.