Is There a Money-back Guarantee for Public Relations?

At a local business association meeting this morning, I was talking with someone who wanted to get more earned media for his clients. He asked a question that I’m still thinking about: Do you offer any kind of guarantee that if someone works with you, they will get coverage in the media?

This is such a good question because it speaks to the heart of public relations. The goal is PR is to connect people, to raise their profile. If we can’t guarantee a result, what are we even doing here? As a business owner, provider of media relations services, and someone who is damn good at what I do, I want the answer to be unequivocally yes. And as a customer, I get that you expect to get the result you paid for.

But the fact is, it’s not that simple. You can do everything “right” and still not get the media coverage you want, sometimes because someone else has a similar story and they’re also doing everything right and sometimes because your beautifully written and perfectly timed news release is sent 15 minutes before a major, cross-industry news story breaks.

Here’s the answer I ended up with: If you do exactly what I tell you to do, then yes – you will get results. Part of my job is to help set expectations for that result and determine the right strategy to get there. National above-the-fold coverage isn’t a realistic goal for most new businesses, authors, or thought leaders. Anyone who promises you that kind of coverage without any caveats is selling you a monorail.

That doesn’t mean you can’t get major coverage, just that it’s not guaranteed and it generally requires a longer-term strategy to make it happen. Every overnight sensation has been working for years to make it.

If public relations is a game, then what I do for you is prepare you to make that half-court shot or touchdown. The work I do makes it more likely that you will get the result you want. That’s a guarantee I can back up and am happy to give!