In general, the concept of PR, like many things in this country, has long been perverted. What is meant by this word today? It no longer occurs to anyone to associate PR with the phrase “public relations”, although this is a direct translation of the English phrase “public relations”, from which, in fact, the abbreviation PR was formed. Ivy Lee’s ideas were revised by modern specialists, and the most important thing was missing from the provisions on “PR” – the principle of two-way communication, when not only an enterprise / person forms his image in the eyes of consumers / the population, but also receives information from them, when the interests of everything are combined society as a whole. A PR agency in Russia does not do this, because it is engaged in propaganda (although, strictly speaking, it should be engaged in agitation, because propaganda is more related to advertising tools), and distorting even the ideas of E. Bernays. In general, if we understand PR as a direct meaning, then in Russia there are practically no agencies in this direction, and the level of competition is minimal. Another thing is that no one needs “real” PR agencies, and only “PR people” are valued.
That is, it immediately becomes clear that someone who knows well what propaganda is can work in the field of public relations. In general, PR specialists are approached by those companies that are experiencing some problems with attracting consumers, otherwise why would they need a specialist who promises to correct the negative image and create a good perception of the product or service in the eyes of the population. Now we need to dwell in more detail on the qualities of a person who decided to open his own PR agency. In many cases, today it is opened not by specialists in this field who have undergone appropriate training, but by people who have worked in related fields. Advertising, marketing in general, journalism, just people who have a lot of connections with rich and powerful people. Only advertisers and marketers in their first years heard about the same Ivy Lee, but they had already forgotten his ideas, and journalists came across in their work, superficially studying the issues of public relations. That is, a normal idea of what PR is, probably does not have even half of the working agencies, and enterprises working in this area in small towns have little idea what direction they have chosen for themselves. This is because PR is fashionable, and ideally brings profit to the customer (and hence to the performer, PR specialist). But it is not uncommon for such firms in small towns to simply issue an invoice to their customer on a monthly basis for fictitious work, because sales are growing not due to the activities of a PR specialist, but due to the economic growth of the customer company. And if they do not grow, then you can always refer to something, saying that the problem is more serious than expected, and demand more money.
In progressive Moscow, and to a lesser extent in some other cities, there are undoubtedly good PR agencies staffed by professionals who really change the situation in the market, but otherwise there is not too good development in this area of \u200b\u200bhuman activity. And if you know about some of the provisions and naturally study the science of public relations, then you can get an important advantage by selling not only your services to customers, but also promoting the goods / services of the customer among the population, which PR should also do.
We will not describe in detail how a company is registered – the procedure is standard, it is desirable to register a legal entity, because future clients are much more likely to trust the company, and not the individual entrepreneur. No permits are required, after registration with the tax authorities, you can actually start working.
It is important to understand here that a company should be opened by people who are well versed in this area, they become founders and must be prepared for the fact that at first there will not be big profits, and sometimes in the first months there is an excess of expenses over income. A PR agency should also be engaged in its own promotion, and while time passes (it should be calculated in a business plan, moreover, according to three standard scenarios – a bad market situation, a normal market situation, an excellent market situation), you need to have reserve funds for office rent and staff salaries.
In general, it is theoretically possible to open a PR agency without serious investments, that is, sometimes one person is a company, and he works at home, preferring to negotiate with clients on neutral territory or in their office. But a real PR specialist, like no one else, must understand that to bring an enterprise to the market and to gain some reputation, money and time, time and money are needed, no level of education will help you quickly and free of charge to get a huge number of customers. Those people who are lucky enough to “rotate in parties” have some advantage, because their clients will be acquaintances and acquaintances of acquaintances, but this does not mean that in their subsequent work they will not have to look for clients who have nothing to do with any of them. friend or buddy.
Total: some amount for the first time needs to be laid down – at least 100-200 thousand, – it is better to provide yourself with a representative office, and if you plan to cope with the work for the first time on your own (that is, the entrepreneur himself or several founders), then hire people at least to perform administrative tasks, because the leaders will not have time to deal with all this red tape. And subsequently, the staff will still have to expand, hiring already specialists in public relations.
A start-up agency will almost certainly not have enough clients at first, in general, most of these agencies begin their cooperation with one or two firms, and even this is considered a success, because many newcomers wait months for their first order. By the way, working with the first office allows you to determine to some extent the future direction of development, while a PR specialist must understand that he should deal with all areas of public relations, work in all possible topics, build relationships with all possible types of clients, that is, cover the entire area PR, but at first you should not try to please everyone. That is, you first need to choose a specialization for yourself and develop in it, after adding new departments. For example, at first engage in the promotion of consumer goods, and then do PR for public figures, politicians in the first place. Although many agencies have generally built a successful business, being engaged only in a narrow specialization, because this allowed them to educate irreplaceable specialists in their field. From the point of view of the general economy, this is an even more optimal approach, because firms are formed, each of which is engaged in its own business, and not many offices are opened that try to do everything at once. Trying to become a firm for one customer is also not worth it, sooner or later he will get everything he wanted (or, disappointed, refuse services), and the agency will stop in its development. Therefore, you need to look for customers right away, but calculate your strength so as not to collect a huge number of projects or take one, but too voluminous and complex. This is a mistake many beginners make and should not be allowed to happen. politicians in the first place. Although many agencies have generally built a successful business, being engaged only in a narrow specialization, because this allowed them to educate irreplaceable specialists in their field. From the point of view of the general economy, this is an even more optimal approach, because firms are formed, each of which is engaged in its own business, and not many offices are opened that try to do everything at once. Trying to become a firm for one customer is also not worth it, sooner or later he will get everything he wanted (or, disappointed, refuse services), and the agency will stop in its development. Therefore, you need to look for customers right away, but calculate your strength so as not to collect a huge number of projects or take one, but too voluminous and complex. This is a mistake many beginners make and should not be allowed to happen. politicians in the first place. Although many agencies have generally built a successful business, being engaged only in a narrow specialization, because this allowed them to educate irreplaceable specialists in their field. From the point of view of the general economy, this is an even more optimal approach, because firms are formed, each of which is engaged in its own business, and not many offices are opened that try to do everything at once. Trying to become a firm for one customer is also not worth it, sooner or later he will get everything he wanted (or, disappointed, refuse services), and the agency will stop in its development. Therefore, you need to look for customers right away, but calculate your strength so as not to collect a huge number of projects or take one, but too voluminous and complex. This is a mistake many beginners make and should not be allowed to happen. Although many agencies have generally built a successful business, being engaged only in a narrow specialization, because this allowed them to educate irreplaceable specialists in their field. From the point of view of the general economy, this is an even more optimal approach, because firms are formed, each of which is engaged in its own business, and not many offices are opened that try to do everything at once. Trying to become a firm for one customer is also not worth it, sooner or later he will get everything he wanted (or, disappointed, refuse services), and the agency will stop in its development. Therefore, you need to look for customers right away, but calculate your strength so as not to collect a huge number of projects or take one, but too voluminous and complex. This is a mistake many beginners make and should not be allowed to happen. Although many agencies have generally built a successful business, being engaged only in a narrow specialization, because this allowed them to educate irreplaceable specialists in their field. From the point of view of the general economy, this is an even more optimal approach, because firms are formed, each of which is engaged in its own business, and not many offices are opened that try to do everything at once. Trying to become a firm for one customer is also not worth it, sooner or later he will get everything he wanted (or, disappointed, refuse services), and the agency will stop in its development. Therefore, you need to look for customers right away, but calculate your strength so as not to collect a huge number of projects or take one, but too voluminous and complex. This is a mistake many beginners make and should not be allowed to happen. because it allowed them to educate irreplaceable specialists in their field. From the point of view of the general economy, this is an even more optimal approach, because firms are formed, each of which is engaged in its own business, and not many offices are opened that try to do everything at once. Trying to become a firm for one customer is also not worth it, sooner or later he will get everything he wanted (or, disappointed, refuse services), and the agency will stop in its development. Therefore, you need to look for customers right away, but calculate your strength so as not to collect a huge number of projects or take one, but too voluminous and complex. This is a mistake many beginners make and should not be allowed to happen. because it allowed them to educate irreplaceable specialists in their field. From the point of view of the general economy, this is an even more optimal approach, because firms are formed, each of which is engaged in its own business, and not many offices are opened that try to do everything at once. Trying to become a firm for one customer is also not worth it, sooner or later he will get everything he wanted (or, disappointed, refuse services), and the agency will stop in its development. Therefore, you need to look for customers right away, but calculate your strength so as not to collect a huge number of projects or take one, but too voluminous and complex. This is a mistake many beginners make and should not be allowed to happen. each of which is engaged in its own business, and not many offices are opened that try to do everything at once. Trying to become a firm for one customer is also not worth it, sooner or later he will get everything he wanted (or, disappointed, refuse services), and the agency will stop in its development. Therefore, you need to look for customers right away, but calculate your strength so as not to collect a huge number of projects or take one, but too voluminous and complex. This is a mistake many beginners make and should not be allowed to happen. each of which is engaged in its own business, and not many offices are opened that try to do everything at once. Trying to become a firm for one customer is also not worth it, sooner or later he will get everything he wanted (or, disappointed, refuse services), and the agency will stop in its development. Therefore, you need to look for customers right away, but calculate your strength so as not to collect a huge number of projects or take one, but too voluminous and complex. This is a mistake many beginners make and should not be allowed to happen. but to count on one’s strength so as not to collect a huge number of projects or take one, but too voluminous and complex. This is a mistake many beginners make and should not be allowed to happen. but to count on one’s strength so as not to collect a huge number of projects or take one, but too voluminous and complex. This is a mistake many beginners make and should not be allowed to happen.
Many PR agencies today have little idea who they are. And what is the difference between advertising and PR, what does marketing mean in general. In this article, it is not advisable to describe the difference between these concepts, a person who has decided to engage in such activities should understand this very well, and everyone else has a direct road to a university or self-study. However, just from an economic point of view, engaging exclusively in PR is still not always profitable, and since all these areas are related and intersecting, it is worth considering the possibility of opening a diversified enterprise to one degree or another. Which can carry out an advertising campaign, and assemble a conference and prepare a presentation. And, of course, to form the desired image of the product / service. All these areas require a creative approach, and a rare specialist in PR does not understand advertising at all, for example, it is simply impossible, otherwise it is difficult to call him a PR specialist, no matter how well he knows the concepts and definitions. Often a PR agency provides a wide range of services from holding holidays such as open presentations of a new product to conducting an election campaign, and therefore a newcomer should take into account that advertising agencies, marketing research and market research offices, and even some kind of event- agencies that, expanding the field of their activities, decided to start organizing presentations and conferences and now work not only with graduates and newlyweds, but also with entrepreneurs, solving their business issues. This, of course, is a rare case, but possible. no matter how well he knew the concepts and definitions. Often a PR agency provides a wide range of services from holding holidays such as open presentations of a new product to conducting an election campaign, and therefore a newcomer should take into account that advertising agencies, marketing research and market research offices, and even some kind of event- agencies that, expanding the field of their activities, decided to start organizing presentations and conferences and now work not only with graduates and newlyweds, but also with entrepreneurs, solving their business issues. This, of course, is a rare case, but possible. no matter how well he knew the concepts and definitions. Often a PR agency provides a wide range of services from holding holidays such as open presentations of a new product to conducting an election campaign, and therefore a newcomer should take into account that advertising agencies, marketing research and market research offices, and even some kind of event- agencies that, expanding the field of their activities, decided to start organizing presentations and conferences and now work not only with graduates and newlyweds, but also with entrepreneurs, solving their business issues. This, of course, is a rare case, but possible. Often a PR agency provides a wide range of services from holding holidays such as open presentations of a new product to conducting an election campaign, and therefore a newcomer should take into account that advertising agencies, marketing research and market research offices, and even some kind of event- agencies that, expanding the field of their activities, decided to start organizing presentations and conferences and now work not only with graduates and newlyweds, but also with entrepreneurs, solving their business issues. This, of course, is a rare case, but possible. Often a PR agency provides a wide range of services from holding holidays such as open presentations of a new product to conducting an election campaign, and therefore a newcomer should take into account that advertising agencies, marketing research and market research offices, and even some kind of event- agencies that, expanding the field of their activities, decided to start organizing presentations and conferences and now work not only with graduates and newlyweds, but also with entrepreneurs, solving their business issues. This, of course, is a rare case, but possible. who, expanding the field of their activities, decided to start organizing presentations and conferences and now work not only with graduates and newlyweds, but also with entrepreneurs, solving their business issues. This, of course, is a rare case, but possible. who, expanding the field of their activities, decided to start organizing presentations and conferences and now work not only with graduates and newlyweds, but also with entrepreneurs, solving their business issues. This, of course, is a rare case, but possible.
Simply put, due to the fact that in the mass consciousness (including in the minds of the employees themselves) the concepts of PR, public relations (and this is one and the same), advertising, marketing research, statistics collection, analysis of economic activity, performance evaluation and many other activities, then it is most often pointless to maintain an office that deals exclusively with PR, the client wants to comprehensively resolve his issues with one company.
Under normal conditions, a PR agency has enough work, because there are always firms that need to shape the image of their product / service on the market, but at the same time do not have the resources to open their own marketing department, let alone a public relations department. There are firms that need to improve their reputation, and they cannot wait for a long time. Also, PR people are approached by private individuals, or rather, public figures – politicians in the first place – and they are ready to invest a lot of money in their promotion. However, a small PR agency should evaluate its capabilities and try to answer for the client the question “why should you contact this particular company?”. In small cities (in this case, they mean almost everything except Moscow and St. Petersburg), the competition is really not serious, if there are professionals in the team, but, nevertheless, the reputation of the agency must be positive, there must be considerable fame so that clients apply here. If we take into account politicians, branches and departments of large firms, and simply successful entrepreneurs, then it is often easier and more profitable for all of them to contact a metropolitan PR agency, which already has experience working even with foreign companies. That is, a local player, moreover, a recently appeared one, can almost certainly be of interest only to medium-sized enterprises, but these generally do not understand very well why they need public relations. then it is often easier and more profitable for all of them to apply to a metropolitan PR agency, which already has experience working even with foreign companies. That is, a local player, moreover, a recently appeared one, can almost certainly be of interest only to medium-sized enterprises, but these generally do not understand very well why they need public relations. then it is often easier and more profitable for all of them to apply to a metropolitan PR agency, which already has experience working even with foreign companies. That is, a local player, moreover, a recently appeared one, can almost certainly be of interest only to medium-sized enterprises, but these generally do not understand very well why they need public relations.
And the way to promote your services begins with the fact that you have to find clients on your own, give them an economic calculation of the effectiveness specifically in their case of contacting a PR agency. You also need to convince the client that he wants to receive, because often PR, advertisers and marketers are considered to be the same specialists as the heads of such enterprises. That is, the company needs to be convinced of the need to apply to a PR agency and calculate for him how much he wants to improve his financial situation and what methods should be used to achieve this. The client is offered only the final result and the final cost is calculated. This applies, of course, only to not the most developed organizations (and at first you will only have to work with them), and here you need not only to understand PR, but also be able to trade. In this case, their services. When the necessary reputation is gained, then you can count on the fact that the customers themselves will apply to the agency for services and present certain requirements to them, exposing the project and the necessary conditions.
In your work you will have to cooperate with a large number of people and have a staff of different specialists. First of all, of course, these are the PR specialists themselves, they should also be managers, at first you can generally manage on your own. But if the list of services is wide enough, then it is necessary to hire marketers, advertisers, sales specialists, as well as economists and financiers who can count, look for optimal ways of development, and optimize costs. At the same time, in addition, programmers will be needed, as well as copywriters, today even “professional” bloggers are attracted to this area. All of them can work for a percentage of the transaction, depending on what they do, sometimes the organizer, the owner of the company takes 10-20% of the order value for himself, the rest goes to the direct executors, that is, employees.
Quite often, a PR agency sets a high price for its services, taking this money just for itself, and not spending it on the project, that is, it tries to complete the task for the minimum amount while setting the price high, which is unprofitable for the client, he just should not know this. However, sooner or later there will be a project that requires serious funding, and if the cost of the direct work of specialists is too high, then the agency will find itself in an awkward situation when its employees are not ready to work for a smaller amount, and the customer adequately understands that the amount for the project is already excessive-high. That is, it is better to still skillfully calculate the price of your work, but without falling into the other extreme – dumping.
A “golden mean” is needed here because the client will not turn to a cheap agency either, because in his understanding such work cannot be done on enthusiasm alone. Many just-opened offices are trying to conquer the market by lowering prices for their services, but this leads to the opposite effect – no one is interested in a beginner who is still ready to work almost for nothing, because this means that he does not know-how. A large PR agency sets a very high price for its services. consulting services – 2-4 thousand rubles per hour. Small offices set prices sometimes 10 times lower.
The best ones in the beginning, as noted, are to occupy a narrower niche, for example, to specialize in working with the media, but to do it very well. In your work, depending on the chosen direction, you need to contact people and organizations that influence the mass consciousness. Almost always it will be the media, and especially often you will have to cooperate with journalists. Good relations with employees of certain publishing houses will make it possible to promote the client’s goods/services in the market in a particularly effective way, so special attention should be paid to relationships with these people. The press, television, radio, and even Internet portals largely shape the image of companies and people; in the information war, the support of these forces often becomes decisive. A PR agency will not do without connections with influential or public people.
Such a business is, of course, characterized by enormous complexities, and all of them can hardly be considered within the framework of one article. The main thing is that the entrepreneur himself is a specialist in this field or at least has experience in this area, knows a lot of people, and, by the beginning of his own business, has an idea of \u200b\u200bhow the whole mechanism of his chosen specialization works in his region, and also has a wide circle of acquaintances. If we take a project to work with the media, then the owner of the company will take from him only 5-10 thousand rubles, of course, there may be several such projects, but only in the case of working in a big city.
By the way, it should be noted that even some seasonality is observed in this business, because the peak of business activity occurs in early spring and autumn, in the summer and on New Year’s holidays it decreases to some extent, and therefore it is worth counting on the fact that in some months there will be few orders, and some will have too many (for which it is worth considering hiring remote employees and employees in a non-permanent place of work as an additional reserve workforce). During the reduction of the load, it is possible to train people, send them to refresher courses and engage in other administrative, organizational and educational activities in order to have an important advantage by the new season.