I write often about all the ways that you can do marketing and publicity for your home business yourself. After all, for most of us, it doesn’t depend what sort of business we are in or what we are offering, marketing and public relations is an issue. Sometimes, however, the need may arise to find a “professional” to help with your promotions. Perhaps you are too busy with other elements of your business or are planning a large expansion that will need marketing beyond the realm of your experience. Here are some tips for choosing and hiring a publicity specialist or consultant to help your home business:
The first step is to try and get as clear as possible about what you are hiring a professional publicist to do. It can be quite easy to get into an open-ended arrangement and pay someone a great deal of money and you never really accomplish a set marketing goal. Are you hiring for the short-term? For a specific project? Or are you looking for someone to handle your marketing efforts for a long term agreement?
Ask around for referrals, and look over what is going on in terms of local marketing campaigns. You can contact the businesses whose campaigns you really like and admire and ask them who is handling their marketing. This is a great way to find talented public relations specialists and consultants. You really need to take the time to investigate and get to know whoever you are considering—since marketing and publicity can be such an “inexact science” you need to have someone you trust and feel comfortable working with and who you think “gets” what your business is all about.
Make sure you’ve got a contract and have defined your relationship, who pays for what, how billing will be handled, how the agreement can be terminated, etc. If you choose to work with a firm, make sure you understand exactly who will be working on your project—will you be assigned a specific publicist or will you work with a “team”? Take your time and get to know the publicity industry so you get exactly what you want and get your money’s value for the work you need.
Also: Enhance Your Image
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