Marketing and Public Relations May Seem Simple, But Little Mistakes Could Lead to Big Trouble

That’s Why You Need a Marketing Agency

In this age of do-it-yourself television shows and detailed how-to programs, it is tempting to take on a lot of projects yourself to save money. Why hire an accountant when you can use an online tax preparation program? Why pay for an attorney to write your will when you can create one easily online? Why employ a marketing and public relations agency when you can easily look up the names and contact information for journalists online? While it may seem like the DIY method is most effective, it could cost you significantly more money in the future.

Let’s take the accountant example. You file your taxes using an online system, but you make a mistake because you don’t know tax code. Then, you get audited. Now, you are paying even more to solve a problem that you could have avoided by using a professional in the first place. Imagine using an online system to write your will, but because the program doesn’t know the intricate details of your family, you leave your children and grandchildren with a costly mess to clean up.

The same holds true of marketing and public relations. Maybe you decide to build a website yourself, but since you don’t now HyperText Markup Language (HTML) or Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), your site ends up looking unprofessional. You hire a web designer to fix it, but because you have made so many mistakes, the designer has to start the site from scratch. You contact a journalist with a story you think it newsworthy, but the reporter isn’t impressed. You keep following up, and the reporter is so turned off by your tactics that he or she will never read one of your pitches again. Maybe you get some media coverage, but you fail to have a strategy for your efforts, and your most important stories get lost in the shuffle of pitches you’ve sent. You spend more money fixing your mistakes than hiring a professional to do the work correctly in the first place.

Marketing and public relations involve more than just sending news about your organization, products or services to prospects, leads, customers, donors and journalists. Marketing and PR efforts should be based on strategy so you always communicate your mission and goals to stakeholders, donors, media and their audiences. Marketing and public relations are ROI driven. Point Taken can help you develop messaging and supporting materials that drive sales, sponsorships and donations. Point Taken develops innovative ways to promote companies to potential clients, donors and the media. In addition to promoting existing information about your organization, products and services, Point Taken partners with you to create items of interest to potential clients, donors and journalists.

Ready to drop the DIY approach and work with professionals? Contact Point Taken today.