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What could you learn from Bill Gates about PR?

Companies need to pay attention to effective advertising and the profits gained. If your marketing is tracked correctly, you will see the impact to your company. Current tracking techniques can be a benefit to your company. Great marketing departments and their attention to detail show great company profits.

The usual result of a cut in PR is a drop in sales and sales leads which can make a company practically invisible to consumers and business-to-business customers. These PR efforts give your company a bigger name and the opportunity for everyone to know your name. PR delivers the double-whammy of free press and search engine fodder. When you make cuts in the PR, you hurt your companies' profits.

In lean times, public relations still provides the highest value and greater return on investment than any other marketing tactic, including promotions and advertising. To increase that value, there are a number of 'performance-based' PR agencies that mitigate the risk of their clients and only get paid when they deliver solid placements. Their best efforts may not be what you were looking for when you hired the agency to handle your advertising exposure. With retainer-based firms, you're paying more for their time than for the press you were looking for. You pay for the print, radio and local and national TV exposure. Performance-based PR firms deliver for you, or they don't get paid.

The soul of advertising is repetition - which generally cost into the tens of thousands to run an effective campaign. The heart of PR is that clients will likely pay one-tenth or less of the cost of an advertising campaign.

The PR delivers a larger punch because it focuses on the placement of articles and broadcast spots in free media. These placements carry the third-party verification factor of being in the news sections (not advertising) of the outlets in which they appear. An outlet like Fox News carries credibility. The book you wrote and the speaking of your ideas are special and can be heard by millions.

Gates was one of the few software geniuses of his era who also understood the differences between advertising and public relations, and was able to maximize both to his company's favor. Trusting in your performance-based PR firm to drive your ideas is the first step to your success. There is no need to pay a retainer for someone's hourly efforts that do not received the same results.

At the end of the day, companies can't survive the lean times without a steady stream of customers coming to their doorsteps, and PR can deliver them without busting the bank.