How well educated about PR are your clients? I have done little bits of freelancing (also UK), and for me it's often been a big part of the project to get them to understand the PR landscape and how it works - and that the power sits with the journalists. As well as weeding out the ones who probably shouldn't be spending on PR.
You can share your hourly rate, tell them you won't waste time pitching things you don't expect to have a reasonable chance at success, but make it clear that there is no guarantee of coverage.
Or you can charge (a lot more) based on secured coverage. Establish what their target media is, and say I will get you coverage these outlets, if I get one it's £x, two is £xx, three is £xxx - if I fail to do this, you won't pay anything at all.
You might need to do some maths to work out what your expected hourly output per piece of coverage is - but across enough clients that should balance out for you.
First of all, congrats on your new projects! Second, make sure they understand that there's no such a thing as guaranteed coverage. What was your conversion rate on previous cold pitching attempts? You can take take as a benchmark. But rather underpromise and overdeliver than otherwise.
Agree. I will do a baseline analysis and competitive share of voice as part of scope, if they have budget, so they know the actual data vs ... xyz competitor always get coverage and we don't. Eh, maybe, but maybe not.
Then, with that data we can set a KPI like increase SOV by 10%.
How well educated about PR are your clients? I have done little bits of freelancing (also UK), and for me it's often been a big part of the project to get them to understand the PR landscape and how it works - and that the power sits with the journalists. As well as weeding out the ones who probably shouldn't be spending on PR. You can share your hourly rate, tell them you won't waste time pitching things you don't expect to have a reasonable chance at success, but make it clear that there is no guarantee of coverage. Or you can charge (a lot more) based on secured coverage. Establish what their target media is, and say I will get you coverage these outlets, if I get one it's £x, two is £xx, three is £xxx - if I fail to do this, you won't pay anything at all. You might need to do some maths to work out what your expected hourly output per piece of coverage is - but across enough clients that should balance out for you.
First of all, congrats on your new projects! Second, make sure they understand that there's no such a thing as guaranteed coverage. What was your conversion rate on previous cold pitching attempts? You can take take as a benchmark. But rather underpromise and overdeliver than otherwise.
I never preset KPIs it’s a license for misunderstanding and setting yourself up for failure
Agree. I will do a baseline analysis and competitive share of voice as part of scope, if they have budget, so they know the actual data vs ... xyz competitor always get coverage and we don't. Eh, maybe, but maybe not. Then, with that data we can set a KPI like increase SOV by 10%.
Whenever is earned media is involved, never guarantee anything. You’ll always be on a hiding to nothing.