In fact the starting point for our PR services for companies selling into schools is £25 – which is a charge for coverage on www.ukeducationnews.co.uk – if you haven’t seen that service do click on the link and take a look.
But of course that is the baseline service – and there are many more that can be added. Here is a simple summary – for more information give me a call.
In the “old days” (ie a couple of years ago) the emphasis was on writing a press release, sending it to journalists and then phoning them up. Now the whole approach has changed.
You can get more and more out of UK Education News – take a look at the options here
After that there are these services
a) An inclusion in Education Management News – the subscription email service that sends teachers news about their subject or interest area every week.
b) The development of the press release and sending of it to journalists, which can indeed result in coverage.
c) Keeping track of each news story about yourselves that appears in the press or on the internet, for your records – and maximising the response. (For example, if an internet site covers your area of interest, and allows responses to be posted, it is important to get onto the site and state that “we do this – and you can find out more here.” This gives you extended coverage and links on the internet, which can boost the standing of your web site.)
d) Writing your own blog – which again can get significant numbers of readers (one of our blogs gets 120,000 unique readers a month at the moment)
e) Sending emails to journalists
My point is that the sending emails to journalists is still there – but instead of it being the prime operation, it becomes just part of the list. Some press releases will get coverage, some not, but it is no longer the be all and end all of the service.
So there are six steps to PR now, starting with UK Education News and working on through points a) to e) above.
The great bonus is that the price of PR has now come down dramatically. You may, or may not, get a story in the Guardian or TES, but much more to the point you will get the story seen by a larger number of people than before, and many of those will come back with enquiries or purchases.
Do call me if you want to know more.
Tony Attwood 01536 399 013