Increasing the return on your PR budget part 1: cross-pitching

If you're a lawyer, and you 'do' marketing, chances are you sometimes wonder what you can do to increase the return on your PR budget, squeeze a bit more out of your activities or receive more 'bang' for your 'buck'. If so, this blog is for you.

Every so often, a news story breaks, a new piece of legislation is announced, or you win* an interesting case that sets a precedent or covers novel or newsworthy facts. As a fully paid up pro-marketing lawyer; you obviously leap at the opportunity to get your face and name on the telly, in the newspapers and talk, talk, talk about your involvement/showcase your specialism/promote your wares. Don't you? Hopefully yes, yes, yes...

Now a good agency will maximise your opportunities to discuss your newsworthy topic, by pitching to a range of different media - TV, newspapers, journals, trade publications, online sources (relevant, carefully researched outlets only though, of course).

Not only will they pitch to a wide range of media, they should also consider pitching vertically (to publications covering a specific industry - for example legal, fleet management, civil engineering) and horizontally (to publications not limited to a specific industry - for example HR, marketing, IT management).

Cross-pitching like this not only ensures your message reaches a wider audience, it also enables your agency to pull out and emphasise different elements of the 'story'. For example, a HR publication will be likely interested in different elements of a case in comparison to a broadsheet. A really good agency will be able to identify the elements of interest for each publication and write comments, or an article, that is drafted to perfectly fit within the readership's sphere of interest, thus guaranteeing (as far as possible) publication and hopefully, repeat opportunities in the future. Being able to identify different angles, and cover the same facts in multiple different articles and secure opportunities in this way is one of the marks of a great agency. If yours does this - congratulations, you're on to a winner!

If your chosen agency doesn't do this, or *horror face* they expect you to draft your own articles, it may be time to sit down down over coffee and map out your expectations.

So until next time, over and out. Look out for my next blog covering collaborative working... See you then!

If you enjoyed this post, check out the others on the LexRex blog

*even if you lose - a good PR may well be able to find a positive angle, especially if there's a chance of it going to appeal, it's a David and Goliath case (your client can be David or Goliath) or if it involves a human interest story.

By Victoria Moffatt

LexRex is a specialist consultancy providing strategic PR and marketing support to law firms and businesses that operate within the legal sector. Our services include media relations, social media support and training, award entries, legal directory submissions and online/offline content.

If you would like to know more about our services, please drop us an email on info@lexrexcommunications.com.  You can also tweet us LexRexComms or @vicmoffatt.