In the last episode, I talked about the benefits of working with a publicist to get you media interviews. If you missed it, definitely go back and listen to it, as there are a number of good reasons to work with one. But as I said then, it's not for everyone.

In this episode, I want to go over some of the drawbacks. And as someone who has worked with three publicists in the past, I know first-hand the drawbacks that they don't mention.
The monthly fees are very expensive.
Expect to pay somewhere between $3000 and $20,000 per month, again often with a minimum length of contract or a certain length of time you have to give them notice - 30 or 60 days.

Yes, as we talked about last time, you are saving time by investing money. Although you are still going to be doing some of the work helping the publicist with the information for the pitch.

But hiring a publicist can let you spend more time on your business.

What you have to decide is whether the return on that investment - more patients, more customers, more clients - justifies that investment.
They can't guarantee getting you interviews.
They can only guarantee they will send out press releases or make contacts.

I have heard of publicists you only pay by the interview they get you, but I'd be nervous about that. Are the interviews they get you that way helpful for you and your business or just ones to get the numbers up?

Most are paid by a monthly fee, and that can be for a certain number of hours worked or maybe a certain number of pitches sent out a month.

Also, many publicists, and definitely most PR firms, hire low-cost interns or assistants to actually send out the pitches.

It's a volume business. Sending out more pitches gives them a better chance of getting you interviews. But it can also lead to publicists "carpet bombing" the media.

I get these pitches all the time to my website, and I don't even do interviews for articles or videos.

Again, not all publicists do it. Many reputable ones will develop relationships and pitch a specific reporter or producer for you. But beware those who send mass press releases.
The interviews publicists get you might not actually be helpful to grow your business.
They might not be in your city or state. A radio interview in Oklahoma City probably won't get more clients for an attorney in South Florida. Maybe appearing in a national publication like USA Today or The Wall Street Journal, or on a national TV network like CNN will provide credibility, but appearing in a different local market if your goal is to grow your business in your town might not be that helpful. And unless your publicist lives and works in your town, he or she probably doesn't have that many media contacts in your town. And honestly, getting contact information for people in your local media just isn't that hard, at least compared to finding producers of national shows or writers for national publications.

Along the same lines, the interviews might not be on a show that has your target audience. If you are trying to appeal to a certain demographic and certain ideal patient or client or customer, you want to be interviewed where those people are.
You won't have the contacts to follow up yourself.
All the contact goes through the publicist. The publicist sends the pitch and gets the response. They set up the interview and send the thank you notes.

You never get the email address or the cell phone of that producer or reporter or show host. And without that contact information, you have no way of following up in the future and pitching them new ideas.

Or even if somehow you do get their contact information - maybe you get the reporter's cell phone number to call for an interview - it's highly frowned upon for you to pitch th...