Should PR Pros Work on Commission?

The pandemic decimated much of my client work. In fact, by the end of April, more than 85% of my clients told me they had to pull back on utilizing my counsel and services. Naturally, I was alarmed and realized that it was time to shake the trees more than usual. That proved to be a grind, as people were scared to hire — and legitimately so.

Budgets were frozen, and virtually nobody I contacted needed crisis communication planning or general PR services. I started offering content creation to make ends meet, but it was still not enough. So, you can imagine my elation to receive a call from a local company seeking public relations services.

After a brief discussion, I learned they had a charitable angle on the pandemic that they wanted to leverage to gain media coverage. I paraphrase here, but not too much: “We want to get news stories about us donating some stuff, so we can increase our sales because we are good guys.”

My distaste for his nakedly mercenary strategy aside, I explained that I could pitch the donation angle (with some tweaking) to the media, but could not guarantee that news outlets will cover it. I further explained my fee structure and how it would work if they hired me.

There was a pause on the line, then a sigh. He said, “Well, so you’re saying you’re going to charge me to hire you, even if nobody covers our story? Why should I pay you to get us on the news if you can’t guarantee it will happen?”