You tell me what your budget is and exactly what you need done, and we'll go from there. Although I strive to get immediate results, It can take 90-120 days for print media coverage to appear, and 30-60 days after it appears before you can quantify sell-through. For broadcast media, radio coverage will take 10 to 45 days; national TV can take 90 to 180 days to get you through the guest pipeline.

You should be able to assess sell-through within 30 days of your appearance. Yes, do measure ROI, but keep your PR going long enough to measure! It takes time for publicity seeds to germinate, and still a bit longer to sprout profits. Combine Press Releases With Marketing and PR efforts are cumulative Combining PR with direct selling helps — Here's what you do:

• First, create your press release and line up free publicity.
• Next, call and fax retailers in the area your publicity will appear, telling them what the publicity is and when it's going to happen. Mention that customers will be coming in looking for the product. Better yet, if you are doing radio, talk to a large chain store and tell them you'll send customers to their store, so they need to stock up.

Give stores enough lead time to purchase, and conform to their purchasing customs (if you sell a book, have it listed in Ingram).

Press Release Math

1. Hit Ratio: Count how many "hits" you get with initial publicity contacts. Divide by number of contacts. (A "hit" is when someone expresses interest in covering you)
2. Placement cost: Count how many placements you get. Divide by dollars spent. (A placement is coverage that comes through)
3. Advertising comparison: Compare cost of each media placement with cost of advertising in same media. Add up total advertising value, compare with total PR cost.
4. ROI (Return on Investment): Figure out how many products you need to sell per placement, on average. Divide average cost per placement by the amount you make on each product.
5. Figuring ROI: Calculate production cost and wholesale discounts, but not development costs or central overhead when looking at break-even on PR. Your goal is to sell enough product to cover your costs. Then, enough more to cover central overhead. And finally, to recoup development costs. ("Production costs" are the variable costs associated with producing each product. "Central overhead" is your fixed operating cost: rent, payroll, utilities)