WORKING WITH THE CHIKS
We’re so excited you’ve decided to take the leap of working with a Marketing and Public Relations agency as part of your business plan! Working with an agency is the next step after you’ve established your business. Below is a list of what you can expect (and maybe a little of what we expect from you) to help you better understand what this journey will entail.
MARKETING VS. PUBLIC RELATIONS
The difference between marketing and public relations comes down to two things: paid vs. unpaid and guaranteed vs. no guarantee. Marketing is paid, 100% guaranteed awareness for your business. You are buying advertising that must legally run. It allows you to brand yourself and your business in a way in which you control.
Public relations is all about positioning you as a reliable resource and expert on your topic or service. There are no guarantees that you will receive media coverage, or that the coverage will highlight you EXACTLY how you wanted to be seen (editing happens). However, it validates your business and is a perfect compliment to any business strategy.
WHAT YOU NEED PREPARED...
Marketing & Public Relations is a tool used to publicly communicate your offerings as a business owner, topic expert, nonprofit or service provider. What that usually means is that we come in after you have a full understanding of what it is you’re looking to specialize in. We work with a variety of business strategists in the local community who assist entrepreneurs in identifying their target markets and subsequently, the proper product or service they should be offering. We are not business strategists; we are communicators. So to before you engage in marketing and PR, you should have the following prepared:
WHAT TO EXPECT
We will be honest upfront: engaging in marketing and public relations is going to require work on your part. Our job is to highlight YOU in the media and your community and create a successful strategy to increase your brand awareness. This means you’ll be booked for interviews and events, traveling to appear on TV and radio programs, speaking in public, taking phone interviews with reporters and working to implement our strategy. YOU are the rockstar: we are the backstage help. You should expect:
WHO WE ARE // WHO WE ARE NOT
We are a boutique marketing & PR firm, highly skilled in the art of brand management. We offer a wide range of services to help advance your brand, frame you as an expert in your field, and boost your business. Even though we can do national marketing strategies, we are a regional PR agency, meaning our sweet spot for news coverage is New England. Since PR requires relationship building, our focus has, and will continue, to remain here in New England. So if you're looking to get into Oprah Magazine, we would direct you to a New York City or LA based firm. We are not a full-time staff member within your organization. Unless hired specifically for crisis communications, our focus is to build a proactive marketing and public relations strategy. This means we must work together to pre-plan your communication objectives, so we can properly execute them. We understand emergencies can and will pop-up, but in order to be effective for you and our other clients, any emergency services above and beyond what is outlined in your contract will be billed at $250/ hour.
THE CHIKMEDIA GUARANTEE
With over 20 years of collective experience, our team has seen just about everything and know which strategies will work best for you. This is how we are able to custom tailor a plan to help you meet your goals and objectives. We do our best to work with you in designing this, but should you choose to implement only part of our strategy, make additional changes to the plan, or disregard the project timeline, etc. it is no longer our work. Our goal is always to work with you, but you do have to trust our expertise as well.
COMMUNICATION
As with any successful relationship, communication is key! In order to serve you best, we have the following policies:
BILLING POLICIES
To get started on a project, Chikmedia requires a signed contract, 25% down payment (unless otherwise noted), and a credit card number on file (all credit card data is stored on a password protected secure drive). Expedited projects must be paid in full and have a signed contract before work can begin. All invoices can be paid by credit card or check with the 30 day invoice period. Any invoices that are not paid after 30 days will incur a late fee. If an invoice falls 60 days past due, you authorize us to charge your credit card on file for the invoice and late fee. All contracts have a 30-day cancellation window. Any cancellation request must be received in a written format prior to the first of the month. For example, if you are looking to cancel for December, written notice must be received by October 31st. Should you not provide a 30-day notice an early termination fee will be applicable.
MARKETING VS. PUBLIC RELATIONS
The difference between marketing and public relations comes down to two things: paid vs. unpaid and guaranteed vs. no guarantee. Marketing is paid, 100% guaranteed awareness for your business. You are buying advertising that must legally run. It allows you to brand yourself and your business in a way in which you control.
Public relations is all about positioning you as a reliable resource and expert on your topic or service. There are no guarantees that you will receive media coverage, or that the coverage will highlight you EXACTLY how you wanted to be seen (editing happens). However, it validates your business and is a perfect compliment to any business strategy.
WHAT YOU NEED PREPARED...
Marketing & Public Relations is a tool used to publicly communicate your offerings as a business owner, topic expert, nonprofit or service provider. What that usually means is that we come in after you have a full understanding of what it is you’re looking to specialize in. We work with a variety of business strategists in the local community who assist entrepreneurs in identifying their target markets and subsequently, the proper product or service they should be offering. We are not business strategists; we are communicators. So to before you engage in marketing and PR, you should have the following prepared:
- An established business or consultancy
- A business strategy
- An understanding of what your marketing and PR budget will look like
- A willingness to be in front of the media
- Time to dedicate to implantation of your marketing strategy
- A dedicated point person with willingness to communicate with us & your team in a timely manner
- A commitment to social media excellence
- A willingness to network and appear at events
WHAT TO EXPECT
We will be honest upfront: engaging in marketing and public relations is going to require work on your part. Our job is to highlight YOU in the media and your community and create a successful strategy to increase your brand awareness. This means you’ll be booked for interviews and events, traveling to appear on TV and radio programs, speaking in public, taking phone interviews with reporters and working to implement our strategy. YOU are the rockstar: we are the backstage help. You should expect:
- A packed schedule of interviews and appearances*. We will work with you on your schedule, but media waits for no one. When the opportunity arises, we must jump on it.
- Assistance providing us with content. We are not full-time staff at your business, so we don’t have the same internal knowledge as you do. We will need your help identifying the key newsworthy happenings within your business.
- Being on live TV and radio*. We will work with you to make you comfortable with interviews.
WHO WE ARE // WHO WE ARE NOT
We are a boutique marketing & PR firm, highly skilled in the art of brand management. We offer a wide range of services to help advance your brand, frame you as an expert in your field, and boost your business. Even though we can do national marketing strategies, we are a regional PR agency, meaning our sweet spot for news coverage is New England. Since PR requires relationship building, our focus has, and will continue, to remain here in New England. So if you're looking to get into Oprah Magazine, we would direct you to a New York City or LA based firm. We are not a full-time staff member within your organization. Unless hired specifically for crisis communications, our focus is to build a proactive marketing and public relations strategy. This means we must work together to pre-plan your communication objectives, so we can properly execute them. We understand emergencies can and will pop-up, but in order to be effective for you and our other clients, any emergency services above and beyond what is outlined in your contract will be billed at $250/ hour.
THE CHIKMEDIA GUARANTEE
With over 20 years of collective experience, our team has seen just about everything and know which strategies will work best for you. This is how we are able to custom tailor a plan to help you meet your goals and objectives. We do our best to work with you in designing this, but should you choose to implement only part of our strategy, make additional changes to the plan, or disregard the project timeline, etc. it is no longer our work. Our goal is always to work with you, but you do have to trust our expertise as well.
COMMUNICATION
As with any successful relationship, communication is key! In order to serve you best, we have the following policies:
- We will need a dedicated point person within your team to chat with on a monthly basis. This could be yourself or a trusted colleague. This person is responsible for relaying relevant information between the Chikmedia team and your team.
- Timely communication from all parties! As previously mentioned, we are not a full-time staff, but you can find our current office hours in each of our email signatures. We do our best to reply to clients within 24-48 business hours, unless otherwise noted in an out-of-office message. Project decisions will often rely on your input. Extended delays in response from you will lead to delays in progress.
- To maintain organization, Chikmedia does not conduct business of any kind via text messages, Facebook messages, DMs, etc. All communication is to be done through email, pre-scheduled phone calls or meetings. Please be advised that our calendars often book up 4-6 weeks in advance. Additionally, it is required that all clients use the shared Google Drive we set up for your project. Chikmedia does not use outside software such as Dropbox, Slack, etc.
- Being a small staff with multiple clients, our days are typically booked weeks in advance. This is why our standing monthly planning calls are so important. Monthly check-in call are not to exceed 30 minutes
BILLING POLICIES
To get started on a project, Chikmedia requires a signed contract, 25% down payment (unless otherwise noted), and a credit card number on file (all credit card data is stored on a password protected secure drive). Expedited projects must be paid in full and have a signed contract before work can begin. All invoices can be paid by credit card or check with the 30 day invoice period. Any invoices that are not paid after 30 days will incur a late fee. If an invoice falls 60 days past due, you authorize us to charge your credit card on file for the invoice and late fee. All contracts have a 30-day cancellation window. Any cancellation request must be received in a written format prior to the first of the month. For example, if you are looking to cancel for December, written notice must be received by October 31st. Should you not provide a 30-day notice an early termination fee will be applicable.
The Nitty Gritty
- All timelines are subject to change based on approval, timely communication between client and Chikmedia, and outside vendor schedules.
- All ideas are property of Chikmedia.
- No recording of any kind is permitted for any workshops or presentations unless written authorization has been provided by an approved Chikmedia staff member.
- All contracts require 30-day cancellation notice.
- Retainer Contracts:
- First month's invoice is due at the time of signed contract. No work will begin before payment is received. Subsequent invoices will begin one month later.
- The first month of all retainer contracts will be a 10-hour minimum in order to on-board new clients.
- 25% of the first month's invoice is due at time of signed contract. No work will begin before payment is received. Remaining 75% will be billed 2 weeks later and due before the end of the month. Subsequent invoices will be due by the end of that month.
- All retainer contracts require a 6-month minimum commitment.
- Once 6 months is up, retainer contracts automatically move to a month-to-month basis, unless 30 days notice is given.
- Hours must be used within the month and do not roll over unless delays are caused by Chikmedia staff.
- Any additional needs outside of the scope of the contract will be provided and billed at $175 per hour or $150 per hour if client is on an existing monthly retainer contract.
- All emergency crisis communication needs are billed at $250 per hour
- Project inquiries include one introductory call with three follow-up correspondences. Any additional correspondence without signed contract will be billed at $175 per hour.
PAYMENT & FEES
- Payments can be made online (Amex., Visa, MasterCard through QuickBooks), by ACH wire transfer (coming soon), or by check.
- A $25 fee will be required for all payments made by check.
- All contracts require a credit card to be on file. If opting to pay by check, your card will only be charged in the event of a 2-week overdue invoice.
- Retainer contracts require 25% of the first month's invoice is due at time of signed contract. No work will begin before payment is received. Remaining 75% will be billed 2 weeks later and due before the end of the month. Subsequent invoices will be due by the end of that month.
- Late fees - a $25 late fee will be added to invoices at two weeks overdue. From there, an additional $25 fee per week will be added until the invoice is paid in full.
- If mileage is not listed as included in your package, you will be charged for any driving that falls outside the scope of outlined work and/or any event or requirement more than 10 miles from the staff's home base location.
- Any expenses incurred for Chikmedia’s work will be the client’s responsibility and added to the following month’s invoice.
