Compare those prices to many small PR shops or individual PR specialists. Many have started their own PR businesses after years of experience in industry and typically charge $50 - $100 per hour to professionally launch and maintain your campaign. Many times, you can get a seasoned PR veteran who will work directly with you and your staff for cheaper than "Intern/Junior" executive rate at a downtown firm.

However, one word of advice -- when choosing a smaller firm or individual to do your PR, make sure they have same tools that bigger agencies do: updated media lists/contacts; personalized media distribution capabilities; professional clipping racking services to get copies of each of your media placements (articles, tapes from TV/radio shows) as well as intangibles of expert communication/media relations skills and professional pitching prowess. If they are cheaper, but don't have all tools to help you in best manner possible, you are probably better off spending a little extra money to make sure your campaign is launched and maintained correctly.

The major benefits of hiring a professional (individual PR specialist or PR firm) to launch your campaign are:

· Proper Campaign Implementation - Improperly composed or poorly pitched campaigns are major downfall of many PR efforts. Poorly written, over-commercialized media releases; uncalculated, misdirected mass e-mailing of release pitch; no follow-up media relations/media request fulfillment; etc.. Your first impression to media is a lasting one - make sure it's a good one. · Media Contacts - Most PR agencies have established multiple media contacts over several years that can lead to much better and more numerous media placements for your campaign. Let their foot in door benefit you. · Efficiency and Effectiveness - PR specialists/agencies generate publicity full time, 8-12 hours per day and know ins and outs, shortcuts and secrets to getting job done better and quicker. Sure you could hang your own drywall or do your own plumbing, but do you have tools, time and expertise to make it cost effective. I always tell my clients, "You do what you do well, I'll do what I do well and we'll collectively move this business further up ladder."

One caveat when it comes to choosing a professional PR agency or individual to work with - signing up for a higher priced campaign doesn't necessarily mean you will get better results than a cheaper campaign. And inverse is true as well. Over past year or so, many "low-cost PR/publicity services" have begun to pop up all over Internet. Ones that promise to write and launch a press release for as low as $99. They are low in cost - because frankly many are low in quality. Bigger is not necessarily better, and cheap does not always mean a good bargain.

If you have time, tools and talent to launch and maintain your own campaign, you should definitely do so. If not - there are a number of public relations/publicity firms, specialists and services out there. Research to find one whose services and fees match your business plan. Once business owners, entrepreneurs, and inventors learn more about their options when it comes to launching a PR campaign -- many find that they can't afford NOT to have one.

These insights are critical when your resources are limited. Usually only reason a new company succeeds is because owner is able to perceive a need in market that has previously gone unfilled. That can include a higher quality version of an existing product or service, a less expensive version, or a whole new approach to solving an age-old problem. Or perhaps entrepreneur is doing nothing more than making it easier for his customers to buy same things they've always bought. Whatever it is, entrepreneur spied something that others didn't see, then acted on it.

Gaining an insight that can be converted into a new business requires a deep understanding of what customers need. Turning this insight into al company takes sustained concentration and ability to learn quickly. In order to create a business, this initial insight has to be honed and adapted quickly to meet actual needs of customers. What started as a good idea has to be developed in accordance to how and when people buy. What begins as an idea to sell chocolates becomes business of selling gift packages.

The demands of developing a new idea, refining that idea into a product, discovering a market for product and communicating to that market are easier if entrepreneur is a devoted fan of product. You can't easily switch from selling auto parts to selling fishing gear simply because you perceived a need in market. You switch from selling parts to selling fishing gear because you love fishing, you know a great deal about fishing, and you love to be around people who fish.

George Bernard Shaw said that life was "Just one damned thing after another." That's life of an entrepreneur. If you love your niche and love interacting with vendors and customers, coping with one damned-thing-after-another is exhilarating, not exhausting. If you love with you business, effort to learn and grow will be pleasure, not pain.