How do you make publicity companies on your forum work for you?

I've been contacted by a public relations company asking if it was ok for them to start discussions about shows they're publicizing, and I wrote them back explaining what would be considered spam and what would be acceptable. They also mentioned they might be able to give my members a coupon code, and I asked if it would be possible to kind of do some co-branding and issue a code with my forum's name in it. (No word yet on if that's possible.)

Now I'm wondering if there are any other ways I could use their interest in my site to my advantage. I did suggest an interview with a performer would be of interest to my members, but I seriously doubt anything will come of that. If you've had publicity companies contacting you about your site, how did you make it work for you?

 

Yes, monthly they seek out my forum and ergo it's audience.

I sell advertising, and (no joke) charge them double the standard rates. Usually they laugh because that is little $ for them, so I'll go up to 4x next time.

Remember, they need you far more than you need them. You can always discuss things on a forum without their input/guidance, and believe me, they want to give input and steer the conversation a certain way. Not a bad way, but their way.

 

They don't want banner ads though; they do threads on forums, Twitter, Facebook, etc. I don't know if it's going to be an astroturfing campaign or what.

 

understood.

The ability to discuss a product/service is advertising. That is not allowed on my forum unless they are paying advertisers. It is in fact far more important to discuss than to have the banner ad.


If things were a little less formal maybe I'd say that would be great but what are you going to do to reciprocate the favor? I'm assuming you are finding our forum, which takes much time and $ to run, useful for marketing purposes, or you would not be contacting me.

 

make a specific section for them to advertise things on, that they must pay you money (that you can use to add new things to your forum) before they can post a thread about whatever they are promoting in it

which means they get their advertising, and it benifits your members too

 

$$$$$$$$ bottom line

I've worked out that deal with a webhosting company as well as a parts company, I like it and so do they

One site I've been a part of has a "service provider" usergroup in which they can advertise their services in their avatar, usertext, signature, profile, etc and they have their own subforum for them to create these threads in.. typically this deal includes some sort of discount on the product/service or a bonus (such as a free subscription to the forum, etc)