Dishing Out PR Tips at A Discount

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With revenue of only $20,000 a year, Paula Sacks can? afford to pay the $200 an hour that a marketing and public relations pro would normally charge.

But she really wants to get the word out about Baby Sacks, her 18-year-old company that designs vintage baby-shower gift baskets.

So she went to PR Cafe, an event organized by a women? group of PR industry pros. The first one was staged at Barney? Beanery in West Hollywood on May 15. About 20 entrepreneurs attended. The group plans to make it a monthly gathering.

Sacks was advised on how to prepare a press kit, expand her market base, promote herself as an expert, seek investors, advertise on mommy blogs and hire someone to handle administration while she concentrates on marketing and creativity.

The price for the one-on-one session: $20 for 20 minutes.

? spent $20 and got about $20,000 worth of advice,?said Sacks, who used to have a shop but now runs Baby Sacks out of her Brentwood home. ?hey opened me up to thinking beyond.?p>The idea grew out of a series of informal gatherings of 11 women, all of whom own their own PR firms, who discussed the challenges of the recession.

?e meet to talk, complain and offer each other constructive advice,?said Phyllis K. Klein, president of Phyllis Klein & Associates Inc. in Beverly Hills.

They soon decided to reach out to members of the business community and offer marketing advice for the token payment with the understanding that potential clients are facing the same hard times they are.

?e?e all successful but we?e all been affected,?Klein said.

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