The PR director should develop an estimated budget for how much the PR and promotions plan would cost; the budget is unlimited, but you must be able to justify your spending decisions to your client.
You can use these estimates for commonly used tactics to develop the PR budget. If you have something you’d like to do that’s not listed here, please see your instructor or teaching assistant to come up with a reasonable estimate.
| Activity | Estimated cost |
| Media tour | $10,000 a city |
| Press kit (includes production, 2 news releases, backgrounder, fact sheet), distributed to customized national media list | $30,000 |
| Media relations (follow up with customized media contacts after sending out press kit; coordinating interviews with media and spokesperson) | $50,000 |
| Spokesperson (includes identifying one, negotiating contract, writing contract, and then the spokesperson fee) | $50,000 low-side talent, $500,000 midgrade talent, $2 million top-grade talent |
| P.S.A. fixed costs (writing it, printing it, sending it to customized contacts, following up) | $10,000 |
| Brochure (3-fold, full color, 500,000 copies) | $50,000 |
| Web design | $30,000-$250,000, depending on scope and quality |
| Event marketing | This completely depends on the event itself — a major coordinated event in one city along can cost $500,000-$1.5 million. It depends on what the idea is, so see your instructor or TA for a better estimate. |
| Trade show(includes booth design and development, having people there, printing all supplies to distribute) | $500,000-$750,000 |
| Radio promotions | For each city, allow an extra $5,000 for each station — the cost depends on what the prize giveaway is and how the contest or promo is structured (different from straight radio ads) |
| Freestanding inserts (in Sunday newspaper) | $250,000 for national run, plus redemption costs (use $25,000 as redemption costs) |
| Sales promotions | Allow $500,000 per major U.S. retailer to execute |
| Consumer promotions | They could cost $50,000-$2 million easily on consumer promo (see your instructor or TA for more specific numbers) |
| Buzz marketing | $10,000-$2 million depending on the scale of your ideas |
| Product placement | $1 million for a major motion picture, $500,000 for network TV and $200,000 for cable TV |