Free doesn’t always mean good.

“A good PR story is infinitely more effective than a front page ad.” – Richard Branson

Looking in a folder on an external hard drive recently I came across pictures from a number of years back when our home was being renovated and it got me thinking.

I looked at the photo and saw all the blocks and bags of cement and sand sitting there and I remembered that – even though everything was there to get the work done – I still ended up paying for people to do it.

When it was all tallied up at the end, labour costs were higher than the materials, but here’s the thing, even though I had the materials there, I didn’t have the necessary skills to do the work that was needed.

I suppose I could have made some attempt at knocking down walls and rebuilding new ones, but I was smart enough to know that if I didn’t have the right skills, then I was never going to get the results I wanted.

Would I have loved to have saved money on the renovation work? Of course I would.

Did I make decisions to try to keep costs to a minimum? I did that wherever and whenever I could.

But did I ever try to make that saving by opting to attempt something that I hadn’t the skills or expertise for? Well, no.

I didn’t, because I knew that it just wouldn’t have made economical sense in the long run.

Flicking through those old renovation photos reminded me of a recent conversation with a potential client who, right off the bat, started with the idea that PR and Marketing was something that could be done for free.

He had a computer after all and the internet. Sure what else did he need?

Of course he was correct. If he had the skills, the time and expertise required, there was nothing to stop him from devising his own campaigns, planning the strategy, writing the copy, etc.

And, just as I am certain there are people who are quite capable of turning their hand to a bit of joinery or plumbing or brick-laying when it comes to building a house, there are certainly people who are capable of coming up with their own PR and marketing campaigns.

But, as the old adage about sticking to what you are good at goes, by the same token there are many who really don’t have those skills.

And, just like me when I was getting that work done to my house, they are the people who should keep to the forefront of their minds that, just because you can do it for free, doesn’t mean that you should!