Four ways to buy publicity, compared without marketing fog — costs, timelines, guarantees, and the red flags that separate real agencies from logo farmers.
Do it yourself. Free, and you learn why PR is a profession. Timeline: months, hit rate low without a genuine news hook.
Press-release distribution. $200–$800 per release, syndicated to content farms that no human reads. Fine for SEO scraps, worthless as credibility.
Traditional retainer PR. $5,000–$15,000/month for effort, not outcomes — the model that made "guaranteed placement" agencies possible.
Guaranteed-placement agencies. You pay for a published, named placement — refund if it does not run. The model works when the outlets are real.
Whether the agency owns or verifiably controls its mastheads. Anyone can promise Forbes; the question is what domain your article actually lands on. Run the six verification checks on every agency you talk to — including us; we insist.
⚠ Famous-masthead walls with articles "about the agency" on domains you do not recognize.
⚠ No named outlet in the contract before payment.
⚠ "Guaranteed Forbes $99" — physically impossible pricing for real outlets.
⚠ Portfolio links that fail the domain, masthead or indexing checks.
⚠ Review walls with no verifiable published articles behind them.
We are the odd one out: a media company that sells PR, not a PR agency renting credibility. 130 owned newspapers and magazines across 17 sectors — live, checkable domains, articles from $49, self-serve — plus premium outlets on individual request (Time, Forbes, NY Post and partners, campaigns from $5,000) and visa publicity from $2,000. Every guarantee is in writing: published or fully refunded. See all pricing →
Own network, self-serve, guaranteed — or premium placements on individual request. Every placement verifiable, every guarantee in writing.