“But I paid my last PR company £12,000 for a year and got nothing.”

A retainer is a set monthly fee of an agreed amount. A good PR company won't always ask for a retainer. But a good PR company will keep you ever-present in their minds; a news feature on TV at 10.30pm on Saturday evening may be viewed by them and turned into a gilt edged chance for you.

When they are out networking, your PR company will think of you and look for pegs to hang your stories on. They’ll also pass business opportunities on to people who you might find useful. When they are on the beach, they will be writing a feature on your hotel. They are masters of lateral thinking and will spot opportunities that most people would crush underfoot. A retainer is useful for large, ongoing projects, but in the public relations stakes, courtship always wins over marriage. It keeps you on your toes and no-one gets bored.

Your PR company may spend many hours writing and pitching numerous features on your business or your product, or your views, without the promise of column inches.

A good PR company will sit with you at the outset for as long as you need to explain your business to them. They will need to understand every aspect of what you do, why you do it and what you want to achieve for it. Then they will provide you with a proposal that will convince you that they have drilled spy-holes in the walls of your office.

A good PR company won’t know every head of every media sector in the country; media heads are hunted or removed with startling regularity. They will know how to select the right vehicle, how to pitch, how to be patient, how to chase, nurture, behave; how to show respect first and say thank you afterwards.

A good PR company will use trained journalists to write copy that seduces, amuses, informs and analyses; they also write blistering intros and neat wraps. In short, they’ll write in such a manner that a tired sub on a tight deadline will drop your story straight in, and you get full coverage.

A good PR company will have a solid grasp of media law. It’s the law.

A good PR company will dedicate time to regeneration projects in their city and its neighbourhood, because they understand that a developing business community coupled with a determined local authority makes for an energised, growing, vital environment, where it’s fun to invest, entertain, grow and most of all, be proud of.

A good PR company will have Directors who have been there, seen it, done it and designed the programme that created the T-shirt. Then ripped it up to start again. They will have the experience and dedication in creating concepts from thin air, developing them, nurturing them, marketing them and legitimising them in order for people to invest enough money in them to take them through two stock markets. Then they will pass this information on to you, in the form of business development.

A good PR company will operate at Board level of most of the relevant, progressive and established business committees, partnerships and educational establishments in their region. They will be recommended for and elected to those positions by their peers, because they are good at what they do, and they believe in giving some of it back.

Copestake Ltd has over 25 years experience in all of the above. We also have over 25 years in making things up. That’s because we are creators; we believe in new ideas. And the new economy will be built on a wealth of ideas, not the idea of wealth.

We know a good PR company.

Copestake Ltd. Black, white and read all over.