Bill Gates' money is powerful and has propelled his businesses to success.

PR equals sales and companies must use their resources to gain profits. If your marketing is tracked correctly, you will see the impact to your company. Companies consider it difficult to quantify PR expenditures. Be smart with your marketing and PR to document the strategies and profitable impact to the company.

The usual result of a cut in PR is a drop in sales and sales leads which can make a company practically invisible to consumers and business-to-business customers. These PR efforts give your company a bigger name and the opportunity for everyone to know your name. Search engines reach potential new clients worldwide. When you cut the PR budget along with the advertising budget, it's like tossing the baby, the bathwater and the bathtub.

In lean times, public relations still provides the highest value and greater return on investment than any other marketing tactic, including promotions and advertising. To increase that value, there are a number of 'performance-based' PR agencies that mitigate the risk of their clients and only get paid when they deliver solid placements. You never have a guarantee with a retainer-based PR firm. In these economic times, you want to make sure that the money you spend on PR for your company has results. Your invested money gets the exposure results you're looking for. They are unlike retainer-based firms who track and bill for every hour of their time.

The soul of advertising is repetition - which generally cost into the tens of thousands to run an effective campaign. The heart of PR is that clients will likely pay one-tenth or less of the cost of an advertising campaign.

Your name can be printed free in national magazines, you can be interviewed on radio or appear on national TV. These placements carry the third-party verification factor of being in the news sections (not advertising) of the outlets in which they appear. An outlet like Fox News carries credibility. Your ideas and expertise in your medium requires attention.

Gates was one of the few software geniuses of his era who also understood the differences between advertising and public relations, and was able to maximize both to his company's favor. Trusting in your performance-based PR firm to drive your ideas is the first step to your success. Great performance-based firms give you the opportunity to perform in front of a national and worldwide audience which will result in your success.

At the end of the day, companies can't survive the lean times without a steady stream of customers coming to their doorsteps, and PR can deliver them without busting the bank.

Marsha Friedman is a nationally recognized publicity expert, writer, national radio personality, public speaker and CEO of EMS Incorporated, a national PR firm with a 20 year record of excellence. Every day she consults individuals and businesses about how to harness the power of publicity. Visit her online and claim your free PR video (a $100 value) for no charge today.