WASHINGTON, DC -- (Marketwire) -- 11/12/12 -- Crawford Public Relations introduced PR as a Service (PRaaS(SM)), giving clients in the technology and telecommunications industries the flexibility, savings and freedom of usage-based PR and content services.

"PRaaS offers businesses a new way to cost-effectively promote their products and services without committing to a retainer," said Jim Crawford, president, Crawford PR. "Clients can use PRaaS for any service -- strategic consulting, classic and digital media, analyst relations, standard content, C-level speeches, or blogs and eBooks for inbound marketing -- and pay 'by the drink' at one low hourly rate."

PRaaS is inspired by software as a service (SaaS), a popular business model that allows companies to access software and applications over the Internet as-needed, without up-front or fixed recurring recharges. SaaS has significantly cut IT costs by eliminating capex requirements for software licensing fees, deployment and upgrades. Dynamic resource allocation delivers added savings and efficiency, giving SaaS the elasticity to adjust to sudden bursts or contractions in user demand.

Similarly, PRaaS reduces the cost of PR, passes savings on to clients and can scale up or down quickly to meet changing needs. With PRaaS, companies ranging from startups to large enterprises have the freedom to use any type of communications service at an affordable price, in sync with actual usage.

"Businesses of all sizes need to promote their products and services to drive revenue, but in an uncertain economy many are reluctant to commit to fixed-cost agency retainers," said Crawford. "PRaaS helps businesses quickly build brand awareness that fuels revenue -- with the power to precisely control costs, and the flexibility to modify spending levels according to need."

One trend propelling growth in the technology sector and beyond is rapid adoption of inbound marketing, a rising discipline that leverages high-value content to boost customer conversion rates. Crawford clients may use PRaaS for optimized content including website landing pages, social media and blogs attract targeted traffic and accelerate sales.

About Crawford PR

Crawford Public Relations provides strategic PR, standard and digital media, executive communications and other premium content services to technology and telecommunications innovators. Over the last decade, Crawford has helped startups generate $4.5 billion in investor returns and led policy PR campaigns that saved the competitive broadband industry $2.3 billion -- winning Crawford honors for "Best Media Relations During Litigation or Crisis" awarded by PR News. In addition to first and second-round startups, clients served by Crawford have spanned large enterprises including AT&T, Convergys, IBM, Raytheon and XO Communications. Information at www.crawfordpr.com