What is the best way to leverage PR?

Without additional information, it's hard to provide any input as far as what you should expect.

The first question I would be asking is "what impact does this product launch have on the community?" PR is about the specific area you are targeting, as opposed to general marketing which can cover much larger geographic areas. Is this product made in your local area? Does it echo some value of the community? Or is it something that meets a specific need of the community? All of these aspects can lead to higher conversion rates for those within the area, which you can then quantify against the cost.

As far as cost, I'm again going to have to say that there isn't enough information provided. In some cases, PR can be free. Just providing the story to local journalists can be a decent start. In other cases, you're paying membership fees for the local chamber of commerce, etc.

Sorry I can't give you more detailed information without knowing more about your product and community. Feel free to reach out for a follow up call.

Hey! Before you hire a PR person, I would start by reaching out to the local media in your area; morning shows, local podcasters whose audiences might be attracted to your product, local print magazines etc.
Pitch yourself and your product as:
- A great new product to showcase on the show
- An expert in a field of interest for the viewers/readers/listeners where you're happy to answer questions, write articles or do presentations.
- A new local product/business that is part of the economy of the area and looking for support.

You would be surprised to know that most local media is in need of content!! They are always looking for something new to showcase to their audiences. You can usually find contact information or "to be featured" sheets you can fill out on their websites.
The only catch is a lot of these people are busy and sometimes slow to get back in touch. Be nice, but persistent and don't take a non-response as a "no", just keep reaching out.

Hope that is helpful! Feel free to reach out if you have more questions:)

Tell real stories. Draft your own story for release and send it to a writer to get their interest. If your writing is good, they'll likely lower their rates if they are interested in the work, and then they'll work to one-up the quality and content of your story. But you could also just release your draft locally and then hold its hand through a virality process.

That is, there are many horror stories of good people with great stories paying a publicist that gets an article "in" to some sort of a major brand or press, but it takes a bench seat or heaps into a side-brand or lodges into a connected page to the real brand, which has very little chance of anyone from the front page actually finding it. Of course, you don't want this.

Get around that with a real PR strategy that starts with real local heat, builds to regional distribution, and then national fire. You can influence every step of the way if you plan the strategy ahead of time and are prepared to do the tactical work to lift it. Authentic virlaity vs. paid virality is a whole other conversation. You don't want to try to push junk content into national attention. Better to have something with real quality, fire, and then add smart sweat and oxygen to spread it around. Think: Armies of people. How many armies do you have access to? How do you get them to shoot in the same direction? What's in it for them? And how do you momentously build wars of conversations that lead to fear, peace, excitement, and the influential emotions that get people talking about the same thing.

You might use emotional planning frameworks like Cialdini. Russia likes to use bots and social automation. You might target opinion leaders with "social snipe" style ads, or directly engage local communities in the conversation through pre-planned events, co-promotion, or reciprocity campaigns that build momentum.

You'll learn a lot more and get a lot more if you do it yourself and get good at building your own PR strategies from a local to national level. Sometimes, foot on the pavement and relationships goes further than money, if you know what's effective.

PR is a great weapon for the right product /company and time. OK perfectly you'd be Elon Musk and announcing your new anti gravity device and press lines up. But I will assume you aren't Elon (yet) and though you might find your story compelling it might not be "anti gravity' level exciting to the press.
SO Whether you use an agency or not, the key to real PR success is look at todays HOT news items - the press is searching for stories that fit into TODAYS hot news.
How do you, your people, your product, your company, your service fit into todays hot news.. it doesnt have to be direct fit - but can you create an interesting unique angle...

IE today:
* Macy closes 125 store = doesnt have to be about retail but could be about people, employment, training, locations, culture, old v new, ecomm, brands, .... etc...

* Coronavirus outbreak = doesnt have to be about Rx and cures or masks, but it extends to people, culture, HR, travel, work place, virtual meetings, economy, ....

Just see the press as hungry lions, and you just need to convert your thoughts into red meat ;-)