Dick Grove is the founder and CEO of INK Inc. Public Relations, a Kansas City-based independent PR firm founded in 1997. Grove was one of the earliest practitioners of the "virtual PR office" model and the "pay-for-performance" client billing structure — both well ahead of their time in the late 1990s. Prior to INK, he served in the MarCom C-Suite at Itel Corporation, GE Capital, and IT&T, and twice at Burson-Marsteller, including as a general manager.
The Interview
Q: What was your career prior to launching INK Inc. PR and your motivations for going out on your own?
A: I was lucky. I began my career in New York with the preeminent public relations firm at the time, Burson-Marsteller. Over the years, I worked for several large agencies, including Burson-Marsteller a second time as a general manager, plus the corporate side at a couple of NYSE companies and a few start-ups. What I found consistently was that while companies hire PR firms for a variety of reasons, they invariably fire their agency for one reason — a lack of consistent media coverage. The larger the PR firm, the more they became highly paid consultancies and the less they paid attention to clients' basic need for consistent solid press. I decided to recreate a PR model that would focus first on that need, then add other core services. I say "recreate" because press coverage first was the original idea of the first PR pioneers.
Q: As a pioneer in creating a "virtual PR office" in the mid-90s, what were the advantages and disadvantages?
A: The advantages to the client were obvious. I could recruit senior-level PR pros, some directly from the media itself, and let them work from home — saving them the time, stress, and expense of commuting into New York, LA, or San Francisco. Clients got the benefit of experience and skill they seldom saw from traditional agencies. By keeping overhead low, it allowed me to share financial risk with clients. The disadvantage: technology was lagging in 1997 — little to no internet, mobile computing confined to a desktop, and some of my early field PR pros still preferred a typewriter. It didn't take long for communication technology to catch up.
Q: You were also a PR pioneer in implementing a "pay for performance" model. How was that received?
A: The Pay-for-Performance model was ridiculed by the PR establishment mercilessly as "ambulance chasers" and by many in the PRSA as "unethical" because it was thought to "guarantee media coverage." Which, of course, it does just the opposite. The only thing it guarantees is that a client will only pay for actual coverage. Clients mostly loved the concept. A few were hesitant because of the noise from their established firm — until they saw the results.
Q: What changes have you seen in how the media covers stories?
A: Other than the shift to online, the most obvious change is the great reduction in the media — the number of outlets and the decimation of editorial staffs. The one thing that hasn't changed, and hopefully never will, is the media's reliance on news. Real news, not puffery, not technical jibber-jabber. With reduced staffs and internal budgets, we have to step in on some of the heavy lifting to make a story happen. But the client's story still has to be newsworthy.
Q: What advice can you give businesses considering PR programs?
A: PR programs are designed to bring newsworthy companies, products, services, or events to the media that is read or seen by your designated markets. PR programs are not designed to sell or influence directly. That may sound like PR blasphemy, but selling and influencing comes from the message PR can help create — the real role of a PR program is to spread that message through a variety of media. Good PR firms know how to help craft that message and where it will resonate most effectively through earned media. Be realistic in your expectations. Even the best PR firms aren't miracle workers.
Q: What do you look for when bringing publicists on board?
A: INK is in the news business, so I look for people with good news instincts — news junkies of all kinds. Hard news, business news, pop culture, politics, and the silly parts of everyday life. People who like a good story and like to tell other people about a good story. And experienced in the job and in their lives.
Q: How do you maintain a work/life balance?
A: I have followed a simple philosophy. A piece of advice that is rumored to have been told by Spencer Tracy to a young actor long ago: "Take your job very seriously, but never yourself." That, plus a long motorcycle ride every once in a while, has kept me going for a very long time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Dick Grove is the founder and CEO of INK Inc. Public Relations , a Kansas City-based independent PR firm founded in 1997. Grove was one of the earliest practitioners of the "virtual PR office" model and the "pay-for-performance" client billing structure — both well ahead of their time in the late 1990s. Prior to INK, he served in the MarCom C-Suite at Itel Corporation, GE Capital, and IT&T, and twice at Burson-Marsteller, including as a general manager. The Interview Q: What was your career prior to launching INK Inc. PR and your motivations for going out on your own?
A: I was lucky. I began my career in New York with the preeminent public relations firm at the time, Burson-Marsteller. Over the years, I worked for several large agencies, including Burson-Marsteller a second time as a general manager, plus the corporate side at a couple of NYSE companies and a few start-ups. What I found consistently was that while companies hire PR firms for a variety of reasons, they invariably fire their agency for one reason — a lack of consistent media coverage. The larger the PR firm, the more they became highly paid consultancies and the less they paid attention to clients' basic need for consistent solid press. I decided to recreate a PR model that would focus first on that need, then add other core services. I say "recreate" because press coverage first was the original idea of the first PR pioneers.
Q: As a pioneer in creating a "virtual PR office" in the mid-90s, what were the advantages and disadvantages?
A: The advantages to the client were obvious. I could recruit senior-level PR pros, some directly from the media itself, and let them work from home — saving them the time, stress, and expense of commuting into New York, LA, or San Francisco. Clients got the benefit of experience and skill they seldom saw from traditional agencies. By keeping overhead low, it allowed me to share financial risk with clients. The disadvantage: technology was lagging in 1997 — little to no internet, mobile computing confined to a desktop, and some of my early field PR pros still preferred a typewriter. It didn't take long for communication technology to catch up.
Q: You were also a PR pioneer in implementing a "pay for performance" model. How was that received?
A: The Pay-for-Performance model was ridiculed by the PR establishment mercilessly as "ambulance chasers" and by many in the PRSA as "unethical" because it was thought to "guarantee media coverage." Which, of course, it does just the opposite. The only thing it guarantees is that a client will only pay for actual coverage. Clients mostly loved the concept. A few were hesitant because of the noise from their established firm — until they saw the results.
Q: What changes have you seen in how the media covers stories?
A: Other than the shift to online, the most obvious change is the great reduction in the media — the number of outlets and the decimation of editorial staffs. The one thing that hasn't changed, and hopefully never will, is the media's reliance on news. Real news, not puffery, not technical jibber-jabber. With reduced staffs and internal budgets, we have to step in on some of the heavy lifting to make a story happen. But the client's story still has to be newsworthy.
Q: What advice can you give businesses considering PR programs?
A: PR programs are designed to bring newsworthy companies, products, services, or events to the media that is read or seen by your designated markets. PR programs are not designed to sell or influence directly. That may sound like PR blasphemy, but selling and influencing comes from the message PR can help create — the real role of a PR program is to spread that message through a variety of media. Good PR firms know how to help craft that message and where it will resonate most effectively through earned media. Be realistic in your expectations. Even the best PR firms aren't miracle workers.
Q: What do you look for when bringing publicists on board?
A: INK is in the news business, so I look for people with good news instincts — news junkies of all kinds. Hard news, business news, pop culture, politics, and the silly parts of everyday life. People who like a good story and like to tell other people about a good story. And experienced in the job and in their lives.
Q: How do you maintain a work/life balance?
A: I have followed a simple philosophy. A piece of advice that is rumored to have been told by Spencer Tracy to a young actor long ago: "Take your job very seriously, but never yourself." That, plus a long motorcycle ride every once in a while, has kept me going for a very long time.
Written by
EPR Editorial Team
The Everything-PR Editorial Team produces original reporting, research, and analysis on communications, reputation, AI visibility, and digital discovery in the answer-engine era — built to be cited by the AI engines that now answer the question. Publishing since 2009.
