5 Tips For First-Time PR Agency Clients

As 2022 planning continues, teams are seeing the value of aligning PR tactics with their marketing strategies. In fact, 60% of marketing executives believe that PR and digital marketing teams will work together more closely in the near future. The role of a PR agency in this alignment, and in building an organization’s reputation among customers, employees, and stakeholders, is central. So how do you get the most out of the PR firm relationship?

After selecting an agency partner, it’s imperative to lay out expectations, deliverables and success metrics for both sides. A PR relationship may be challenging for brands to manage if they expect to take a hands-off approach and still be successful. Here are five tips for first-time PR clients to achieve success.

Set Clear Objectives And KPIs 

PR objectives should be clear to both parties, and they should typically reflect the organization’s business goals. Clear goals will help define the PR strategy your agency will adopt. These goals should be both measurable and prioritized so that there is no misunderstanding.  They might include a change in brand perception, increased brand visibility, enhanced reputation, or engagement of a new target audience, for example. Each is supported by tactics designed to achieve them. 

The PR function contributes to business goals through the awareness generated by earned and owned media, among other tactics. But how to measure outcomes? Most teams track key performance indicators (KPIs) to quantify, measure, and optimize their programs. For example, a campaign might be evaluated based on a set number of brand mentions; social media engagement; positive sentiment analysis; or sheer reach. 

Be Open With The PR Team

It’s important to be transparent with the PR agency about the good and bad. On the positive side, something the client has overlooked or takes for granted could be useful information for media relations or storytelling. On the other hand, if there’s an internal problem, the agency needs to know about it and to prepare for any negative impact. PR firms are pros at handling negative news, and advance preparation is important if bad news is anticipated.

Make Onboarding Work Hard

Onboarding is where a PR firm really gets to know a business and its objectives and mission. A thorough onboarding can make the difference between a successful start and a mediocre one. During this process a PR team benefits from a full business overview (messaging, differentiators, competitors, etc.). It’s also an opportunity to meet brand spokespersons and the leadership team; learn their points of view about key issues; and review the marketing calendar, including product roadmap, upcoming announcements, content, and targeted conferences and awards. This is the time to go over everything in detail so both sides are set up for success. From this point the PR agency will build out their strategy and come back to the next meeting with a full plan in place.

Encourage Honest Feedback

To get the most out of any outside agency or consultant, it’s best to encourage counsel and feedback that challenges the status-quo. Let your team know you’re not afraid of ideas that fall outside the usual boundaries. They are bringing a fresh set of eyes and ears to the situation, and objectivity brings value. Their advice and judgment is informed by experience, and PR thrives on a blend of experience and fresh ideas. 

Be Responsive

In media relations, timing is everything. Journalists have deadlines and PR teams need to work quickly and efficiently to meet them. If a PR firm can’t reach a client about a fast-breaking opportunity, it may be lost, potentially affecting future ones. In addition to journalists’ deadlines, brands need to be available to participate in strategy discussions, review press releases and other types of copy, provide/approve reactions to news ideas, and more.  

By following these tips and using common sense, any organization can have a successful partnership with a PR agency. Be sure to stay engaged and foster open communication for the best results. At the end of the day, you want to hire an agency team you trust. Don’t be afraid to give your firm the space it needs to make moves on your behalf once you provide all the assets they need. Ultimately this is a partnership where both parties grow together.

 

7 Reasons To Work At A PR Firm

For those set on a career in PR or communications, there are many forks in the road. Here’s the argument for a stint at a public relations agency, as opposed to a corporate or nonprofit gig, as a great place to start. Our bias is for a smaller, independent agency, but it’s really more about the PR firm experience and business model than anything else. Here’s why:

You’re a specialist among specialists. Within a corporation, staff learn public relations as it serves the organization, but at an agency, it’s the core business. Usually it’s the only business. That translates into a deeper commitment to training and greater mastery of the PR discipline overall.

Agencies offer upward mobility.  The great thing about beginning a career at an agency is that a mixed client base, coupled with the single focus (or a concentration in similar communications practice areas) translates into greater opportunity to move up the ranks quickly. Almost any road can lead to advancement.

You’ll learn what you love. Juggling multiple clients in different industries or sectors may not be for everyone. But the chance to participate in account management for clients within different industries, from B2B technology to food and beverage PR, will help you figure out where your passion lies and focus your career for the future.

You’ll learn to produce. Or not, in which case your agency experience will be short. Almost any service business places a high premium on generating specific deliverables quickly and well. On the agency side, you earn your keep every day. It’s certainly not the only way to learn time management and other contributors to productivity, but it’s a good one.

You’ll learn salesmanship. This varies from agency to agency, but at most small-to-midsize firms, even junior staffers will have some opportunity to take part in new business presentations. Even where you don’t, merchandising the agency’s value to clients is a part of the daily life at a PR firm. And it’s terrific experience that you can apply to your own contribution and career.

And showmanship.  From packaging dazzling content, to C-level boardroom presentations, this is also a skill that’s highly translatable to just about anything else you may do in life or work.

You’ll never be bored. The agency life is ideal for multitaskers. But, beware, it can ruin you for doing anything else!

A PR Agency’s Take On Mad Men

As the season winds down on one of my favorite shows (that just happens to focus on an industry close to my own) it’s fun to look at what the show got “right” about our world of agencies and clients. Granted, the season isn’t over yet – the agency could sink a big fish client as Don wants, or be happy with their mid-size roster for awhile or even resign Jaguar, what with all its unpleasant associations (namely unsavory sex and suicide), but I think there were some key themes that resonate with today’s mad men and women.

Show don’t tell, all the better to sell

This little axiom proved out during the season most memorably as Don and pretty new wife Megan used their wit and banter to demonstrate to potential client Heinz the agency’ skill in getting housewives to buy more baked beans. During what appears to be just normal chatter between themselves and the Heinz head and his wife, Megan skillfully cues Don to talk colorfully about their own family dinners and, voila, the personal touch sells better than any boards and copy could.

There will always be bad bosses

New copywriter Ginsberg begins to gain real traction as a creative force and even stands up to Don pushing a campaign idea for new client Sno-Cone. Don, feeling old, threatened, jealous or all of the above, demonstrates the worst creative director qualities by leaving Ginsberg’s work in the cab. He pitches only his own idea (featuring a devil, not subtle symbolism!) and closing the deal. Ginsberg never knows about this bad boss behavior but Don later tells Ginsberg “I never think about you at all.” Ouch, bad boss, very bad boss.

Women need to know their worth

It is the mid-60’s on the show, and women have made great strides in the business world but are still treated as 2nd-class citizens (or in Joan’s case, as “chattel!”) Peggy spent much of the season chafing at a perceived (actual?) relegation to solely “female brands” and the knowledge that although she could belt them back with the boys, she wasn’t competing on the pay scale. When she dips one tiny toe into the job market, she is amply rewarded by a great competitive offer and she jumps. Although Don tries to counter, it seems desperate and emboldens Peggy all the more to move to a better work environment. Sadly, this women’s wage gap is still true, with the recent failure of the Paycheck Fairness Act, so the 60s are not dead!