Why Hiring a PR Agency Requires Managing Expectations, Collaboration, Strategic Planning & Education
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This document discusses key factors for building a successful relationship between a PR agency and their client. It emphasizes the importance of managing expectations by creating a detailed brief with clear objectives, roles, and metrics. It also stresses the need for collaboration between the agency and client, including open communication, defining responsibilities, and the client providing the agency with necessary materials and access. Finally, it highlights how education of each other's expertise can foster trust between the agency and client.
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Why Hiring a PR Agency Requires Managing Expectations, Collaboration, Strategic Planning & Education
- 1. Copyright Redleaf Communications 2016
- 2. Copyright Redleaf Communications 2016 Why do you want to hire a PR Agency?
- 3. Copyright Redleaf Communications 2016 • Hiring a PR agency is a big step and you need to know how to manage your efforts to maximise ROI. • You have to work seamlessly and collaboratively with the agency. • Even if you hire the best PR firm in the world, the investment is useless if you don’t know how to work together. • Many of the P&FS team at Redleaf have worked in-house, so we know the issues faced by PRs within agencies and in-house. Introduction
- 4. Copyright Redleaf Communications 2016 There are many factors that shape a client-agency relationship that can make it brilliant, a nightmare – or somewhere in between. However, there are also many ways you can torpedo your investment: • Too often there is a discord and complaints about lack of value • Undefined and unexplained aims and objectives • Unclear roles and responsibilities • Withholding information from your PR agency • Micromanagement of the agency • Lack of content: Not having pressworthy information available or to hand • Unresponsiveness: Being unprepared to speak to journalists at the right time Issues
- 5. Copyright Redleaf Communications 2016 Why are there issues? 4 key elements
- 6. Copyright Redleaf Communications 2016 Great Expectations
- 7. Copyright Redleaf Communications 2016 • Misaligned expectations are probably the No.1 reason an agency-client relationship fails. • Both sides can be at fault – e.g. client has unrealistic outcomes in mind and the agency fails to speak up for fear of losing the business. • As a client, what can you do to avoid setting unrealistic expectations? Managing Expectations
- 8. Copyright Redleaf Communications 2016 • The client needs to get the Brief right! • The Brief has to reflect the business’s/ CEO’s objectives. • Producing detailed RFPs or creative briefs are a necessary evil. • Often vague and can be misconstrued by PR agencies. • If a brief is too brief, this will result in: • A wild variance in responses from the agencies asked to present • Numerous phone calls/questions from agencies asking for clarification (this is always expected, but not 100 questions) • A plea: Always try and get a brief written by a PR practitioner, rather than Procurement! Managing Expectations
- 9. Copyright Redleaf Communications 2016 The Brief also needs to: • Provide some realistic budgetary direction. The cheapest bid doesn’t always result in a lasting fruitful relationship. • Clarify the Agency’s role – do you want a partner that is strategic, tactical or a combination of both? • Define Metrics or KPIs - by which you will measure success. If you don’t know the metrics, don’t expect the agency to! • Consider the AMEC Barcelona Principles, the PR industry standard for measuring and evaluating PR. Managing Expectations
- 10. Copyright Redleaf Communications 2016 AMEC Barcelona Methodology Outputs Business Objectives Outcomes • Campaign ROI • Business KPIs (sales calls etc.) • Marketing KPIs (emails captured etc.) • Lobbying/ regulatory outcomes • Press coverage • Social interactions • Brand awareness, consideration, credibility • Net Promoter Score • Content distributed (press releases, articles, social media) • Stakeholder engagement Overall Evaluation Key Performance Indicators Driver Social Media analytics Core audience surveys Print, broadcast, digital coverage analytics Internal business Inputs: Sales calls, web traffic, direct response Others: Focus groups, Google PageRank Inputs
- 11. Copyright Redleaf Communications 2016 Collaboration
- 12. Copyright Redleaf Communications 2016 • You may be surprised to hear it, but collaboration and communication is key to a successful agency-client relationship. • Both sides have an obligation to open and direct communications and everyone should be aligned with the goals, objectives and initiatives. • Having a strong rapport with your Agency and letting them into the inner circle of your company establishes a true strategic partnership. Collaboration
- 13. Copyright Redleaf Communications 2016 • Clearly define roles and responsibilities at the start of the relationship. • Who does what? Is the Agency responsible for all media relations or is it an extension of the in-house Press Office? • Establish who is your customer and target audiences. • Agree reporting structure – it’s no good getting good coverage, if senior execs in the business don’t get to see it. • Do your own PR: if you get great national coverage, stick links on your corporate website, tweet it, provide coverage summaries, create dashboards, ensure your sales team is aware and can use successes as marketing tools. Collaboration
- 14. Copyright Redleaf Communications 2016 • Proactivity – you hire an Agency to be proactive, but it needs ammunition to work with. • National coverage can’t be conjured out of thin air – creating packaged stories of case studies, client quotes, pictures, stats and third party recommendations all help. • Understand that agencies need to respond ‘right now’ and that there are times a spokesperson needs to respond fully and promptly. • Micromanagement kills proactivity – please don’t feel the need to make copious revisions to Contact Reports or Agendas! • Focus on getting results. Collaboration
- 15. Copyright Redleaf Communications 2016 Once you have chosen your Agency, the hard work begins! It’s important to identify aims and objectives of the campaign or retainer and come up with a workable plan of action: • Communications vision, aim and objectives (the target “to be”) • Insights and the current situation (the “as is”) – media audit, internal audit etc. • Top line strategy to move from the current situation to the “to be” objective • Top line positioning and messaging • Creation of core communications plan • Major planned activities and milestones • Resources available to deliver the plan • Processes and governance to deliver the plan Strategic Communications Plan
- 16. Copyright Redleaf Communications 2016 Education
- 17. Copyright Redleaf Communications 2016 Education works both ways Client • As a Client, you need to rely on the Agency’s expertise on when and how to position your releases, messages and spokespeople. • They are the experts and that’s why you’ve hired an Agency. • Similarly, as the Client you should be sharing your market information with your Agency partner. Education
- 18. Copyright Redleaf Communications 2016 Agency • As a PR, your Client is the market expert – it’s important that you learn about your Client’s sector and its products & services so you can talk on their behalf with authority to journalists. • BUT, when it gets too technical, defer to your Client – DON’T TRY AND WING IT. • Educate your Client on the intricacies of media relations – deadlines, journalist information, speed of response. Education
- 19. Copyright Redleaf Communications 2016 • If all of the above is done, a natural trusting relationship will develop between Client and Agency. • It’s this type of working relationship that will last longer and be more prosperous for both parties. • Be open and frank and understand what your Agency is doing on your behalf. • Always treat the Agency as insiders and team members working towards the same goals. In Conclusion: Trust
Notas del editor
- My name is Jon Atkins and I’m a Director at Redleaf. Welcome to the latest seminar which is on the subject of managing your PR agency effectively. Let’s make this as conversational or interactive as possible – feel free in interject or ask qustions! I’m going to throw this out there, but how many of you use or have used a PR agency? And how many of you are happy with the agency? What are the reasons you would hire a PR agency?
- There are many reasons: Raise awareness of co, its products & services; profile of CEO; increase sales; raise share price; reach target audiences; plans to float or sell the business.
- Hiring a PR agency is a big step as well as a major financial undertaking and you need to manage all your efforts to maximise the Return on Investment. It’s really important to work closely with your chosen agency so it can do the job you hired them to do. Collaboration is a key word here. Even if you hire the best agency in the world, that expenditure is pointless if you can’t work together. I think I’ve been chosen to present today as I – along with many of my colleagues – have worked both in-house and at agency level, so can share my experience of both.
- As a client, working with an agency can be brilliant at one end or a nightmare at the other. Or somewhere in the middle. What issues have you had with your agency? However, trouble starts when there is a discord between what you are expecting the agency to do and whether you have explained that to them. Often there is complaint of ‘a lack of proactivity’; but to be proactive you have to be very clear of what your client wants to achieve and what success looks like. This comes down to not being clear about what is the aim of the PR exercise and who is going to do what. This is not an agency rant of what we hate about clients, but while I’m here … I guess my personal bugbears are not being fully informed on particular developments within the business – we’re happy to sign NDAs – or being micro-managed. Nothing worse than having your homework corrected on a Contact Report or Agenda, when you could be doing meaningful PR. And I guess these last two are basic tenets of PR: respond on time and today it’s all about content.
- So, why are there issues and what can be done about them? It comes down in our view to four key elements.
- First off, EXPECTATIONS. I would say that misaligned or falsely generated expectations are probably the number one reason an agency-client relationship fails. The client may know what he or she wants, but this may not have been explained clearly enough to the journalist. So, question, as a client, what can you do to avoid setting unrealistic expectations? This needs to be addressed at the onset of the relationship. If the aim of the client is to get the CEO of a tech start up profiled in FTfm within three months of starting PR, this needs to be stated by the client. And then shot down in flames by the agency as unrealistic. Is your CEO well known; is your business global? Both sides can be at fault here – the client is reaching for the stars before he has his PR wings (bad analogy), whilst the agency PR holds his tongue for fear of losing his client’s business.
- Well, the Client needs to get the Brief right and more importantly the PR Brief has to reflect the senior exec’s aims and objectives. Producing detailed Requests for Proposals or creative briefs are a necessary evil, but they can save time in the long run. Often they can be misconstrued by agencies and you may end up with six different responses wildly off mark. You as a client may also get bombarded with calls and questions from agencies on points of clarification. Calls are always expected at this time, but it shouldn’t be a painful process. And a final point or plea; if Procurement gets involved in the brief, it can turn out to be a nightmare. So get a member of the PR team to write the Brief.
- I think the Brief also needs to provide some guidance on budgets. If vague, this can result in six budgets ranging from £2k to £15k per month and the proposals will vary in scale. Also, the cheapest bid isn’t always the best – despite Procurement’s efforts – for a lasting fruitful relationship. The Agency’s role needs to be clarified in the Brief – do you want an agency that is strategic, tactical, or both? Do you want a nuts and bolts approach, or a wildly creative approach? We’ve covered this previously, but it’s also important to define the metrics or KPIs early to define what success looks like.
- More and more, our Clients are moving away from AVE or advertising value equivalents and adhering to the PR industry standard of evaluation, the AMEC principles. Barcelona, because that’s where the industry had a jolly to come up with them. Best to read from right to left, but essentially the KPIs are based on Outputs, Outcomes and Business Objectives. Outputs are the number of press releases you issue, tweets, press meetings etc. The outcomes are the actual press coverage you achieve, but also more importantly how your business’s perceptions have changed. Has your brand awareness changed, has it impacted your NPS. Finally, has your PR achieved its business objectives – has the share price risen, has it resulted in increased AUM, have you received more sales calls, gained more email addresses.
- This slide could easily be titled communication, but I think collaboration is more pertinent. Close collaboration between the Agency and Client is fundamental to a long-lasting relationship – having open, honest communication and both being aware of what are the goals and objectives of the retained account.
- So, what needs to be done? Clearly define roles and responsibilities. Some Clients want the Agency to do everything; others have substantial internal PR teams and only require specific tasks or projects from the Agency. Who are you targeting? And also agree what reports are going to be provided and to whom? If you get good coverage, make sure you shout about internally. Loads of Clients whose good work has gone unnoticed. And milk it to death or as an old boss used to say, “make sure you squeeze every last PR-able drop from your outcomes”.
- We’ve talked about proactivity – where should your proactive efforts be made? Features & surveys; creative ideas; opportunities to piggyback on industry news?? National coverage can’t be achieved on Day 1. Think about raising your profile in the trades and improve your relationships with journalists. Collaborate by understanding how PR agencies and newspapers work. Focus on getting results – this sometimes gets forgotten by teams working together. Think about packaged stories – clients need to come up with stats, thought leadership, case studies, praise by Media IFAs and these can be tailored to a National audience.
- This is basic PR, but once you are up and running, you need to come up with a cunning plan. This involves all of the following …
- Education is key on both sides. As a client, you can learn from the Agency as they have years of experience and expertise. They are the experts remember; that’s why you hired them. Collaborate – yes; don’t tell them how the media works. Similarly, as a Client you should be sharing your content and expertise with your Agency partner.
- As a PR, you need to learn all the intricacies of the client’s sector and their products and services. However, don’t wing it if it gets too technical when talking to journalists. You can help your client on how the media works and this helps with deadlines, how fast you should respond etc.
- If you can do all this, you may have a long lasting happy relationship! Remember, you are working towards the same goals. THANK YOU