the art of choosing a PR agency An Unbiased Look at Picking the Perfect PR Partner When we released the original version of this white paper—”The Art of Choosing an Ad Agency,” apparently we hit the nail on the head. Prospective clients said it was exactly what they needed. Most even brought the white paper with them to an initial meeting as their checklist and to see if we would follow our own advice. (They told us we passed.) So, we thought we’d go for an encore, this time focused on choosing a PR agency. While public relations and advertising are close sisters and need to work in conjunction for a successful communications campaign, there are differences. Advertising delivers the ‘aura’ and public relations delivers the ‘details’ through many multi-faceted means of communication. A savvy PR counselor should be speaking to you about long-term reputation management, ﬁnding the best angle for a story and mapping communication efforts to business goals. On to those promised tips to help you in your quest for a public relations agency partner. STEPHANIE MILLER is the PR Director for Penna Powers Brian Haynes. With 19 years of industry experience, she has managed public relations for a diverse set of clients. She has served on the PRSA Greater Salt Lake Chapter board and served as its President. >> TALK TO STEPHANIE Having spent the past 19 years working in communications agencies going through hundreds of reviews by potential clients, we’re sure a few guidelines would be helpful for anyone looking to hire a PR firm. But first, take note of what Cleve Langton, American Association of Advertising Agencies New Business Committee Chairman, once wrote about the agency review: “The process starts out as a linear, logical one. It ends up with gut feel and intuitive fit.” LET’S START WITH THE LOGICAL STEPS FIRST Let your fingers do the walking. It’s a good idea to perform a silent review first and do some research on agencies in your region. Where to look besides Google? Good local business magazines often produce yearly agency lists. And if you’re using an Internet search engine to find agencies specific to your area, shops that know what they’re doing in the digital space will come up first. CHECK THEIR WEBSITES See which companies know your product category. Do they specialize in businessto-business (B2B) and/or business-to-consumer (B2C)? Do they list the capabilities they offer and explain what they do, or are you left scratching your head from all the jargon? Do they post case studies that demonstrate success in meeting business goals? Are they doing a good job for themselves on social media channels? This initial online research can save you time and money by short-listing only the firms that really are a good match for your needs. LET YOUR FINGERS DO THE WALKING. INITIAL ONLINE RESEARCH CAN SAVE YOU TIME AND MONEY BY SHORT-LISTING ONLY THE FIRMS THAT REALLY ARE A GOOD MATCH. THE ART OF CHOOSING A PR AGENCY PENNA POWERS BRIAN HAYNES WHITE PAPER SEND OUT A QUESTIONNAIRE OR REQUEST FOR QUALIFICATIONS (RFQ) After you’ve finished your silent review, send several agencies some background about your company, your communication goals and a simple questionnaire. Don’t ask questions like, “How will you spend our $X,XXX budget?” While it’s important to provide a budget, any PR agency can throw out a laundry list of creative, great-sounding ideas, but with only a limited view into your specific opportunities, challenges and business goals they can’t know how those resources should be strategically spent. Instead, ask—what is their approach to meeting a communications opportunity or challenge; what is their process to get an account up and running; what are the ways they measure success. Any agency that sends in boilerplate answers, is late on its responses or doesn’t match your working style shouldn’t make the cut. Ask for references—and be sure to call them. Specifically, ask about their relationship with the agency. Is there trust? Does the agency meet deadlines and quoted estimates? Do they whole-heartedly trust the agency with their reputation management? WHY DO YOU NEED A PR AGENCY? 1. CAN YOU DEFINE YOUR OBJECTIVES? 2. WHAT AREAS OF EXPERTISE ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? • Media relations • Press tours • Crisis management • Analyst relations • Media training • Community relations • Social Media management • Public affairs • Employee relations • Public relations 3. DO YOU HAVE A FIRM BUDGET IN MIND? Often the size of your budget will directly correlate with the size of agency you need. THE ART OF CHOOSING A PR AGENCY PENNA POWERS BRIAN HAYNES WHITE PAPER NOW IT’S TIME FOR THE GUT CHECK Based on your review of the RFQs, invite the top shops to meet in person. Pick three or four agencies and schedule some meetings. Finding an agency that understands where you’re going and is capable of delivering the results you need takes more than one meeting. You’ll want to plan at least two meetings with each agency on your short list. The first meeting should take place at your business. If they’re smart, they’ll spend most of the meeting asking you about your communications and PR needs and let you do the talking. They’ll save the dog-and-pony show for the next meeting. At the next meeting you’ll want to see their shop. It gives you an opportunity to see their agency culture in person and meet the people who work there. Make sure at this meeting you spend time with the team that will be working with you. IF THEY ARE SMART, THEY’LL ASK ABOUT YOUR COMMUNICATIONS AND PR NEEDS AND LET YOU DO THE TALKING. THEY’LL SAVE THE DOG-AND-PONY SHOW FOR THE NEXT MEETING. THE ART OF CHOOSING A PR AGENCY PENNA POWERS BRIAN HAYNES WHITE PAPER WHY A FULL-SERVICE AGENCY? • Having a full-service agency at your fingertips is the ideal situation. Rather than farming out advertising, PR and interactive to separate shops, integrating all aspects of your campaign under one roof strengthens your brand and saves you money. • You may not need all the tools today, but someday you may expand your product line or your marketing efforts. Also, it’s handy to have a shop at your fingertips to help when a presentation or special event arises. THINGS TO WATCH OUT FOR IN PR AGENCY REVIEWS If an agency promises X number of TV or radio (or any medium, in fact) stories for a certain amount of money, run and run fast. Earned media is just that… earned. A lot of work and strategy goes into securing each and every placement. Be wary if a firm only charges you if you get a placement. While that may sound nice for your budget, it really isn’t setting you up for long-term success. PR is a multi-faceted approach to reaching your specific target. It is so much more than a one-off placement. Experience matters. We were all fresh out of college at one point, and by all means don’t discount a fresh mind, but make sure the team handling your company’s PR is led by an experienced professional who knows the ins and outs. You don’t want to be the learning curve, at your budget’s and reputation’s expense. THE ART OF CHOOSING A PR AGENCY PENNA POWERS BRIAN HAYNES WHITE PAPER DON’T SEND ‘DEAR JOHN’ LETTERS At the end of your review only one agency can win your business. Agencies recognize that clients don’t like to call and give the bad news, but losing stings most when you don’t know why. Taking the time to call the agencies you met with and tell them who won and why they didn’t is very helpful. They will appreciate it and remember you for taking the time to thank them for their hard work pitching your business. OUR LAST WORDS OF ADVICE: NEVER HIRE AN AGENCY IF YOU’RE NOT COMPLETELY COMFORTABLE WITH ITS PEOPLE OR APPROACH. REMEMBER, THE KEY TO A SUCCESSFUL AGENCY/ CLIENT RELATIONSHIP IS A GOOD PARTNERSHIP. Best of luck with your agency selection process! THE ART OF CHOOSING A PR AGENCY PENNA POWERS BRIAN HAYNES WHITE PAPER Penna Powers Brian Haynes is a fully-integrated Advertising, Public Relations, Interactive and Public Involvement ﬁrm. For 28 years we’ve been renowned for solving problems through smart, strategic thinking, powerful creative and appropriate media and marketing tools, with an emphasis on strong, quantiﬁable results. And while all the awards are nice (our lobby’s lousy with statuettes) that’s not where we hang our hats. The only thing that really matters at the end of the day is our clients’ success. OK, that and our Emmy.® TO LEARN MORE, CALL CHUCK PENNA AT 801.487.4800 AND SEE IF YOU CAN GET A LUNCH OUT OF HIM. 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