A Headhunter's View to Hiring a Pr Agency
Since so much has been written about how to go about
finding a PR agency, I thought it timely to examine the process from my
perspective - a consultant who is also a PR headhunter.
Every year Prudent International Inc outsources PR
tasks to other agencies for tasks that we are unable to fulfill due to a variety
of reasons including distance, specialty promotions, celebrity appearances,
local interviews special events etc.
Throughout the
world there are thousands of PR firms of
all sizes who claim to specialize in dozens of different specialty categories. Nailing the right agency requires you to have some
minimum knowledge of what you are looking for.
Where do you start? What do you look for? How much should you pay? What
characteristics of the PR firm differentiates it from others - and are those
differences important to your company? What size firm should you hire? What
about account conflicts? Is the firm's location important? Who's going to work
on your business? What about performance and results? What should you
reasonably expect and how do you measure success?
These are only some of the questions that will undoubtedly arise in your quest
to hire a firm.
From my experience, all of these questions should be asked and answered before
signing on with a PR firm. However, the real issues that become important
should be evaluated within the context of your company's needs and goals.
Chances are the answers will fall somewhere in the proverbial gray area.
Should you decide to identify a PR firm on your own, there are many reference
materials available which can help you quantify the players. However, without
the tools and the inside knowledge of how PR firms work and which will work
best for your company, the task can be
very
difficult
and misleading.
Many solo searchers rely on references from colleagues, industry sources and
the like to help them target a group of likely PR firms. The tough part
however, is evaluating the relationship between members of your company and the
PR firm. Additionally, not every PR agency is listed and quantified in every
directory. New ones are popping up all the time and others are merging, being
acquired or just fading away. When working with a limited knowledge-base,
evaluation can become problematic.
The key to any successful PR agency search lies in the depth of the research
expended. The greater amount of time spent researching the agency, its people,
culture, working style, etc., the better chance you have of bringing home a
winner. Also, it's easy to be distracted by fancy promotion and lose sight of
the agency's key elements.
Sometimes the identification of a winning PR firm can be a slam-dunk. More
often than not, it can be
a very tricky process.
If your company produces a highly specialized or technical product, chances are
there will only be a few PR firms that will fill the bill. Whether it's
engineering, biotechnology or baby toys, your choices will be limited. Add to
that the numerous other specifications that you will invariably want to see in
your new PR firm.
It's
much easier
if your product or service touches on issues such as abortion,
guns or smoking. Options will be limited if your PR budget is unusually small
or restricted, or if when your PR program is narrowly focused on, say, major
mentions in key business publications, or, interviews for your CEO with major
network media.
It's probably a good idea to go
alone or with some minimum support from us when the budget is small, the PR program
is limited and targeted to a highly technical audience or, when the agency's
geographic location(s) is restricted. Of course, if management's view of PR is
archaic or unrealistic, then the chance of a successful agency union is rather
slim under any circumstances.
In my PR agency identification experience, the two most difficult parts of
evaluating an agency are costs, (both actual and projected), and team
identification and evaluation. Each tend to resemble a moving target that's
hard to keep in your sights for too long.
As a general rule, PR agencies don't advertise their fees for services they
perform. They tend to promote their expertise and experience in the business of
PR and then charge you based on the size of your budget. By knowing that
beforehand, they can tailor their services to your specific needs and stay
within your budget.
As any other business,
PR
agencies must stay profitable. Just like management
consultants or lawyers, PR people parcel out their expertise in the form of
hourly charges. Whether you're paying a "flat monthly retainer" or
hourly for services rendered, the agency will calculate the time spent working
on your behalf in increments of hours to remain within profitable guidelines.
Agency client management employees usually have an "hourly rate" that
is levied against the time they spend on behalf of their client. That rate is
usually a function of the employee's title. Obviously, the higher the title,
the higher the rate.
Sounds pretty straightforward, right? Well, not so fast. There are many
variables that impact this rather neat little picture. Variables such as
employee promotions, employee title inflation, freelance consultants, the
changing nature of your account, fee increases, out-of-pocket expenses,
economic inflation or recession, conflicting accounts that pay higher fees,
result measurement, client vs. agency expectations, irreconcilable differences
and much more. We try to factor all these as best as we can. We
charge a flat fee in head hunting expenses. We will interview you and a minimum
of 5 other PR firms depending on where you are located. We have worked with tens
of PR firms in the past and at times we are ready to recommend them. Please
visit our services page at:
http://prudentpressagency.com/modules/news/article.php?storyid=36 for more
information.
Tune-Up: "Buying PR services is a commercial activity like any other and its up to the buyer to be aware. Be clear about your motives, agree on a time scale, fully brief the executives on your goals and most of all about yourself, listen to their advice, agree on measurable objectives, have regular reviews at least quarterly." Joseph Reriani - PR Consultant
This article is part of Joseph Reriani's "PR Tune-up Blog" newsletter posted to over 6,000 subscribers weekly. The newsletter was first published in 2002 at http://www.Reriani.com. For more articles and PR tune-up tips, please visit www.PrudentPressAgency.com and www.SkyNewswire.com. Joseph Reriani is a Media Consultant and Fellow with the Chartered Institute of Public Relations- United Kingdom. He is the President/CEO of Prudent International Inc and Executive Editor of Prudent Press Agency. He is also an Assistant Editor of SkyNewswire.com directed by Jackie Mugambi . He is a trained journalist and specializes in helping businesses, organizations, and individuals improve their public image by effectively employing the power of public relations. Mr Reriani can be reached at admin @ Reriani.com. You may freely copy and re-publish this article without altering any part in the body.