The guide to appointing a PR agency 2
Introduction.. 4 Step 1: Define your problem...5 Step 2: Identify your criteria...6 Step 3: Set your budget..7 Step 4: Agree the selection process.9 Step 5: Prepare your brief.11 Step 6: Create your shortlist.12 Step 7: Get pitches or proposals 14 Step 8: Make your decision..16 3
Thousands of companies outsource their PR every year. Working with a PR agency can be rewarding, helping your company grow by raising awareness, bringing in leads, improving employee satisfaction and building brand loyalty. But not every agency-client relationship is a resounding success. Sometimes the chemistry s not right, the expectations are not clearly managed, or the agency simply fails to deliver. To maximise your chances of success, start by appointing the right agency. Here s our guide on how to do this. 4
The first step in making any major business decision is problem definition. When it comes to appointing a PR agency, you should start by deciding what the problem is that you want PR to solve. Common problems include: Poor sales due to lack of awareness of your company, products or services. An inaccurate or negative company reputation. Current marketing function not delivering leads. 5
What type of agency are you looking for? Is it necessary that they are based nearby? Or is their area of expertise more important? Here are some of the criteria that might be relevant: Criterion Location Reach Size Niche Integrated capabilities Notes Is it important that the agency has an office near yours? (If so, you might be limiting your potential pool of agencies.) Do you need an agency that can deliver campaigns across multiple geographies (and possibly in many languages)? Does it matter to you whether the agency is big or small? Consider the implications of this. Will you get a more personalised service from a smaller agency? Will you pay more for a bigger agency? Or would you feel more confident in the capabilities of a large and established consultancy? Do you need a consultancy with a proven track record of working with companies in your industry? Or of targeting your market? Do you require a consultancy that can provide additional services, such as social media, video, graphic design, content marketing, ebook writing, SEO, PPC, media training, strategy and crisis management? 6
You might not know how much you need to spend to achieve your PR objectives, but you need to think about money before you start contacting potential suppliers. While what you need to spend is entirely dependent on your specific requirements, we ve provided some insight into PR budget-setting on the next page. This guide looks at contracts on monthly retainers. For project work, expect to increase your monthly budget by around 15%. If you don t set a budget before you approach agencies, you can t expect to get a particularly enthusiastic response. And many quality agencies will bow out of the process politely when they hear you haven t set a budget they ll think you re not serious and so not worth the tremendous effort of pitching. $ 7
Monthly Likely level of service budget Dreaming > 1,500 Very low. This is not a realistic PR budget unless your requirements are genuinely minimal Shoestring 1,500 Minimal. You might struggle to find agencies that are willing to pitch at this level. Start-up 2,000-3,000 You ll need to look for smaller consultancies and prioritise activity carefully. At this level of service, you ll be facing constant trade-offs as you won t be able to take advantage of every media opportunity that presents itself. However, if you only operate in a narrow niche and can focus your activity tightly, you should see some decent results. Standard 3,000-7,000 High-level 7,000-12,000 Premium 12,000-20,000 This is a good budget for a solid, strategic and multi-channel PR campaign. You should start to see genuine business benefit within three months. Your budget stretches to cover some innovative campaigns that, if carefully designed and executed, will be impossible for the media to ignore. Your PR will have a noticeable impact on the bottom line. The sky s the limit when it comes to the creativity of your campaigns. Be prepared to work with some top PR strategists as they help you design and implement a hard-hitting campaign that will genuinely put your business on the map. Watch your competitors turn green with envy. See your social communities grow at an unprecedented rate and watch the leads fly in. Enterprise 20,000+ Your agency can manage multiple campaigns on behalf of all your departments, while ensuring alignment of messaging, 24-hour press office management and crisis planning. Start thinking global. 8
For some companies, a Google search and a browse around a few agencies websites is enough for them to choose which consultancy they want to work with. Others require a formal pitch process. Either way, before you start your research you need to decide: within your organisation will be making the final decision as to which consultancy to work with? If so, it is worth inviting this supplier to pitch alone don t waste other agencies time with pitches that are impossible for them to win! do you want the consultancy to start? 9
Would you like a or would you rather talk to agencies on the phone and invite one or two to a meeting, based on that conversation? If you do your pre-research carefully then you should never invite more than three consultancies to pitch. Preparing a pitch or a proposal takes hours, costing consultancies thousands, so keep this in mind when you consider who to invite. In fact, many of the best consultancies will decline to participate in competitive pitches involving more than three agencies., and that your key decision-maker is committed to the process. Don t waste agencies time and resources by asking them to pitch for an opportunity that doesn t really exist. 10
Your brief will be sent to prospective suppliers so that they can decide whether they would like to put themselves forward. At a minimum your brief should include the following headings: Get your brief signed off by your decision-makers before you start your search. 11
Head to Google to find agencies that specialise in your sector. Browse their websites and their case studies to get a feel for which ones you might like to work with. Ask around for recommendations, create your shortlist and send your brief to each agency on your shortlist (or, just send your brief to the agency that instils the most confidence!). Most will be happy to sign an NDA (that you provide) if your brief covers a particularly sensitive subject. Evaluate your shortlist by asking whether they practice what they preach: if you want a consultancy that offers social media alongside their PR services, then you can easily check their true social media credentials by looking at their social media accounts. How big is their community on Facebook? How engaged is it? How engaging is their LinkedIn company page? Are they using their Twitter and Google+ accounts? What s their blog like? 12
Lots of people claim to offer SEO services, but if it s SEO you re after you surely want to find an agency with a welloptimised website. There s a very easy and free way to tell if a website has been optimised: head to opensiteexplorer.org and enter the website URL into the box. Our rule of thumb: if the domain authority is below 40, then I would question the agency's SEO credentials. Conduct a quick Google search for the name of the company and their CEO / MD s name. Google should return loads of examples of them being featured in the media because they recognise the value of media coverage and they ve got a smashing PR strategy in place. If not, then well, you decide. 13
The quality of proposals you receive will be closely tied to the quality of your brief, so make sure your brief is comprehensive. 1) Your account manager: do you like and respect them? Can you work with them on a day-to-day basis? Have they done any research about your business? How long have they been with the company? 2) Measurement and reporting: how will you and the agency know when you have achieved success? This should be pretty obvious. If it s unclear, then you should be questioning the value this company can add. 3) References: get references from previous clients to find out what it s really like to work with this agency (and this account manager). 14
1) Someone at the agency used to work for the BBC or The Telegraph: while journalists know exactly how to write a story that will be published, when they move to PR they often struggle to balance good story writing with the need to support the client s communications strategy. The result is often a situation in which the client says: We got lots of media coverage, but it was all a bit random and didn t have much of an impact on our business. 2) Media relationships: one PR agency once claimed to know the editor of the Independent and be able to place any story in the paper. Rubbish. Your team s ability to place a story is much more about the quality of the story than it is about the relationship they have with a journalist. 3) Ability to undercut the competition: any PR agency is a business and there comes a point where work becomes unprofitable. If the agency will take on unprofitable work then you should question whether they are in a position to consult for your business. 4) The specific ideas they present in their proposal: this will always change once they ve gotten to know your company and once the strategy planning has started. 15
Make your decision quickly about which agency you would like to work with. Inform them, agree terms and then inform the other agencies that they have been unsuccessful they ve put plenty of time and resources into your pitch, so be respectful and provide honest and clear feedback. Tell them who has been successful and be open to keeping in touch. 16
Heather Baker is founder and CEO of TopLine Communications, a PR consultancy that helps companies grow. Heather has an MBA from London Business School, sits on the board of the Entrepreneurs Organization in the UK and is editor of two leading blogs: The B2B PR Blog and Small Business Heroes. The B2B PR Blog is an awardwinning blog designed to make the PR industry more accountable and business-oriented by providing advice, case studies and examples of great PR. It has over 4,000 monthly visitors. 17