Throughout my career, I’ve had the privilege to work in both PR agencies and in-house roles for big brands. It’s been illuminating to work on ‘both sides of the fence’ as client and agent. There are challenges and frustrations on all sides, but some brilliant best practices too.
I want to share my advice about how get the best out of your PR agency – which include the following:
1. Treat them as part of the team
Often PR agencies are treated as some second rate employee that brands, marketers or an in-house PR person can bark at and make ridiculous demands of. Try to remember that they’re doing their best in often challenging circumstances. Treat them as an extension of your in-house team. With this comes respect, courtesy and inclusion. Invite them to meetings, share regular updates and be polite. Sure, they work for you, but you’ll get a better result and have a far more motivated and engaged team if you remember we’re all human. Treat your PR agency team accordingly.
2. Proactively manage performance and share information
The biggest bugbear I’ve heard from in-house folk is that the agency isn’t performing as well as expected. This is often born out of not being across details or having a clear overview of the work being delivered. Instead of getting ratty and frustrated – have an open and honest conversation about what you need from them, how you want it delivered and be clear on the expected results.
Also, make sure you’re sharing all of the relevant details. Not being ‘you’ or based in ‘your office’ means they don’t know what you know – so share all of the background and information. Remember it’s impossible to communicate what you don’t know – and we’re not psychic.
3. Have a clear Scope of Work (SOW)
If you don’t have a clear PR strategy or SOW, then how can you be sure the PR agency knows what they need to deliver? And/or are delivering the results you need and are expecting? Too often I’ve spoken to clients who don’t know what they want nor do they want to get bogged down in the detail of the PR strategy, but it’s so important to be clear on goals and expectations from the outset. The PR agency can help you to define these – but you need to hold up your end of the bargain too - and share feedback and input from the start.
4. Keep reviewing
PR agencies are usually very good at tracking work through Work in Progress documents, sharing updates and circulating coverage. Read these documents and run through them at your update meetings. PR activity, plans and objectives can evolve and change over time – so be aware of what’s being delivered and keep reviewing it to ensure it’s still aligned to your wider company objectives.
5. Listen to the PR experts
So many people think PR is ‘easy’ – and they can do a ‘better job’. If you’re one of those people – then go for it and don’t bother hiring a PR agency. If, however, you’re willing to listen to someone who has expertise and know-how, then collaborate with them, exchange ideas and be supportive. You’ll undoubtedly have a brilliant experience and your PR agency will be able to deliver fantastic results.
You wouldn’t hire an accountant or lawyer and then tell them how to do their job – so don’t do it to you PR and communications expert or agency.
6. Say thank you
PR people are friendly, professional, skilled experts and usually really lovely people (I may be a little biased here!). They’ll also work like dogs to make a campaign happen, burn the candles at both ends for events, and spend evening after evening managing tricky journalists and client requests. So much of the activity involves behind-the-scenes work including briefings, writing messaging, and preparing for a crisis, that the level of work a PR professional delivers often gets overlooked.
PR is a slow burn compared to paid for opportunities through advertising, but the rewards are long term, positive and, in my humble opinion, well worth the investment. So say thank you now and again – it’s not an easy or often appreciated role – but you’d miss us in a crisis or new product launch if we were gone.
There are many more top tips and advice I could impart, for now I’ll say that hiring a PR expert into your organisation should bring huge rewards and deliver excellent results, but only if you invest the time too. We are hard-working experienced experts in PR – so treat us with care, share information, listen to our informed advice and we’ll soon become a valued part of your team.
Victoria Fairclough is a PR & Communications consultant at Fair Communications. For more information visit: www.faircommunications.co.uk
Comentarios