Request for Proposal

You should reach out to no more than 5 PR firms for an initial screening meeting and invite 3 firms to the final stage of sending an RFP. Try to select PR firms which have worked with clients who have a similar budget to you. Try to avoid being the smallest budget in the firm’s client roster as you may end up being the lowest priority if resources are stretched during periods of overcapacity or you may be allocated the most junior of executives on your account.

You should also choose firms which have clients of a similar size for eg some PR firms cannot work well with start-ups and small businesses due to their often lack of in-house expertise in marketing and PR and across the spectrum, other PR firms may not be a good fit for multinational corporates and governments as they cannot deal with the resources required to participate in long procurement tender processes, in-depth multi-stakeholder reporting requirements and lengthy payment terms.

Choose firms which have a core specialism in your industry to avoid learning curves which will soak up the account time and delay implementation. If you know the specific service you are interested in, source firms who are core specialists in those services. Finally, do take some time to ascertain the firm’s values and check if they align with your values. Shared values breed positive partnerships.

Yes. It communicates to the firm that you are a professional lead. PR firms receive multiple leads on a regular basis and a significant proportion of those leads do not convert due to a variety of reasons.

As a result, PR firms can be cautious and often analyse the lead before they make the assessment of how much time should they allocate to the business development process. Leads are often qualified by a number of factors including budget, reputational risk, realistic expectations, timeline and professionalism. Writing an RFP demonstrates to the firm that you have invested time into the procurement process which then will encourage them to do so. It also gives them an insight into how you will behave as a client.

If you need help in drafting an RFP, then do reach out to the firms and ask them for their support which may often be chargeable.

In essence, you need to brief the firm fully in order for them to respond whether they can provide a proposal aligned to your requirements. You can read more about how to create a brief here.

In summary, RFPs should include the following:

• Organisation name, website, social media channels, detail on activity
• Competitors including differentiation points
• Objectives
• Target audience & channels to the target audience (media, events, website etc)
• Timelines including milestones, deadlines of the campaign
• Services of interest and scope of work
• Points of contact for the business development process as well as for the campaign
• Budget
• Measurement methodology
• Deliverables and KPIs. What does success look like?

You should let them know how many firms will be sending proposals for the procurement process so they can assess with transparency whether they wish to go ahead and allocate unpaid time to the proposal. You should also let them know you are available to discuss the RFP to answer any queries they may have.

If leads are not willing to engage with PR firms by offering the opportunity to discuss the RFP then it could be taken as a negative sign and put off firms from participating in the process. Remember, relationships are created from the initial contact, not from the initial contract.

At the outset, you should create an evaluation sheet which lists how you will analyse the proposals and benchmark them. Some leads list criteria with a points system and include:

• Relevant industry experience
• Professional qualifications of team
• PR experience of the team
• Shared values
• Strategic insight and creativity in the proposal
• Clients similar in size in their portfolio
• Attention to detail
• A comprehensive approach to all stages in a campaign
• Budget

• Research,
• Strategy,
• Planning,
• Delivery of tactical,
• Measurement
• Evaluation.

Our client experience includes governments, multinational listed corporates and culture.

Our government clients have included Canada, Spain, Russia, Bahrain, Guinea Conakry and China whilst our multinational listed corporates span real estate, professional services, manufacturing, FMCG and automotive.

Our culture clients include museums, art fairs, art galleries, biennales, art publications, festivals and art exhibitions.

Our business development specialist initially seeks to understand your needs and creates a bespoke scope of work and team of experts based upon your objectives and budget. We list the team and their relevant experience and qualifications on our final proposal with an invitation to meet them beforehand.

We are a team of specialist consultants with a minimum of 10 years experience. If there are a number of consultants working on your account, there will be a lead consultant who will be the main point of contact for relationship and account management.

Our buyer guides to each of our services list KPIs, deliverables and metrics for measurement. however, we agree on measurement and goals as part of our bespoke approach to partnering with our clients to achieve their objectives.

We usually communicate with our clients using a multitude of ways including instant messaging, emails, phone calls, video conferences and in-person meetings. We agree on reporting formats and timelines beforehand to ensure we create a bespoke solution to our clients.

It varies according to the type and number of services you require, account time, and the expertise of the PR professionals allocated to the account. Most PR firms have a typical range of fees, for eg Curzon’s typical monthly fee range is from £5k-£25k PCM.

A growing number of clients also agree on a success fee on top of the monthly fee which often represents around 30% of the monthly fee which is paid if the firm achieves mutually agreed goals.

Our consultants have a minimum of 10 years of experience as well as professional qualifications. As experts in their field, they provide value to our clients. We compete on value, not on cost.

Yes, our minimum period is 3 months and our minimum monthly fee is £5k PCM. Due to the onboarding and account management time, we have set minimums to avoid incurring a financial loss on a project.

Yes, our minimum notice period is 3 months. We have a notice period as we plan our time in advance for effective resource allocation.

We believe in transparency and will let you know if there are any possible conflicts of interest and our suggestions in mitigating the risk.

It depends on a number of factors including your objectives, your budget, your size and your level of in-house expertise. A freelancer is a good choice when there is a limited budget, a multinational pr company is a good fit when a product or service needs to be rolled out across territories simultaneously and a small firm benefits those clients who value personalised service, flexibility and value.

We would advise starting with a strategy service where we co-create with you a PR and marketing communications strategy that flows from your organisational strategy, and then take the next service of capacity building where we help clients implement the strategy by supporting them in hiring in-house, training in-house teams as well as building the processes.

We then work with the in-house to hire the right external support through freelancers and consulting firms. Working with specialists will avoid costly hiring and procuring mistakes and avoid painful learning curves.

No, most of our clients are outside the UK. We work with clients across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Technology and cultural awareness enable us to work across borders. There are some exceptions such as certain delivery components such as event management which is often met by a local specialist on the ground.

You can ask how long the firm has been operating for and therefore assess their stability and years of experience. Curzon was founded over 10 years ago and has evolved over the years. Current clients benefit from a decade worth of experience.

You can also ask if they are members of the industry bodies including CIPR and PRCA (hyperlink) and if they are Accredited or Chartered PR Practitioners or CIM Members or Fellows. Further questions to ask if they and the members of the team are actively completing their annual CPD (continual professional development). Ask them if they follow the CIPR Code of Conduct.

We operate a business model which benefits clients, consultants and Curzon. We have a core team based in London and a wider global community of expert consultants who are brought in specifically on client projects. The clients benefit from our model as we have lower fixed costs and can translate the value by providing our clients with access to senior experts instead of those less experienced on a learning curve.

Our consultants are incentivised as they work on a client project basis and therefore the clients have a double benefit of working with a highly motivated and engaged team. Due to our low fixed overheads, we do not blindly chase after each lead unless we really think we can work well together and build a partnership of mutual value.
Clients benefit as we turn down work if we simply do not have the expertise, capacity or a conflict of interest exists.

Our consultants benefit as they can choose which projects are a good fit for their expertise in addition to being able to work as part of an agile team. Curzon benefits as it does what it does best, bridge clients and expert consultants together to use the power of communications for a better world.