Choosing the right PR firm

Working with a PR firm should be a long-term commitment because PR works best over the long haul. Just like any new hire, a PR agency gets better accustomed to your company’s purpose, mission, values over a period of time and is better able to market your company to your customers. Given hiring a PR firm consumes a lot of time and money, you need to get it right from the get go.

What you should look for when hiring a PR agency

1. Company’s culture

• The basics 

Some things are given when looking for any business collaboration. For example, you want an agency that is professional and has expertise in communication. Notice things like how responsive they are to emails and how they make you feel. In meetings and calls, the agency should make you feel like they are on your side and part of your team. Good PR firms value strategic partnerships with clients and do not wish to settle for the supplier who simply executes a brief. PR works best when there is a collaboration between the inhouse teams and the PR agency as the former brings in-depth knowledge about the company and culture whilst the latter brings their PR expertise across the industry and external market. Good PR firms research your company, ask a lot of insightful questions, show interest in understanding your business and offer creative ideas.

• Culture of longevity

You should work with an agency that has a culture of maintaining long-term relationships. If you are aiming for your next agency hire to be long term, it is good to inquire if an agency has had long-term clients before. Ask them how long have relationships with some of their anchor clients been. A PR agency is in the business of relationships, and you want to look for examples that the agency is good at maintaining long-term relationships. This is the soft skill that you want them to bring to your PR as they interact with your stakeholders like journalists and shareholders.

• Cultural compatibility

While a PR firm may have several long-term clients, you need to ask if they are a good fit for you. Look for compatibility between you and your team with shared values. Spend some time together before you sign a contract in order to find out if you speak each other’s language. If you are a risk-taker, it is unlikely you would like an agency that is conservative. If you like things with a fast turnaround but your agency has lots of processes in place and needs several edits – it may not be a good fit. Besides getting along with you, you also have to think about whether you are comfortable with them representing your brand. They would be in charge of your communications with potentially both internal and external stakeholders. You need to ask yourself if you trust them with that. If you have a more professional tone, you would not like an agency that is more casual, fun and friendly in their interactions and tone of voice. Look for brand alignment.  One way to know about the agency culture besides meeting the team, is calling up their references and delving deeper. There is usually not a bad or good culture – just a culture that is a right or wrong fit. Do they describe them as preferring creative out of the box solutions or reliable and timely delivery, for example? Another way to check for cultural compatibility, which Avi Dan, an agency search consultant calls the “the surest way of predicting a successful relationship” in his article in Forbes, is to ask yourself if they would pass the beer test. It is when you ask yourself if you’d be willing to go have a beer with the team members.

2. Data and results-driven

It doesn’t matter if you are compatible if the agency cannot get the results you need. “We should be able to measure the success of the work that we do,” says Curzon CEO Farzana Baduel. “You should ask that other than delivering the work, does the agency also actively measure it? If they do, what are their measurement techniques? Do they have regular monthly, quarterly, annual reporting and reviews? Do they have a portfolio of softwares, like listening tools for social media? How do they measure, how do they evaluate and do they have that feedback loop that helps hone the approach?” While collecting data is good, it is beneficial only when it is used to make decisions. Does the agency use data to guide the next steps? Look for an agile agency that is quick to learn and pivot, making necessary changes immediately. Agencies can measure metrics like social media mentions, website visits and email open rates. Data can also be used to research sentiment analysis – that is, analysing the sentiment of your brand amongst your target audience. While these metrics are easy to measure, they do not show the impact on sales. Ask how the agency measures the impact of their work on conversions and sales.

3. Integrate PR and marketing

PR has changed in recent years with the advent of social media. PR is no longer just about media relations. A good brand awareness campaign is an omnichannel strategy that includes influencer marketing, digital media, SEO, event management, stakeholder management, among others. A PR firm should either have contacts with marketing agencies who can advise you, or are an integrated agency that offers all these services like us.

 

Agency processes are undergoing dramatic change to adapt to new ways to reaching customers Source: McKinsey

One of the best benefits of working with a full-service agency is that they can pivot from service to service as your brand evolves. For example, start-ups usually work with us on the foundation stage of branding. Then we move onto creating the owned digital assets for them such as website development, SEO and social media channels before moving onto outreach with media relations and events. Then we work on thought leadership for them with award submissions and securing speaker opportunities. We pivot services as their needs evolve and grow.

4. Experience in your region

Another important thing besides a diverse skill set is the agency’s experience working in your region. Every country has its own laws, cultural norms and professional standards. For example, American press releases are filled with advertising slogans and superlatives that might seem strange to German journalists, according to GlobalCom PR Network. The way to build relationships with journalists also differ, from gift-giving being considered normal in one place while considered bribery for positive coverage elsewhere. There is also socio-cultural and local context to consider when marketing to a regional audience. You have to be culturally sensitive to regional and religious context. The lack of this nuance causes “cultural misunderstandings”, says Baduel. “It is key that the agency has a team of people who really understand the culture of your target audience. It is not one size fits all. You can’t write one thing at the head office in New York that then goes out in every single country.” Hence, ask the agency for what work they have done in your particular region.

5. Experience in your sector

When you hire a PR firm that has experience in your sector, you save billable hours by avoiding the whole learning curve any other agency would take in understanding the nuances and jargon about your industry. Also, having worked with other clients in the same sector allows a PR agency to “understand the macro aspect of the industry” helping them come up with good and creative ideas naturally and quickly, says Baduel.  Because when you hire a PR agency you also hire them for their network, an agency’s past experience in your sector means they bring with it their strategic relationships with journalists who cover your industry. Also, “PR firms often put clients together for partnerships and collaborations. If they have other clients in your sector, it can benefit you too,” she adds.  However, sometimes some companies prefer hiring an agency that does not have relevant sector experience so that they can bring a new way of thinking and fresh perspective to their PR strategy. This is especially true for challenger brands and start-ups.  The best way to filter agencies on this criteria is to look at their case studies. Look at what kind of work they did for other companies in your industry and what were the results. While case studies should often have quotes and statistics to show the results, there may sometimes be confidentiality issues which prevent them from sharing the specifics. In such a case – or even otherwise – call up the references and ask them if they would recommend that agency to you.

6. They do their own PR well

The PR industry is notorious for not putting enough time and resources on their own marketing and public relations, even though they do it well for their clients. But a few agencies that do so showcase that they have “an obvious strategy and sufficient resources” to regularly publish new content, according to 256Content.  As there are a number of agencies to choose from, a PR firm that walks the talk is an obvious winner. The quality of their owned, paid and earned media is a good example of the kind of work you can expect from them for yourself. Look for things like their website content, their domain authority on search, their social media engagement, their press mentions, their team’s speaking engagement and thought leadership content, industry reputation and more.

7. Professional qualifications

“Check the qualifications and experience of people actually working on your account, not just the person you deal with during the business development stage. That’s really important,” says Baduel. Look on their website for their bio as well as LinkedIn to see if they are members of industry bodies like Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) or Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA). If they are, it means they would be adhering to the industry code of conduct and professional standards.  Most industry accreditations also have Continuing Professional Development programmes that professionals are required to undertake every few years in order to keep their professional status and qualifications. “The PR industry moves really fast with new softwares and new communications channels. So you want to work with a PR firm that really supports learning journeys and have a team that has the right qualifications,” says Baduel.

8. The right size

PR agencies can be either boutique or multinational. Boutique agencies are smaller agencies with fewer employees whereas multinational agencies are the brand names like Edelman and McKinsey that have offices across the world.  While multinational agencies cost much more than a boutique firm, they have a global reach with offices across the world – and are best suited for launch of global campaigns and products. Boutique agencies, on the other hand, cost less and you get access to founders and senior management directors.  While an agency – both boutique and multinational – can work bespoke to your specific needs and budget, you should inquire about the size of their typical client. It is because you don’t want to be the smallest client in a roster. “Because then you won’t be given the same priority as someone who has a budget that is double yours,” says Baduel. Agencies have employees with different levels of seniority and the low-budget clients are usually passed on to more junior staff.

Conclusion:

If you do the due diligence and hire a firm that has the right culture, the right experience and the right size – you have set yourself up for a robust and lasting relationship with a firm that gets you the results you need to get to the next level.

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Curzon PR is a London-based PR firm working with clients globally. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our Business Development Team [email protected]