Sarah Hall at work

Member Article

Is your PR working for or against you?

There are times when you know that value for money is not what you’re getting from your PR spend. Here are fifteen reasons you need to wave goodbye to your PR agency (and a few pointers on how you can help the good ones out).

  • Even they, not knowing better, think PR equals media relations (argh!)
  • When you talk to them about the latest marketing books and industry developments, they look completely blank.
  • Their staff retention is woeful.
  • Account executives can be skilled and friendly day-to-day contacts but they deliver tactical plans. You have no one writing the strategy and on hand to help with issues management.
  • The last time they undertook CPD was, well what’s CPD? We do what we do very well, thank you (and print media coverage is their holy grail).
  • They are not members of the CIPR or PRCA so there is no come back if things go belly up.
  • You’re more likely to see two pandas mating than get hold of them first time.
  • That creative idea that they came up with seems familiar - and that’s because they’ve rolled it out for every other client and in a raft of new business pitches.
  • You chat to journalists and realise that the team you’re employing to help your brand is in fact hindering it (note: professionals NEVER threaten to pull a story and give it to someone else - we are not Malcolm Tucker, thank you).
  • The whole PR campaign hinges around paid for space. Yes, competitions and advertorials have their place, but really?
  • The words measurement and evaluation leave them looking a bit bemused. The word outcome has them gasping for breath. Behavioural change? They’re running to the door!
  • They don’t understand that yes, the last piece of coverage was very nice, but actually it has nothing at all to do the job in hand which is to profile a particular service line and generate enquiries / sales.
  • The last time you saw the managing director / account director was when they pitched for the work. Ouch!
  • The way they add value is by bringing / sending cakes. How about an introduction to someone useful or some new unsolicited (and non-billed for) campaign ideas please?
  • Nothing about the PR plan aligns with your business objectives or even the marketing plan. If that’s the case, your bottom line will be sadly unaffected, won’t it!

OK, so this is all very tongue in cheek but having worked in agency for longer than I care to remember, much of this can ring true. BUT, responsibility lies with both parties.

When working with clients, Sarah Hall Consulting has ground rules we ask everyone to follow to help us do an amazing job. It’s most definitely a joint effort. Hand on heart, do you:

  • Share business objectives so PR and marketing objectives are aligned and achieve the desired results - increased profile, calls / enquiries, website hits, footfall and ultimately sales?
  • Help your consultant to fully understand the marketplace (buyer behaviour, competitor activity, current challenges and opportunities) to achieve the correct positioning strategy and evolve it as necessary?
  • Have appropriate evaluation techniques in place and set measurement criteria at the campaign outset to ensure the activity is producing the desired results – and share what those results are, so activity can be adapted as necessary?
  • Understand that brand building takes time and opinion shifts slowly – this means that campaigns may not be measurable until several months have passed?

Ultimately a successful partnership is just that. There needs to be energy and input on both sides. When the relationship is right, it’s amazing what you can achieve.

For more PR and marketing related news and articles, please visit http://blog.sarahhallconsulting.co.uk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sarah Waddington .

Explore these topics

Our Partners