It’s All about the Right Fit

When you are trying to decide which public relations and marketing partner to best represent your company, there are some important factors to consider.

We’ve all heard stories about public relations or marketing campaigns. What was outsourced? How much money was spent going back and forth on changes and proofs? Then there were the overtime billings and disappointment with the results, when all was said and done.

If you meet with or speak to a representative of a firm, know the answers to these questions:

• What is the goal of a marketing/PR campaign? Do you want to attract new business, grow business with existing clients, make yourselves known, enhance your image, or avert some kind of crisis?

• What is our budget? How much can we afford to spend?

• How would we define our brand/company culture? Are we laid-back, highly driven, quirky, unconventional, traditional? Do our employees know what we stand for?

• Has the marketing/PR person or agency done work we admire? Have we seen samples of their designs, case studies of their campaigns?

Is the person/agency known within the marketing and PR community in our area? Have other local companies worked with them? Do they have a good reputation?

For example, I’m well connected enough to pick up my phone and get a story placed.

What will your hired PR guns do for you?

Large agencies often have high overhead requiring them to charge higher rates for the work that they do. The fees can add up quickly. They also can require a rather large retainer for their services. What’s more, the top practitioners who are the names and faces of the marketing firm may not be the ones actually handling your account.

Every day, I’m helping my clients develop marketing plans. I’m constantly using the skills I’ve honed over 15 years in the public relations business to get them noticed and grow their market share. And I also do pro bono PR work for charitable agencies and organizations in the area, because giving back to the community that has allowed me to be successful, is very, very important. I live here, too.

PR seems fluffy and lacking in substance to some corporate honchos. Many of you know companies that stripped down their marketing or PR staffs when times got tough. Of course, they think industry pros are just looking out for their own jobs when they say that struggling businesses need marketing and PR more than they did during the good times.

BP strategy: open mouth, insert foot, repeat

It’s a proven fact that the wrong messages being sent by or about a company can be devastating. Tony Hayward, the CEO of British Petroleum, is a global laughingstock. By the same token, the right messages being delivered to the right audience at the right time will boost a company’s bottom line; or save its reputation if something goes wrong, such as the Tylenol scare in the early 1980s.

While meeting with/talking to a marketing/PR agency, you should ask these questions:

• What is your experience? Find out how much general and specialized knowledge the firm has. Do they have it in the area(s) you need?
• What do you charge? Some will require a retainer or charge per project. Be clear on how much it will cost, and how and when it will be invoiced.
• How will you track results? The firm should be able to demonstrate ROI and provide periodic updates. Ask how they will do it. You will want to see who does what and for how long.
• What will your access be? When you call the firm, who is your contact and how reachable will they be?

If you’re not in sync, you’re sunk

Both the client and prospective marketing/PR firm need to do some homework before entering into an agreement. It’s a problem when the hiring company isn’t clear on what it really wants to achieve, or when the public relations or marketing partner can’t meet real or perceived goals. Either situation is a sign that the fit wasn’t right to begin with.

Sources:

http://www.odwyerpr.com/pr_firms_database/how_to_hire.htm

http://money.cnn.com/2010/06/10/news/companies/tony_hayward_quotes.fortune/index.htm

http://www.ou.edu/deptcomm/dodjcc/groups/02C2/Johnson%20&%20Johnson.htm