Tips for selecting a PR consultancy
Choosing a PR consultancy isn't an easy task. Which way do you go? Large consultancy with a known name, but with the risk of being a small fish in a big pond? Medium-sized specialist consultancy with a reputation in your target sector, but with a danger of being too formulaic? Small consultancy where the big fish analogy is reversed but where you may have concerns about ability to deliver?
When it comes to technology there probably won't be much to choose between them. Today's technology allows small and medium consultancies to offer the same services as big agencies. On-line media databases, on-line feature searches, event planners, scanning and emailing of press coverage, digital capture of images etc. can all be easily achieved.
What to look for
So what should you look for when selecting a consultancy?
You must like the people. It's a personal business so you should
have confidence in the individual who will be handling your account on
a day-to-day basis as well as the person who pitched for your business
(quite often these are not one and the same).
Make sure that the person who will be handling your account has a proven
PR track record. A good way to check this is to ask whether
he or she is a member of the Institute of Public Relations. The IPR sets
down standards that members must follow and only highly experienced practitioners
are admitted at member level.
The consultancy's PR proposals should demonstrate a good understanding
of your business and what you are trying to achieve. Prior
to pitching for your account the account director will probably have requested
a business plan and/or marketing plan to accompany the brief, following
which a variety of PR tactics should have been developed to help you achieve
your business aims. As well as indicating an ability to think imaginatively,
the ideas the consultancy develops must have sound business benefits
behind them.
You should study and be impressed with media coverage the consultancy has achieved for other clients in the past - making sure
that it is the person handling your account that has achieved it themselves,
not other people working for the consultancy. Look carefully at this to
make sure that coverage isn't just made up of name-only mentions in scheduled
generic features. Check that there are clear messages being put across
through the media and that points of view articles from key spokespeople,
negotiated features and syndicated articles are also evident. Media pick-up
of press releases and other campaign-specific tactics should also be reviewed.
If you're talking to a consultancy with a background in the sector you
are operating within, make sure that this experience extends to the person
working on your account on a day-to-day basis. Effective media relationships
are built up as a result of people and personalities, not because of consultancy
names. A good PR practitioner will be able to impress journalists within
any sector. It is far more important to ensure that good communication
and writing skills are evident. Journalists move around all
the time - and good contacts are only helpful if they are provided with
the right calibre of material at the right time.
Ask for contact details of two current clients who you can speak to for a first-hand opinion of the consultancy and of
the person handling your account.
Make sure the consultancy is prepared to be flexible - adapting the PR programme to the needs of the business where necessary.
Confirm that the consultancy is happy for its work to be evaluated
and measuredby an independent organisation. A good consultancy
will welcome this rather than try to discourage it.
Check for potential conflicts of interest. What
is the consultancy's current client list? Are any of your competitors
being handled by other teams within the agency?
Make sure the consultancy confirms that its suggested PR programme can
be delivered within your budget - and watch out
for hidden 'project' costs.