Biz Tips: The ultimate guide on how to select a good PR agency … and how to make good Public Relation
GROWTH:
The ultimate guide on how to select a good PR agency … and how to make good Public Relation
The Ultimate Guide on How to Select a Good PR agency
And how to make good Public Relation
First of all, if you are a startup or a new business you should always do PR by yourself. It doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t hire a PR agency. But you should always experiment the market yourself.
There are two main reasons why:
First: No one knows your business as well as you do. Challenging your pitch with the media is always something that helps you structure the way you communicate.
Second: PR agencies cost a lot of money. But more than that they also take time to manage. They can’t be as autonomous as you’d like and it is logic. They are not in your business so they need regular briefing, validation and new ideas coming from you.
So you would better do it yourself. You will spend as much time as if you were managing a PR agency but you will have greater results.
The side effects of doing PR yourself:
- Legitimacy. When you handle other PR agencies, they can’t play you and you also know what works and doesn’t, so you don’t expect the moon.
- You get feedbacks first hand that help you create better content for the journalists.
- You get creative when talking to journalist, you can help PR agencies with their pitch
Step 1: When should you chose a PR agency ?
My belief is you should do PR yourself as long as you can meet journalists.
When your company starts growing abroad or in other states this is when you should start looking for agencies or freelances.
Don’t hire a PR agency so they can tell you how to communicate and what to say. They are an extension of your brand. Not your brand. If you don’t know they won’t know as well.
Step 2: Why should your company do PR — Public Relation ?
This question seems dull and the answer obvious. But ask your marketing team or founders and they will each have a different answer… This is because there are plenty.
Some companies want to generate leads with PR. Others want awareness, at Toucan Toco we are okay with the first two but what we want even more is credibility. What we want is to give our sales legitimacy when they go and challenge other big software houses.
Bigger companies do PR for a different reason. Because journalists naturally talk about them, their PR looks towards answering to criticism.
Knowing why you want to do PR will help you chose the right PR agency and set the right objectives.
Step 3: How do you define results and objectives ? Know this before selecting a PR agency !
PR is like black magic. Sometimes journalists are interested by what you have to say, sometimes not. So it’s super hard for PR agencies to tell you what they can deliver if you don’t set clear goals.
Knowing your needs will help you define the right agency for you. So please don’t ask for a TV spot to a big show if you want to talk about your B to B software. The PR agency won’t magically make it happen.
You should always define your needs and objectives. Per example at Toucan Toco we want two things:
- Get awareness and credibility with our customers in HR, Marketing, Sales, IT and Finance.
- Showcase our company’s culture and productivity methods to increase our employer branding.
When your objectives are clear they can be challenged with the different PR agencies.
The discussion become very precise and deep because you know what you want to hear during the selection process.
Step 4: Why is it so hard to find a very good PR agency ?
When people ask me that I often think about two main arguments.
The first one is on the client’s fault. People always expect the moon with PR agencies. But they don’t spend time with them, don’t give good briefs and don’t give them interesting news. Then they complain they are not on TV. Well… no surprise there.
The second reason why it is hard to find a great PR agency is because of the market. It is a foggy industry. Word of mouth still prevails. PR agencies have the worst websites when they even have one. So internet will never help you find the right agency.
Plus, there are a lot of PR agencies. They are often small size companies with less than 15 people. Usually what happens is that all those small PR agencies are a result of seniors leaving bigger PR agencies with their contacts/CRM.
Step 5: How to find a great PR agency ? Ask a journalist out.
You don’t always have a network that can give you great recommandation. If you grow in many countries it is definitely true.
The approach I recommend is the following. I sent Linkedin messages to journalists asking them to point me the people they enjoyed receiving calls from. One of the best way to test a PR agency is by having it recommended by a journalist.