How-To: Evaluating your PR Firm
Companies have many choices when it comes to promoting their businesses, from social media outreach to paid advertising. But if a business wants to grow their brand and reputation, third-party endorsements are the best way to accomplish it. When the media landscape is changing so quickly, and things are, shall we say, uncertain, sometimes it helps to think outside the conventional marketing box.
A good PR firm takes the guesswork out of this equation, but how do you know if your public relations work is paying off? How has that changed in the new media landscape? Over more than two decades of managing clients’ relationships with media, we’ve learned that the most important unit of measurement is quality of quantity, creative over tried-and-true.
We have been awarded many peer-reviewed awards for our creativity and results, but those don’t matter as much as our clients’ results. And you don’t get these kinds of results using press releases alone.
Of course, that’s just one tool in the marketing toolbox, but our PR philosophy helps clients thrive with organic reach and thoughtful media relationship development.
Here are six things to look for in a good PR team:
Chemistry. Life is too short to work with people you don’t enjoy spending time with, and chemistry is what makes creativity possible. That’s why your team is successful. That’s why our team is successful. The best PR firms are excellent collaborators, so find a team that knows the value of brainstorming. We’ve always emphasized having a workplace culture built on our team members being humans first and employees second. That means, in meetings with us, you’re getting a group of people who want to be there and enjoy doing what they do.
Proficiency in taking a story angle and working it from different perspectives to get more “juice from the squeeze.” Every client has many stories to tell, and each can be reported from different angles. A good pair of outside eyes can help you find those angles. A good PR firm wants to capitalize on trends and current events by pitching you — the business owner — as an expert in your field. It’s a dance, and everyone has a part.
Creative and contextual story ideas. It’s not enough to develop a wild idea to attract attention. Companies need to position themselves within their respective industries in a way that acknowledges what is going on around them. News moves faster than ever, and our pitches and conversations with journalists must consider the current news cycle and media “mood.” Your PR firm should be actively working alongside your team to develop angles through experience in your category, watching for industry news stories relevant to your business goals and offering creative ways to get your story out there.
Regular updates on placements and reach. Reporting is a key component of a PR agency’s work. PR work is very different from other tactics within the marketing mix and must be evaluated and analyzed regularly. We look at placements secured per campaign, quality of placements, audience numbers, and more to self-evaluate and report back to our clients on our performance. Reporting should be more sophisticated than a few bullets in an email; you’re certainly paying for more than that!
Regular contact with your team. We recommend at least monthly syncs with our clients, but sometimes, we meet as often as once a week with them to ensure we have what we need and that they have what they need regarding media assets, interview training, journalist outreach, and pitch development.
Clean copy, written by humans. While this shouldn’t have to be said about an industry of professional writers, it’s also important that your PR team doesn’t overly rely on AI to create the content that goes out into the world under your name. Using technology in smart, innovative ways is important, but the human touch is what gives this work value. We are not robots. Neither are you.
Uncertain times call for a certain kind of courage, and we see that again and again with our clients today, who stay focused on their work and are willing to get creative and innovative with us amid changing markets and what can feel like cultural chaos. That’s how we build something that we can all rely on, no matter the storm.
