Choose It and Use It: An Executive’s Guide to Selecting and Using Outstanding PR
Choose It and Use It: An Executive’s Guide to Selecting and Using Outstanding PR
By altering public opinion in an aggressive, strategic and ongoing public relations campaign, you are taking advantage of the information-driven nature of the economy to gain an increasing share of both mind and market.
In-House, One-Shot, or Hire a Firm
Although it may be tempting to conduct your own public relations campaign, the handyman- or -woman approach to PR has disadvantages that far outweigh the supposed benefits - the most glaring is that it will detract from your primary money-making endeavors, potentially undermining your own return on investment.
Similarly, hiring a PR firm for single events or messaging initiatives is ineffective for gaining, maintaining, and accelerating positive audience perceptions of your business. Ultimately, the goal is for your target audience to change not only its mind, but its resulting behavior – with the ultimate outcome of conducting business with your company. Behavioral changes take place after repeated messages are encountered in a variety of germane media outlets—and over an extended timeframe. In fact, it takes six months or more for most PR campaigns to generate the buzz required to substantially shift public opinion. Many businesses have had bottom-line returns of hundreds of percentage points after undertaking such a campaign. For instance, one company realized a six-month stock price increase of 566% following a sustained visibility program undertaken by its PR firm.
The most effective choice, then, is clear: Hire the best PR firm you can find, and commit to that firm for a minimum of six months to a year so as to reap the rewards.
How to Recognize the Right PR Firm for You:
It is important to interview PR firms until you find one about whose services and integrity you feel confident, and then to obtain and review a proposal from the firm that seems most appropriate for your needs. The right firm and the right proposal will include not only information regarding specific PR initiatives to undertake on your behalf, but also communications regarding the integrity with which you, the client, will be treated. Thus, you are evaluating both professional competence and integrity.
Professional competence includes your ready access to knowledgeable professionals who understand the PR process and can “get the ink” you need to reach your audience.
*At its best, access means that the senior-level professional you interview and on whose strength you decide to hire the firm is the person who services your account, start-to-finish. In an alternative best-case scenario, only senior-level representatives service your account, not junior-level staff. Ask about this. It is a rare but valuable offering, as the efficiency and professional competence garnered in such an arrangement is extremely worthwhile for your business.
*Knowledge implies excellence in writing, media relations, branding, consistency of messaging for the who, what, where, why, and when of your organization, identifying target audiences and the best outlets for reaching them, and all other PR practices specifically relevant to your objectives. The proposal should list and explain such initiatives, and will itself be a sign of the professionalism you can expect. Be willing to ask clarifying questions and make suggestions for further initiatives. Note the ability and willingness of the firm to flex in response.
Integrity regards the way you will be treated by the PR firm. If the proposal does not specifically state information about the following items, ask questions of the firm before entering a contract with them. An outstanding firm offers:
*Pricing for actual hours of service, rather than moneys paid “up to” a given number of billable hours. Pricing for actual hours may include rolling activities to the following month, and reassessing your hourly needs as the account continues.
*Accountability to you, via monthly planning charts for objectives to be undertaken, as well as activity reports of actual accomplishments from the month prior. The outstanding firm offers timely accounts of real media results.
*A reasonable requirement for terminating a contract. Some PR firms offer a 30-day exit; others require 60- to 90- days for exit; and others offer no exit.
Notice that some items commonly presumed to be important are missing from this list of PR ideals. For instance, it’s not necessary for your chosen firm to be a large one. Indeed, some smaller firms offer all of the items above, including more access to senior-level representation, and some larger firms don’t. It’s not needed for your PR firm to be famous, or national, or even targeted to your specific industry. If you get the right representation, the professionals who do your public relations will listen to you and will quickly map their skills onto your industry and business; and with access to computers and phones a given, the brain and experience behind the PR is more important than the size or location of the firm. And it’s not essential for your chosen firm to be the most- or least expensive. Get the best service you can, and it will pay for itself in results.
Using the PR You’ve Chosen: To Lead, or to Follow?
So you’ve committed to a long-term relationship with a PR firm of high professionalism and integrity. Congratulations on your union! Now, the question shifts: Do you lead, or follow?
Hopefully, you have acquired senior-level representation, so one or more highly skilled professionals are servicing your account. If so, it’s important for a company executive --that’s you!—to speak directly with your PR specialist on a regular basis. This gives your PR firm the contact required to meet your company’s needs in the most efficient and effective manner.
It’s also appropriate to relax and let the balance of leading and following flow naturally. You will want to communicate specifics of your business and PR desires to your representative. And hopefully you will also feel confident enough in your choice of representation to ask for, and expect, leadership in the form of suggestions for PR initiatives. If you lack this confidence, ask yourself—and perhaps the PR rep—why. Is it because you’ve run everything for so long that it’s difficult to let go? Is there residual guilt that this part of your career is now so much easier? Or is there something else—something about the PR initiatives or their execution that isn’t working for you? As in any good relationship, communication is important.
And after all, effective communication is what PR is all about.
Choose It and Use It An Executives Guide to Selecting and Using Outstanding PR - To learn more about this author, visit Patti D. Hill's Website.
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As a chief executive, your first mandate is to manage and direct your organization toward its primary objectives, based on profit and return on capital. Regardless of the type of business you engage in, the actual value of your company’s offering is based on your target audiences’ perception. Fortunately, you hold the power to positively shift the perception of your business through the virtue of public relations.
By altering public opinion in an aggressive, strategic and ongoing public relations campaign, you are taking advantage of the information-driven nature of the economy to gain an increasing share of both mind and market.
In-House, One-Shot, or Hire a Firm
Although it may be tempting to conduct your own public relations campaign, the handyman- or -woman approach to PR has disadvantages that far outweigh the supposed benefits - the most glaring is that it will detract from your primary money-making endeavors, potentially undermining your own return on investment.
Similarly, hiring a PR firm for single events or messaging initiatives is ineffective for gaining, maintaining, and accelerating positive audience perceptions of your business. Ultimately, the goal is for your target audience to change not only its mind, but its resulting behavior – with the ultimate outcome of conducting business with your company. Behavioral changes take place after repeated messages are encountered in a variety of germane media outlets—and over an extended timeframe. In fact, it takes six months or more for most PR campaigns to generate the buzz required to substantially shift public opinion. Many businesses have had bottom-line returns of hundreds of percentage points after undertaking such a campaign. For instance, one company realized a six-month stock price increase of 566% following a sustained visibility program undertaken by its PR firm.
The most effective choice, then, is clear: Hire the best PR firm you can find, and commit to that firm for a minimum of six months to a year so as to reap the rewards.
How to Recognize the Right PR Firm for You:
It is important to interview PR firms until you find one about whose services and integrity you feel confident, and then to obtain and review a proposal from the firm that seems most appropriate for your needs. The right firm and the right proposal will include not only information regarding specific PR initiatives to undertake on your behalf, but also communications regarding the integrity with which you, the client, will be treated. Thus, you are evaluating both professional competence and integrity.
Professional competence includes your ready access to knowledgeable professionals who understand the PR process and can “get the ink” you need to reach your audience.
*At its best, access means that the senior-level professional you interview and on whose strength you decide to hire the firm is the person who services your account, start-to-finish. In an alternative best-case scenario, only senior-level representatives service your account, not junior-level staff. Ask about this. It is a rare but valuable offering, as the efficiency and professional competence garnered in such an arrangement is extremely worthwhile for your business.
*Knowledge implies excellence in writing, media relations, branding, consistency of messaging for the who, what, where, why, and when of your organization, identifying target audiences and the best outlets for reaching them, and all other PR practices specifically relevant to your objectives. The proposal should list and explain such initiatives, and will itself be a sign of the professionalism you can expect. Be willing to ask clarifying questions and make suggestions for further initiatives. Note the ability and willingness of the firm to flex in response.
Integrity regards the way you will be treated by the PR firm. If the proposal does not specifically state information about the following items, ask questions of the firm before entering a contract with them. An outstanding firm offers:
*Pricing for actual hours of service, rather than moneys paid “up to” a given number of billable hours. Pricing for actual hours may include rolling activities to the following month, and reassessing your hourly needs as the account continues.
*Accountability to you, via monthly planning charts for objectives to be undertaken, as well as activity reports of actual accomplishments from the month prior. The outstanding firm offers timely accounts of real media results.
*A reasonable requirement for terminating a contract. Some PR firms offer a 30-day exit; others require 60- to 90- days for exit; and others offer no exit.
Notice that some items commonly presumed to be important are missing from this list of PR ideals. For instance, it’s not necessary for your chosen firm to be a large one. Indeed, some smaller firms offer all of the items above, including more access to senior-level representation, and some larger firms don’t. It’s not needed for your PR firm to be famous, or national, or even targeted to your specific industry. If you get the right representation, the professionals who do your public relations will listen to you and will quickly map their skills onto your industry and business; and with access to computers and phones a given, the brain and experience behind the PR is more important than the size or location of the firm. And it’s not essential for your chosen firm to be the most- or least expensive. Get the best service you can, and it will pay for itself in results.
Using the PR You’ve Chosen: To Lead, or to Follow?
So you’ve committed to a long-term relationship with a PR firm of high professionalism and integrity. Congratulations on your union! Now, the question shifts: Do you lead, or follow?
Hopefully, you have acquired senior-level representation, so one or more highly skilled professionals are servicing your account. If so, it’s important for a company executive --that’s you!—to speak directly with your PR specialist on a regular basis. This gives your PR firm the contact required to meet your company’s needs in the most efficient and effective manner.
It’s also appropriate to relax and let the balance of leading and following flow naturally. You will want to communicate specifics of your business and PR desires to your representative. And hopefully you will also feel confident enough in your choice of representation to ask for, and expect, leadership in the form of suggestions for PR initiatives. If you lack this confidence, ask yourself—and perhaps the PR rep—why. Is it because you’ve run everything for so long that it’s difficult to let go? Is there residual guilt that this part of your career is now so much easier? Or is there something else—something about the PR initiatives or their execution that isn’t working for you? As in any good relationship, communication is important.
And after all, effective communication is what PR is all about.
Choose It and Use It An Executives Guide to Selecting and Using Outstanding PR - To learn more about this author, visit Patti D. Hill's Website.
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Staging DivaDebra Gould, aka The Staging Diva®, is President of Six Elements Inc., an internationally recognized home staging company. Inspired by many requests from aspiring home stagers wanting to start similar businesses, Gould created the Staging Diva Home Staging Business Training Program. Gould has trained over 1000 Staging Diva Graduates worldwide to start staging businesses. Buying decorating and selling six of her own homes in four years lead to an interest in real estate staging which she turned into a career with the launch of sixelements.com in 2002. Since then she has staged hundreds of homes in addition to teaching home staging training. Gould is the author of several home staging resources including a series of popular ebooks made up of a Design Guide, Color Guide and Portfolio Guide. For more information about Debra Gould visit stagingdiva.com. - Visit Staging Diva's Website |
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Cheryl MatthynssensCheryl is a life skills coach, licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor and a 20 year entrepreneur. Cheryl's dedication to achieving a life of balance led to her expanding her teaching from the simple managing of life's daily challenges to adding financial well being as well. A direct marketer with DrinkACT, she is gaining ground in the online community with her concepts of making sure business owners, entreprenuers and employees have well rounded life styles. She opened up a small affiliate site - The Balance Guide- to help others find resources for mental and emotional well being. Visit Cheryl's blog to see more of the diversity beyond business she has began offering online at www.thebalanceguide.blogspot.com - Visit Cheryl Matthynssens's Website |
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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