Tweet

Choose It and Use It: An Executive’s Guide to Selecting and Using Outstanding PR

Written by: Patti D. Hill

Article Overview: This guide will instruct CEOs how to choose a PR firm and how to utilize that resource to its fullest. This information should be on the desk of every business leader interested in the reputation of his or her company, products and services.

Choose It and Use It: An Executive’s Guide to Selecting and Using Outstanding PR

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.

Related Articles
  Strengthen Your Strengthens and Watch What Happens to Your Life
  5 Features To A Quality Web Host For Your Home Internet Business
  Build your power base
  “Tips For Entrepreneurs In Selecting A Venture Capitalist”
  10 Tips for Selecting the Best Franchise

Article Tags: CEO, public relations, reputation



Related Forum Posts
Re: 7 Strange Japanese Inventions - Outstanding reply David. I think with the long hours I spend in front of the laptop that USB cooling mask might just come in handy. I take it that you have read the book you mentioned by Kobe Abe, was it any good?
Need a book recommendation for writing better - I'm always looking for ways to improve my writing skills, so I was just wondering if anyone could recommend a good copywriting or copyediting book? I was actually thinking of reading "The Copywriter's Handbook : A Step-by-Step Guide to Writing Copy That Sells" by Robert W Bly [u:w3cg00nn]OR[/u:w3cg00nn] "The Copyeditor's Handbook: A Guide for Book Publishing and Corporate Communications" by Amy Einsohn. Would anyone know if these books are any good? Thanks
Male vs female networking - [quote:2zrnzg30]I could imagine at a higher level that Executives could possibly treat women different to men.[/quote:2zrnzg30] I wonder if there's an age difference between how men and women react. Men over the age of 40 are used to dealing with their "old boy network" I think, whereas younger guys have more experience dealing with women of power in the work place. And then there's women - those over 40 no how much effort was put into getting equal treatment, whereas women under 40 don't appreciate what had gone before. That's an over-generalization, I suppose, but I wonder if its true?
Resources for Women Entrepreneurs - Dear Shimmy. As the past president of the Canadian Association of Women Executives and Entrepreneurs I can tell you that there are a lot of resources available for female entrepreneurs in Canada. The government both Federally and Provincially have lauched substantial initiatives over the last 5 years to address the growing number of female business owners including opportunities for grants, strategic planning assistance and funding options. There are countless networking and business groups available now as well as unlimited access to resources online. What specific areas are you looking for assistance with? Perhaps I can direct you to a person or place. Cheers! Jude
Re: Do bigger monitors save time? - Hi Kevin, Thanks for the welcome! I would agree that two 17's would work well but really, any size would work. I'd be careful in going after the larger monitors that are traditional heights but are really wide, unless you have the desk space for it. Choose your monitors carefully as well to ensure that you try to find ones that have a small frame outside of the actual monitor screen. That way, when you put them together, the screens look a little more uniform. Last tip for either multiple monitors or one large one... Speed your mouse motion up. If you don't, you'll spend forever scrolling from one screen to another or across a larger screen. It'll take a bit to get used to at first but after a few days, using a mouse with regular motion will seem painstakingly slow!


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

You Have A Website What Now

How to Set Sales Goals that Work

The OLD Way of Advertising, May Not be so OLD

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.