How To Hire A Public Relations Consultant
How To Hire A Public Relations Consultant
by John J. Barr
Principal,
Cascadia Communication Associates
contact: consultjohn@dccnet.com
www.prheadquarters.com
Pity the poor CEO. She thinks her company needs "some PR help." How does she
choose who to hire? An agency? A freelancer? A lawyer who also does lobbying or public relations?
There may be a dozen or more public relations companies in the Yellow Pages
…and Heaven knows how many individual freelancers. Consumer’s Report
doesn’t test public relations agencies …although maybe they should! So she auditions a few PR practitioners and finds that all of them are articulate, plausible, and make similar claims.
Every one of them has outstanding cases to talk about. Never any failures, though …apparently all public relations projects achieve their objectives! None of them ever ran over budget, couldn’t get the client’s story placed, or got fired.
Amazing! (Or maybe not). How many doctors post in their waiting rooms the names of patients who died?
Borrowing from Bill Cosby’s great line (“I wasn’t always a father. I used to be a man”), I wasn’t always a public relations consultant, I used to be a client. In fact I was a client for more than 20 years – about the same length of time I’ve been a consultant for a variety of public relations agencies, from huge and international to local and small. Knowing what it’s like to be a client and how difficult it can be to choose a PR consultant, here’s my frank and unexpurgated CEO’s PR Shopping Guide.
1. Situations when you should consider hiring a very small PR company or freelancer:
Your budget is very small (eg. under $5,000 for a local
publicity project). Small agencies and freelancers have very low
overheads, often operating from a small home office. Many of them
are very competent writers, publicists and special events coordinators
and can deliver a decent project for relatively low hourly fees (let’s
say under $150 an hour).
Your problem is relatively simple and doesn’t require a team of
people. A freelancer doesn’t have a staff of people who can be called
in at a moment’s notice. But he or she can do the job with the resources at hand.
Your problem is purely local. A freelancer probably knows the local market well.
Your situation isn’t urgent. A sole practitioner can’t juggle several
projects at once; he or she probably has other clients and you may
have to wait your turn. You’re not in a panic rush.
You don’t need highly specialized skills. The average small
agency or freelancer usually is a generalist; a good competent generalist should be able to handle your needs.
2. Situations in which you should hire a larger (usually international) PR
company:
You need help in one or more distant markets. An international
agency has representation, contacts and intimate local knowledge in
many markets.
You need the support of allies. Let’s say you have a government
problem, in a western nation. Generally government isn’t going to meet
your needs unless you can meet theirs – in other words, mobilize your
allies and support for your position, so that what you want is politically
possible for the people in charge. International public relations agencies have the
resources and "reach" to line up allies and mobilize grassroots support
for your position.
Your problem is complex and intractable. "All of us are smarter
than any one of us": the international agency’s ability to tap the ideas,
experience and contact network of hundreds or even thousands of top-drawer
PR people around the world can put awesome thinking power at
your disposal. No matter how arcane or complex your problem, the
collective brainpower of the international agency has dealt with it - and
solved it - somewhere in the world.
You are driven more by value than price. If the stakes are high –
the launch of a make-or-break product, the solution to a major
corporate crisis – you need the best people in the business …no matter where they reside. International agencies charge higher fees because they have to hire and retain top-tier people and pay the higher costs of expensive research and client support.
You need a business partner, not a "supplier". International
agencies are interested in building long term relationships with first-class
clients. The best firms don’t have to work at the bottom of the food chain – charging discount rates to companies nobody really likes.
3. How to evaluate the candidates
Follow these checklists and you’ll at least be able to draw up a good short list of
possible PR providers. Now proceed to interview them and make your choice based
on:
-Chemistry. A relationship with a PR company will most likely work out
if you "click" with the key people you’ll be working with. Did you like
each other? Did they seem to have a passionate interest in you and your problem? You’re going to be trusting them with sensitive information and depending on their competence and determination to help you. Were they objective … and candid?
-Thinking. Did they take the trouble to learn something about your
business, your industry, your competitors, or your problems? Did they ask smart questions? Did they make suggestions that were smart and creative, but also practical?
-Track record, as measured by client testimonials. PR professionals
are usually good talkers and presenters; the question is… can they deliver? Find out who their clients are and what they’ve accomplished for them. Ask for references and talk to those references honestly. Would they hire the firm again? No firm is perfect; what were their weaknesses?
The best people in public relations are looking for the same thing that you are: a
chance to work with business people who are smart, ethical, highly committed and
professional. You deserve each other.
-30-
How To Hire A Public Relations Consultant - To learn more about this author, visit John Barr's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
The CEO's Shopping Guide to PR Consultants
by John J. Barr
Principal,
Cascadia Communication Associates
contact: consultjohn@dccnet.com
www.prheadquarters.com
Pity the poor CEO. She thinks her company needs "some PR help." How does she
choose who to hire? An agency? A freelancer? A lawyer who also does lobbying or public relations?
There may be a dozen or more public relations companies in the Yellow Pages
…and Heaven knows how many individual freelancers. Consumer’s Report
doesn’t test public relations agencies …although maybe they should! So she auditions a few PR practitioners and finds that all of them are articulate, plausible, and make similar claims.
Every one of them has outstanding cases to talk about. Never any failures, though …apparently all public relations projects achieve their objectives! None of them ever ran over budget, couldn’t get the client’s story placed, or got fired.
Amazing! (Or maybe not). How many doctors post in their waiting rooms the names of patients who died?
Borrowing from Bill Cosby’s great line (“I wasn’t always a father. I used to be a man”), I wasn’t always a public relations consultant, I used to be a client. In fact I was a client for more than 20 years – about the same length of time I’ve been a consultant for a variety of public relations agencies, from huge and international to local and small. Knowing what it’s like to be a client and how difficult it can be to choose a PR consultant, here’s my frank and unexpurgated CEO’s PR Shopping Guide.
1. Situations when you should consider hiring a very small PR company or freelancer:
Your budget is very small (eg. under $5,000 for a local
publicity project). Small agencies and freelancers have very low
overheads, often operating from a small home office. Many of them
are very competent writers, publicists and special events coordinators
and can deliver a decent project for relatively low hourly fees (let’s
say under $150 an hour).
Your problem is relatively simple and doesn’t require a team of
people. A freelancer doesn’t have a staff of people who can be called
in at a moment’s notice. But he or she can do the job with the resources at hand.
Your problem is purely local. A freelancer probably knows the local market well.
Your situation isn’t urgent. A sole practitioner can’t juggle several
projects at once; he or she probably has other clients and you may
have to wait your turn. You’re not in a panic rush.
You don’t need highly specialized skills. The average small
agency or freelancer usually is a generalist; a good competent generalist should be able to handle your needs.
2. Situations in which you should hire a larger (usually international) PR
company:
You need help in one or more distant markets. An international
agency has representation, contacts and intimate local knowledge in
many markets.
You need the support of allies. Let’s say you have a government
problem, in a western nation. Generally government isn’t going to meet
your needs unless you can meet theirs – in other words, mobilize your
allies and support for your position, so that what you want is politically
possible for the people in charge. International public relations agencies have the
resources and "reach" to line up allies and mobilize grassroots support
for your position.
Your problem is complex and intractable. "All of us are smarter
than any one of us": the international agency’s ability to tap the ideas,
experience and contact network of hundreds or even thousands of top-drawer
PR people around the world can put awesome thinking power at
your disposal. No matter how arcane or complex your problem, the
collective brainpower of the international agency has dealt with it - and
solved it - somewhere in the world.
You are driven more by value than price. If the stakes are high –
the launch of a make-or-break product, the solution to a major
corporate crisis – you need the best people in the business …no matter where they reside. International agencies charge higher fees because they have to hire and retain top-tier people and pay the higher costs of expensive research and client support.
You need a business partner, not a "supplier". International
agencies are interested in building long term relationships with first-class
clients. The best firms don’t have to work at the bottom of the food chain – charging discount rates to companies nobody really likes.
3. How to evaluate the candidates
Follow these checklists and you’ll at least be able to draw up a good short list of
possible PR providers. Now proceed to interview them and make your choice based
on:
-Chemistry. A relationship with a PR company will most likely work out
if you "click" with the key people you’ll be working with. Did you like
each other? Did they seem to have a passionate interest in you and your problem? You’re going to be trusting them with sensitive information and depending on their competence and determination to help you. Were they objective … and candid?
-Thinking. Did they take the trouble to learn something about your
business, your industry, your competitors, or your problems? Did they ask smart questions? Did they make suggestions that were smart and creative, but also practical?
-Track record, as measured by client testimonials. PR professionals
are usually good talkers and presenters; the question is… can they deliver? Find out who their clients are and what they’ve accomplished for them. Ask for references and talk to those references honestly. Would they hire the firm again? No firm is perfect; what were their weaknesses?
The best people in public relations are looking for the same thing that you are: a
chance to work with business people who are smart, ethical, highly committed and
professional. You deserve each other.
-30-
How To Hire A Public Relations Consultant - To learn more about this author, visit John Barr's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 | |
 |
No article feedback found. |
| |
Leave Your Feedback |
 | |
| |||
John PowerJohn Power, founder of Biltmore Franchise Consulting, has extensive experience developing and marketing franchises and business opportunities. He has been in and around franchising for over twenty years. From 1980 through 1990 he conceptualized, organized, and developed the American Video Association. He grew AVA to 2,000 national members, before selling the company it 1990. It was later merged into another home video marketing company. From 2000 to 2005 he worked as a contract marketing and human resources consultant to several local and national companies. In 2005 Mr. Power began working as a franchise development consultant on a full-time basis. Since that time he has helped more than three dozen companies initiate and develop their franchising program. He notes that there are many companies interested in developing a franchise program, and who need his specialized assistance. Mr. Power is a “hands-on” franchise consultant. He said, “I am the ‘nuts and bolts’ person who tends to the details for my clients.” Mr. Power holds a B.S. degree with a major in Marketing. See: www.biltmorefranchise.com You may contact Mr. Power at: jpower@biltmorefranchise.co - Visit John Power's Website |
|||
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 |
|||
George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
|||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
 | |
|  |
Subscribe to John's articles
 | |
|
|  |
 | |
|
| |
 | |||||||
|
 | ||
 |
||
 |
||
|
||
|
| ||
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
|
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
 |
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"
Click Here To Learn More |
|
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
|
 Exit Interview Document Your Marketing Mindset Mastering Change SEO Made Easy Essence of Leaders |
|
 | ||
 |
Top 50 Debt Blogs
Learn To Get Out Of Debt | |
 |
Top 50 SEO Posts - 2008
Top SEO Posts of the Year | |
| ||
 | ||||
| ||||
|
| ||||
| ||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
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 and Sean Combs!
|
|
|
