PR is a twoway street
PR is a twoway street
Think about how you're already ‘relating’ to these different ‘publics’. You're talking to your customers over the counter, over the boardroom table, over coffee and over the phone. You're ‘relating’ to your staff at staff meetings, in memos and at company get togethers. Companies certainly don't want their PR company to start phoning customers and making appointments on their behalf.
Do you want your PR company to do staff appraisals? Of course not! Relating to these publics isn't their job - it's your job.
The PR company’s role is to help liaise with the media, formulate opinions, and get the word out. But they're still your opinions, your relationship with the media. If you don't want to take responsibility for building relationships with your stakeholders, your PR company can't help you. Fire them now, and save their time and your money.
Here are some of the common reasons the PR relationship fails:
• You don't share your objectives with your PR company
If you think PR can function in a vacuum, you're like 80% of clients who complain about their PR companies. Where is the PR consultant supposed to soak up your industry, your company culture and your positioning if you don't give them access? They should be involved at all senior management briefings. You should be treating them like an external board member - somebody who is a trusted advisor and whose opinion you trust. The more information you give them, the better. If you don't want to share strategic information because it's "too sensitive"; if you postpone your PR meetings because you're "too busy"; if your PR company is not on the staff e-mail list; then it means you're not treating the relationship with the respect it deserves. You may as well part company now while you're still reasonably good friends, because if this is your attitude to PR, the relationship will end in tears.
• You don't have a PR plan
This sounds so obvious that you probably don't even want to read this section. But have you agreed with your PR company what you expect from it and what it can reasonably expect from you? Do you review your PR plan every three months? Do you measure the effectiveness of PR and have semi-annual brainstorming sessions to make it more effective? Are you measuring your average time to approve a press release? Are you improving your own spokesperson skills - and measuring the result according to the plan? You're not alone. You wouldn't send your sales force out without establishing their targets. So why not do this with your PR? Sure it's difficult to measure. Difficult, but not impossible. The motivational guys say failing to plan is planning to fail. Trite, but true.
Three reasons to keep your PR company
If you want your PR company to help you build relationships with your key
stakeholder "publics", ask them - they're full of good ideas. If you're willing to share your strategic intent as a business with the PR company - you'll find they have valuable input on making that strategy happen. If you are keen to develop a PR plan, which works hand-in-hand with the sales force, the advertising and the events activity you're already doing - your PR company is your best partner.
PR is a twoway street - To learn more about this author, visit Janine Lloyd's Website.
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Many companies are under the illusion that their PR agency does PR. The PR company doesn't do PR. It helps businesses to do PR. Public relations isn't about the general public; it's about ‘relating’ to specific stakeholder ‘publics’ - like your customers or prospects; staff; shareholders - even competitors.
Think about how you're already ‘relating’ to these different ‘publics’. You're talking to your customers over the counter, over the boardroom table, over coffee and over the phone. You're ‘relating’ to your staff at staff meetings, in memos and at company get togethers. Companies certainly don't want their PR company to start phoning customers and making appointments on their behalf.
Do you want your PR company to do staff appraisals? Of course not! Relating to these publics isn't their job - it's your job.
The PR company’s role is to help liaise with the media, formulate opinions, and get the word out. But they're still your opinions, your relationship with the media. If you don't want to take responsibility for building relationships with your stakeholders, your PR company can't help you. Fire them now, and save their time and your money.
Here are some of the common reasons the PR relationship fails:
• You don't share your objectives with your PR company
If you think PR can function in a vacuum, you're like 80% of clients who complain about their PR companies. Where is the PR consultant supposed to soak up your industry, your company culture and your positioning if you don't give them access? They should be involved at all senior management briefings. You should be treating them like an external board member - somebody who is a trusted advisor and whose opinion you trust. The more information you give them, the better. If you don't want to share strategic information because it's "too sensitive"; if you postpone your PR meetings because you're "too busy"; if your PR company is not on the staff e-mail list; then it means you're not treating the relationship with the respect it deserves. You may as well part company now while you're still reasonably good friends, because if this is your attitude to PR, the relationship will end in tears.
• You don't have a PR plan
This sounds so obvious that you probably don't even want to read this section. But have you agreed with your PR company what you expect from it and what it can reasonably expect from you? Do you review your PR plan every three months? Do you measure the effectiveness of PR and have semi-annual brainstorming sessions to make it more effective? Are you measuring your average time to approve a press release? Are you improving your own spokesperson skills - and measuring the result according to the plan? You're not alone. You wouldn't send your sales force out without establishing their targets. So why not do this with your PR? Sure it's difficult to measure. Difficult, but not impossible. The motivational guys say failing to plan is planning to fail. Trite, but true.
Three reasons to keep your PR company
If you want your PR company to help you build relationships with your key
stakeholder "publics", ask them - they're full of good ideas. If you're willing to share your strategic intent as a business with the PR company - you'll find they have valuable input on making that strategy happen. If you are keen to develop a PR plan, which works hand-in-hand with the sales force, the advertising and the events activity you're already doing - your PR company is your best partner.
PR is a twoway street - To learn more about this author, visit Janine Lloyd's Website.
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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 Janine Lloyd (Visit Janine's Website) The idea of working for a boss is far removed from the life plan of Janine Lloyd (Buhrmann) who has been in business for herself since 1990. Founder and shareholder of one of SA’s top PR companies - Livewired Communications - Janine is an entrepreneur 'extraordinaire'. With 16 years of leadership experience in the PR field, she spent the last 2 years growing her PR business and developing her professional coaching skills. In her career Janine has advised over 50 local and global businesses on PR and communications, as well as profiling for CEO’s, executives and leaders. Janine is known for being an inspiring leader, razor-sharp strategist and skilled professional coach. Janine has received professional coach training through global coaching organisation Results Coaching Systems. Her love and passion for communicating, especially where she can impart knowledge and provide guidance, led Janine to become a regular contributor for The Witness newspaper in South Africa. She has also written a chapter for international PR book published in the UK called International Public Relations, 2004.
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