In this week’s PR Week, there is a good article about the 8 key things that a company probably will consider when picking out a PR agency.
Here’s a short version of the article, grab a copy of PR Week (24 April 2009) for the full text.
1. Awards and league tables. Carolan Davidge, director of PR and brand at Cancer Research UK said: “We would be looking for an agency that has led award winning campaigns….We would be unlikely to work with an agency without any heritage.” There’s also talk of league tables, however, that applies to large agencies usually, but if founding teams of smaller agencies have worked for large agencies, then I guess their experience there would be taken into consideration.
2. Chemistry. Makes sense as spending time getting to know one another is essential. I disagree about meeting at an agency’s offices as many small agencies don’t even have one main office and some very good freelancer will work from a client office or from home.
3. Cost. Price is important but not at the cost of quality. Having a cheap PR campaign that doesn’t bring in the desired results or goes wrong may cost more in the long run to repair.
4. Creativity. Agencies should be brimming with ideas, which are original. Ideas should be well researched.
5. Reputation. Clients will look at previous successes and failures when choosing a PR agency.
6. People. Clients will want the team that pitched to be the one handling the account.
7. Get on the list. Event clients that do not choose from a shortlist, may have a vetting procedure.
8. The no-nos…..An agency with a templated one size fits all approach is not going to win business. Don’t oversell the ability to deliver and meet deadlines.
Subscribe (RSS)
