Picking the right PR company

How should you go about selecting a PR agency? Rainier PR provides some answers in this white paper.

Image is everything. If you're reading this then you are already aware of the value of PR, but in selecting an agency you must always remember - a company lives or dies on the strength of its brand. The road to brand heaven is littered with misfortune - Pan-Am, for example, now synonymous rightly or wrongly, with the Lockerbie bombing. On the other hand, you know you've arrived when your name becomes a verb - "I'll Hoover the floor", "why don't you Google that?" or "can you Xerox this for me?"

Advertising plays its part, but public relations help is vital in keeping the brand strong by ensuring it is in the public psyche and, even more importantly, out of the media when there's trouble at mill. This means that there can be no room for error when selecting the consultants that will guide the future of your brand. In this white paper we will be covering what to look for in an agency and how to actually go about picking one.

Deliverance
High calibre PR consultants deliver is market knowledge, sound counsel in a crisis and the gift of communicating corporate messages via the media to the ultimate audience, the customer. But the question for every corporation that treasures its brand is which agency to choose? So what qualities should the right agency possess?

This can be summed up quite simply. They must:

- understand your brand
- know your market
- have imagination and experience
- possess wide media knowledge and strong relationships
- fit culturally with the client's organisation

Process
Long-term relationships are the key to a successful brand, underlining the importance of getting it right first time round. While the selection process can be long-winded it should be seen as an investment in your organisation's future. If a company needs to build its brand from scratch, look for an agency that has a track record of launching start-ups. For those reviewing their existing PR company, the implications require more thought. According to the Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA), there are several main things to consider when looking into recruiting a PR agency.

The first of those is to know why you are reviewing your PR in the first place if you have an agency already. Would a change of PR company really be in the best interests of the organisation you represent? And if you are looking to make that change, do you have buy-in from senior decision-makers in the process? If your company has a purchasing department, it will be important to involve them from the start.

Legal departments will also want a say in drawing up the contract and companies must be aware of the notice period on their existing agency agreement and honour it. This will typically be three months. During this time, however, it is important to drive home to the incumbent agency that is not to be a 'lame duck' quarter - you are still paying for a service, after all.

Care must be taken in informing the incumbent so that news of your reviewing agencies does not hit the pages of the industry organ, PR Week. It is even worth making sure that agencies do not sign the visitors' book on reception to avoid rumours that you are pitching.

Full agreement must be gained between the relevant parties as to what the objective of any PR campaign is and what budget should be set aside to realise it. These steps should all be taken before the pitching process takes place.

According to the PRCA, most successful appointments are not based on the quality of the pitch itself, more the reputation of the agency, chemistry and endorsements from the agency's existing client list.

Formulating a pitch is a resource drain on the agencies due to present, so this must be borne in mind - if you feel that the agency is not really going to stand a chance just on what you know already, don't waste their time.

It may be worth meeting each one in your long list (maximum ten) to give them a pre-brief, making the budget and objectives clear, plus it gives you a chance to test the water and decide whether you really want to continue with that agency. This will often include the incumbent.

Cut this to the three most impressive companies and invite them in to pitch, ensuring they sign a confidentiality agreement if necessary. Make the timeline for the pitching process clear and make sure you adhere to it - typically it stretches over a period of four weeks.

Right fit
The typical agency model, even in a field where specialist knowledge is imperative such as in the IT industry, is one which usually relies on graduates to implement the plans of more experienced planners. This is a risky route to select for the client as those people at the cutting edge of carrying forward the company's message are relatively inexperienced. Is this really the way an organisation wants its first impression to be made? Quite simply, highly paid communicators are entrusting your messages to poorly paid and often unmotivated juniors.

It is better to trust agencies with a senior structure made up of seasoned professionals that can maturely communicate a message with a proven track record of innovation and useful media contacts.

When considering an agency, size and location are also vital ingredients. If your offices are based in Basingstoke why employ an agency based in Nottingham? Despite modern communications technologies, there's no replacement for face-to-face communications so being within a reasonable travelling distance to the agency is vital - because their time is your money, after all.

Chemistry is key, however, and will probably prove to be the deciding factor. Bear in mind that you will be in daily contact with these people and will often be still propping up the bar with them come closing time on foreign soil, so you must feel comfortable and have common ground.

End of the affair
While making sure that your incumbent fulfils its obligations during the notice period, it is imperative that they co-operate with the new agency during handover. They must also return any materials and continue to respect confidentiality agreements - it would be unprofessional to do otherwise and reflect badly on them.

For those agencies that were unsuccessful in pitching it is likely that they will like to know where they fell down, so be prepared to answer some difficult questions. These agencies should also return any confidential materials.

Way forward
Negotiate the contract with the new agency and agree objects and workable schedules of targets and events going forward. Make sure they stick to them. One good way of doing this is by relating fees to objectives - for example, if targets are exceeded by 20 per cent, the budget for projects goes up accordingly. Should it under-perform by 20 per cent so should the budget drop. This should encourage against complacency.

Choosing a new agency should be the start of a beautiful friendship. Taking the above steps should help ensure this happens because, after all, image is everything.