Hiring a PR agency - can anyone explain?

[jamesmd]

Hey,

We're thinking of looking at hiring a PR agency... but have no experience of it.

Can anyone guide around the process, any tips, pitfalls to avoid etc?

We're a b2b technology company spanning mobile internet, ecommerce, content...

We have some pretty big competitors with hefty backers behind them (IBM, Adobe, etc), whilst we're a pretty small, nimble start up... So looking to get value for money, but also some pretty good mostly UK/US coverage, possibly some German-speaking companies too.

What happens in terms of press releases? Do we give them something to write about and they do it? We'll probably have about two releases a month that we'll want to write about, one of those will be about client wins, the other will hopefully be crafted about how we help companies or cusdtomers or some other insights etc.

Should they be a local PR agency, e.g. same town or does it not really matter?

Any qualifications to look for? I guess similar clients would be a good benchmark...

Thanks guys.

 

[10Yetis]

Watcha, just to be clear from the outset, I am from a consumer and tech PR agency called 10Yetis.

I will try and go through the questions in the order you have written them.

Q: What is the process for hiring an agency
A: Most people go to a few agencies, based on recommendations or your own research. Outline what you want (do you wanna sell widgets, raise profile or something else) and then let the PR Agencies "pitch" their campaign ideas and costs etc back to you.

Q: Any Tips for Finding an Agency?
A: Ask to see the coverage that they claim they have secured. Make sure they either have a strong track record of delivering coverage in your target sector, or a good track record in entering new sectors and immediately getting coverage.

Q: What are the pitfalls of hiring a PR Agency?
A: Worst case scenario; coverage does not come through. Best case scenario, you get so many enquiries from the PR that you cannot service them and you get bad coverage.

Q: What happens in terms of press releases, who comes up with the angles?
A: Good PR agencies should come to you with angle and story ideas. This is usually demonstrated in the initial pitch. Both of you work together to develop the angles. You have to trust the PR to understand what will work with the media. e.g. you mention 2 releases per month, with one being about a client win. Being brutally honest, client wins are dull unless they are the bog brands you mentioned. Even then, the most you can expect is a News in Brief Mention (NiB). Better to outline all that you do, your USP's etc and then work with the PR to come up with two stories that will do well.

As an aside, what we do with tech companies is (if they want two releases per month) suggest they have one trade story and one national consumer/their trade section in a national angle.

Q: Should they be local?
A: In short, given range of tech and comms no real need nowadays. We have SME and large clients all over, from Scotland and London (we are Glos based) through to Fiji, Sierra Leone (spelling, I know, it is late ), Germany, Poland etc etc you get my drift.

Q: What qualifications should I look out for?
A: The two main ones/professional bodies are PRCA and CIPR. We are in neither

Being truly honest I never really saw the value in them... a PR agency can either get coverage or it can't. I have always found the CIPR to be hugely out-dated (only did their blogger/online engagement guidelines 2 years ago as just one example and far more of the white wine spritzer/old school PR!). PRCA, different kettle of fish. I have a lot of time for them and I am actually thinking that we should join this, or at least apply and see if we can get in... ha ha ha.

Q: Should I look for an agency with similar clients to my own business?
A: In theory, this makes perfect sense, but I am always wary of agencies that have more than one client from the same sector. To me this means that the client that pays the most always gets the best/most high profile lead. Not ideal. That being said, the larger agencies have multiple account management teams that supposedly don't interact so they can service clients from the same sector without the financial conflict.

Hope this helps.

Andy