PR agencies sometimes don’t deliver – that is not big news, is it?

There are professionals and organisations that do not measure up in all sectors, perhaps over-selling to ensure the contract is theirs and then disappointing then when tested.

There are real issues concerning the reputation of PR agencies and when I saw this thread on LinkedIn I felt I had to answer.

Here are three comments I think show real misunderstanding – such views need to be challenged.

“The average agency client relationship lasts just 18 months because 99% of agency pitches are dishonest….sounds like PR firms need a lesson in PR!”

Kathy Towner, owner Win Communications

Well if I am honest that means statistically every other PR agency in Manchester and the North West is not – that doesn’t seem quite right.

But let me argue the real point and not the vitriolic bit, which might come from a bad experience and requires a venting of anger.

“Client relationships last 18 months.”

I am not sure where this is sourced and whether it is correct but let’s say it is.

Client relationships can end because a client suffers from a critical cash flow because of tax issues, loss of one of their key clients or the economic conditions.

Client relationships can also end because of the following reasons (I have listed 10 possibles):

• New marketing director wants his or her own agency brought in.
• The client feels a new agency will be extra keen, this is a perception that does not always ring true.
• The PR resource is brought in-house.
• Some clients only want a project with specified aims and time period.
• Sometimes after a couple of years the original aims of the client have been achieved or the account has been exhausted; some clients have a restricted range of subjects and news.
• The client is very busy and feels they do not need a PR agency anymore.
• The client has become very busy and does not have the time to devote to handling the agency and so has decided to put things on hold
• The client has grown or has changed and believes a new agency with specific experience or skills is needed.
• The client has unrealistic expectations and are disappointed when they are not filled.
• The agency has had enough of the lack of co-operation of the client; sometimes clients might not pay on time or at all.  (I worked for an agency where the client refused to pay and said the work was all done for free to curry favour despite contracts and e-mail clearly stating the work had been commissioned.  Apparently they had done this to a number of suppliers).

I have one client that I have worked with for two years and they put things on hold  in April for reasons that were no-one’s fault.  I met them today and they want me to take up the communication reigns again; I am starting work with them tomorrow.

“I’ve always found retainers to be self defeating in that they repeatedly prompt the same question: “what am I getting for this?” My response always has been to offer retainer, hourly rate and “per project” arrangements and let clients decide which they prefer.”

Bill Brody Professor Emeritus at the University of Memphis

Retainers make sense for an agency and client:

• Retainers allow an agency to invest time in researching opportunities.  It allows an agency to act on an opportunity; if you had to wait for an affirmative every time something came up it would be an impractical relationship.
• Retainers enable agencies to plan financially – retainers enable clients to plan financially.
• Retainers give agencies a robust model to work around.
• Retainers show the agency that the clients are committed to the relationship – this is reciprocated by any agency worth hiring.

If you want to offer a range of arrangements then do so.  But if you try and bend to all demands and requirements it is going to be more complicated than it need to be.

“We had two disappointing experiences with PR firms. How can you justify the expense of hours worked if at the end of it you can’t correlate any tangible improvement in business, customers, profits, image, or anything?”

Todd Lempicke

OptimalResume.com

It is not always easy to measure PR.  I tell that to all prospects.  I try to give a realistic opinion about possible results and let clients make a call based on sensible estimations.

• Clients – Let me say that some clients do not ask where new business has come from, so how can you measure it?  What if a client’s website loses a prospect or the way they are handled on the phone? mmmmmmm
• Profits – Doesn’t this mainly depend on variables that aren’t anything to do with PR such as costs of suppliers, wages, the economy, competition etc?
• Image – not easy to measure.
• Anything – PR works on many levels and it has a positive affect on many elements of a company.  If you agency does not deliver at all, either you have a really awful agency and you really need to be more careful in your hiring process or perhaps handle your agency better.

I was speaking to a client I worked for for over two years and whose contract finished in the summer.  He told me last Friday that his agency had got many inquiries, as much as a quarter, from a source he wasn’t sure of.  He supposed, as all his inquiries came from referrals, that this must be PR.  As his agency was small then, he told me PR was an important ingredient in its growth.  But there was no system in place to measure the effect.

I don’t mean this to be a them against us piece: it is not.  All I am saying is that it can be more complicated that is stated by the above statements.

When PR agencies peform and work well with clients the results can make companies.

What a great piece of PR.

I like it anyway.

A pub, probably with few stories to tell, suddenly has a “discarded” tank in its car park and some handy coverage in the local paper.  No-one knows whose tank it is, why it was left there; it is a good talking point: get a pint, have your photo on the tank – some useful revenue.

Actually there is only one “enthusiast” that has tanks in the area.  It is not a big mystery Poirot.  And you hardly forget where you park your tank; I have a silver Honda and in a big car park it can be hard to see, not so with camouflaged military hardware.

I just think this is quite a good example of how to create a story from nothing – a little bit of creativity, perhaps nothing special, but it tickled me.

Well, getting a start would be ideal for most graduates or school leavers.

It is not easy to get a career; it is not easy to get a job at the moment, and a sought after career: forget it.

Even in good times things are not easy, so what do you do if you want to get started in marketing or PR in such a discouraging market?

Here are a few tips that I hope helps:

Social media – If you want to get into marketing or PR and you do not know about social media then you are letting yourself down.

You are not taking the opportunity of building relationships with professionals that could help you.  You are not noting opportunities as they come up.  You are not showing that you have the skills and intellectual curiosity to succeed.

Flexibility – It is tempting to wait for the right job.  But the right position rarely comes along.

Make a start, if you get offered an opportunity – a placement or junior role – think seriously about taking it even if it is not perfect, you can still look for your dream job in the meantime.  You might find the role you get offered turned out to be what you wanted or was much better than you imagined.

CV and applications – I have received CVs with grammatical errors!!  Really, do I have to say more?

Cultivate opportunities where none present themselves – I have received speculative CVs and reply and get no word of thanks when I offer advice.  I understand that if you want a job you have no time to dwell and you move on as quickly as you can.

But if only they called me or asked for leads or pointers, I would be happy to reward a little bit of initiative, so would many other people.  Yet my efforts to reply are never rewarded – if I was recruiting I would not employ such individuals although this might be unfair.  This one example where initiating a quick conversation might really help reduce that job hunt’s length.

Networking – following on, look for people that can help you.

Do not be afraid to ask: it is not cheating to ask contacts to get introductions that can lead to work experience or even, dare I say it, work.

Have a real think who might be able to help, ask those who you do not think could help, you might be surprised who they know.

Determination – it is a difficult road for many and one that I do not want to travel again.  But if you really want it, you are most likely going to get you dream job.  So have courage and keep at it even though it is a miserable process.

This is quite a clever piece of marketing: a campaign to banish cliches from B2B marketing.

IAS, a marketing agency, has set-up a site called 101 cliches that invites readers to submit the worst offenders and vote on those already up.  Connected up through social media channels this could be quite a hit as it asks for participation and is fun.

It is heartfelt for me as I cannot stand stock photography – are so many work forces repulsive enough to buy dull bland images rather than expose them to the public? – I really think it is insulting and poor marketing as you want to see who you are going to be working with: we can all spot stock photography.  I have commented on this before on this site.

(The image is number two of worst offenders at present).

Anyway have fun and thanks to Dr Dave Chaffey – who won’t remember me contacting him in 2000 when he was a marketing lecturer and I worked at Congress, a sales and marketing agency for US Internet businesses looking to get into European markets; I can’t think what my question was about exactly or even inexactly, but Dave was helpful.  Thanks for the tweet.

Winston Churchill said a politicians job is predicting the future, then explaining why it didn’t happen like that after all.

I am not going to make any wild predictions, but I am going to note how I feel at the start (or near the start) of the year and if I am here at the end of the year I will compare some notes.

I think this year is going to be hard for the economy.  Caution will still reign, but I saw signs of easing in November and December and that is hopeful.  Anecdotal evidence and that from surveys also seem to back-up that impression). (See my entry about the Bellweather Report about the PR industry Business Desk NW echoes these sentiments).

What is not is the public sector’s up coming tidal wave of misery.

Whoever gets in power in May will be making cuts, probably of historic proportions to re-balance the books.  The harbour of recessionary times will not protect in this storm.  In fact agencies in any marketing discipline that are focused on the public sector will have worrying times.  I can see Q3 being disappointing.  It is a pity that the election was not in 2009 and this pain had been addressed earlier.

Some sectors, and I am thinking digital and technology will prosper.  I only hear good things from the digital sector, if we overlook the demise of Flame Digital and Latitude.

I will be looking at environmental and technology as sectors I want to concentrate on this year.  I have a good technology record, with plenty of experience.

2008 and 2009 will be remembered by many in PR as times of change: traditional PR being eroded by social media and digital.  Unfortunately for traditional media there was change in a recession that acted as a catalyst for the transition to new media.  Change is painful, uncomfortable, and the combination did not help.

I don’t think traditional media is doomed – it is a re-ordering of the way we communicate.  Trade press is still resilient as is broadcast.  It all makes PR more challenging and interesting.  PRs must now be able to address traditional channels where they feel comfortable with new channels where they often did not, might still not.  The level of knowledge might surprise: some PR professionals have bluffed it quite a bit while they have tried to catch up; others are well-informed.  It makes it confusing for clients.

One interesting development might be that there will be more community based websites and forums: Facebooks for architects, LinedkIns for teachers. I promoted an Oracle professionals’ site for a new media agency that had used Drupal, an open sourced software, that will allow it to extend this concept to many other industries.

News and trade might communicate in a similar way.  Trade and business press is already generating revenue and connecting with events, seminars, awards.  But it is the nature of how it communicates: not pushing through information, more about engagement, building relationships to ensure that trust in the source is maintained and enhanced.  How-Do, a North West based creative media portal is one example, as is Salford Online and its aims.

I will be reading about social media and commenting on things of interest on this site throughout the year.

Anyway this is my general take – not earth shattering, just a few observations.

PR spend for 2010 looks hopeful, albeit weak according to the Bellweather Report.

As mentioned in my annual review post, it seemed that business was picking up in Q4 and this seems to be confirmed by the report.

Spend is still in decline, but at a rate of 4% for Q4 compared to 24.4% for Q3.  It might be that Q1 is the bottom and that PR money will be released.

Recruitment is positive with nearly 40% seeing new staff appointments in 2010 and client budget is also on the up for over a third of those surveyed.  However, respondent numbers are small although trends seem to reflect a lot of conversations I have.

There is still the shock of a public sector cut back as early as summer, so while the overall trend looks reassuring there might be some hard times for agencies with a public sector client base.

Will there be more shocks for the economy, even though the US and China picture is encouraging?

Mick Greer has an impeccable record in advertising.

He has worked for Saatchi & Saatchi of course, Lowe, BBDO and McCann Erikson in the UK and abroad.  Mick ran his own agency in Sydney.  His campaign experience includes Vodaphone, Coca Cola, BP and Cathay Pacific.  And he is even going to work on a project with me in the new year – an undoubted highlight.

So down to business:

What can PRs learn from advertising professionals?

Too many PR stories, I believe, don’t have the compelling hook.

You only have a second to engage your audience.  Sure PR has its moments of brilliance, but we are talking about using a small moment time to hook your readers.  Are PRs measuring up?  I am not sure they appreciate that the window of opportunity to engage with their audience is so, so small.

Do you remember The Sun’s “Up yours Delores” and “Stick it up your Junta” headlines?

Alright, you might not be a Sun reader, but at least it understands its audience and writes accordingly and reels them in.  If you don’t believe me why has it got over  four million readers?

So what makes a campaign a success?

Well, you cannot tell if a campaign is going to be a success.

The Cadbury’s gorilla campaign was amazing.  The creatives and more so the client were brave to put that forward and make it work.  It had a touch of genius.

But ask me why and I cannot tell you.

It comes down to: Is advertising an art or science?  It is the perennial debate.   I have found intuition can be a powerful way of guiding your efforts and should not be discounted.  I do my research thoroughly just to let you know and build my creative work from there.

What I can say is understand the issues, think about the problem and then work harder at the solution.

Social media will badly affect traditional advertising, an accepted wisdom, right?

No, I don’t think so.

Traditional media will not go.  Internet devotees are still pushing the myths that the Internet is the only game worth noting and that you hold it in awe at all times.

You know that more people listen to radio than MP3 players or that more people (in the US) are watching TV than they did 5 years ago?  Traditional advertising spaces on well patronised spaces are still there in abundance.

It all means the Internet, although attractive for advertising revenue, is still one of a number of options.

The point I want to make though it that with the Internet as well as traditional channels, it is how you engage that is important.  What is the point of someone getting to your site and not being engaged?

It used to be get a site up, anything.  Then it was get them there.  Now it has to be let’s make our online communications so compelling they come back again and again and build a relationship with the brand.

Could you imagine a lawyer or accountant using Facebook to engage with their publics?  No, unless they are catering to a rather young set, this would be the received wisdom.

Personally I have not historically been a fan of Facebook.  It is a bit, well, it’s for kids isn’t it and other people with hands on their time?  I never really took to the platform and I never bothered.

Of course for B2C products and services it is rather more promising.  Unfortunately my work is nearly all B2B – PR for men and not boys – actually happy to receive inquiries from B2C businesses.

So does Facebook have a role for those that do not run B2C campaigns?

I think it can.  I have been using it more recently and although I prefer Twitter and LinkedIn to help my clients craft their communications, Facebook can have a role, for me at least.

Your clients are your sales team, if you do your work well.

But your friends can also take up that role, if only occasionally.  With a Twitter app pulling through content it is possible to give your friends more of an idea about what you do.  They might have a vague idea, but if they become more familiar with your enterprise, well.

The other thing is that Facebook builds up relationships, which is what social media is all about.

Some friends on Facebook will not know you as well as an old school friend, so there is the opportunity to talk and get to know each other.  Sometimes small talk and fun is the best way for friendship, for work.

Now I know what you are thinking: it is all a bit mercenary.

I wrote a little time ago that the boundaries between work and the personal life are disintegrating.  I am not happy about it.  Yet where does your personal life stop and your business life begin?  Mmmmm

So where before I refused requests from business contacts into my Facebook arena, now I am minded to accept.

There is the ever present danger of not looking professional or exhibiting an opinion that is not for professional consumption although my Facebook pages are not really controversial.

The thing about social media is that it is like water: you can contain it for some time, but if it wants to break a barrier, social media will and can.

Don’t get me wrong I will continue to use Facebook for friends and it is not a business tool primarily.  I will just occasionally mention my work – I have anyway given in to trying to stop the tide.

Postscript

Toprankblog has a good little entry on using Facebook more effectively for business – take a look.

Oh who can hold a fire in his hand

By thinking on the frosty Caucasus?

Or cloy the hungry edge of appetite

By bare imagination of the feast?

Or wallow naked in December snow

By thinking on fantastic summer’s heat?

Oh no, the apprehension of the good

Gives but the greater feeling to the worse.

Bolingbroke Richard II

I have heard so many things in the media about green shoots.

A year ago it was financial meltdoom and economic gloom.  I am sure I read a variation on that theme for four months in The Times.  Did the media get bored and decide to talk up a recovery?

There are  always the estate agenices and other vested interests talking up the housing market, so is it all propaganda?

Well my experience of the last couple of months has been positive.

Over summer many decision makers and their companies were still taking cover, hatches firmly shut.

But now the sentiment does appear to have changed.

I have been talking to 1-2 businesses a week that are looking at PR.  I have the feeling that many businesses realise that they have survived, but they now have to compete for work.  And how do you do that?

These meetings are serious and purposeful in intent.

I have asked others who have confirmed this change is not my imagination or a quirky piece of fortune.

I cannot say this enthusiasm and openess to look at using communications is here to stay, the economy is not robust.  We can talk up a recovery and try to generate confidence, but it will fall down if the reality cannot catch up.  However, there is perhaps a realisation by business that to stand still now is not really an option.

Graham has been the marketing director for Matchbox Toys (which probably influenced my kindergarten career), and managing director of Dunlop Footwear and Remploy Textiles.

Today Graham uses his vast marketing and management experience to stimulate substantial growth in promising enterprises; his knowledge is also utilised to give business owners exit strategies – selling their businesses with good effect financially.

I started off by asking Graham about the building blocks that get you value, which are essential to growing businesses (especially in relation to marketing).

“Strategic marketing is all important.  But it’s not about creating a brochure or marketing material.  That’s tactical and not really where the battle to grow is won or lost.

The key is segmentation and positioning.

Let me talk about segmentation first.  The market is not homogeneous and to ensure resources and competencies are well targeted it needs to be broken down.

This all seems straightforward, but so many businesses just don’t understand buying behaviour or the routes to market.  It takes time, energy, objectiveness, willingness to embrace change and this is often underpinned by market research.

Yet, all too many businesses are too busy fire fighting or working in cruise control to address these issues.  In a recession you are even more likely to get found wanting, let alone not make the most of your product or service.

Positioning follows on: analysing and choosing the segments you can compete on in relation to quality offered, competition and margin.  Still too many businesses try to be everything to all and end up being of little note to anyone.”

And how does PR fit in to segmentation, positioning and the recession?

“PR can be a very targeted tool that can build up the appropriate reputation in the segment you want to be in.  Social media tools are also fine tools to support any PR campaign.  So PR is not an add on or nice to have, but central to engaging a strategic marketing plan.

Moreover PR can enable a smaller business to compete with bigger players or dominate a niche.”

Are there any sectors where PR agencies should target?

“Any industry that offers longer-term employment prospects is worth developing knowledge and contacts.

I think advanced technology and in particular bio-medical, chemical and environmental will be of crucial importance to the economy, especially in the North West.

I would also say hotel, leisure and tourism although that might surprise some in the current climate.”

Graham can be contacted through his website www.exceptionalbusinessresults.com and is also a coach for the North West’s High Growth Programme