What Clients Expect from a Public Relations Agency

In response to concerns about the future of the PR industry, PR Week released a list of focus areas that firms should focus on in order to be most desirable to clients.

• Credibility. One of the first things a business should be looking for from a PR firm is accreditation and certification with relevant organizations. A firm can’t be judged on its fee structure alone. If they have made significant achievements, it shouldn’t be hard for them to receive recognition for them.

• Compatibility. A business and its PR firm should be on the same page. If they don’t have the same goals, understand one another, or speak the same language (literally or figuratively), it will be difficult to have a successful working relationship.

• Cost Effectiveness. Fees are not as important as the return on your investment. The more evidence a PR firm can use to justify the expense, the better. Look for the best value, not the lowest cost.

• Innovation. A PR firm should be able to come up with ideas that a business can’t come up with on its own. The ideas should not only be creative, but relevant to the brand in question.

• Recognition. An established track record is crucial. The quality of the work, rather than the number of clients, is key. Look for word of mouth recommendations.

• Personalities. The firm’s performance itself isn’t everything. The people on the team, and their past accomplishments, are also important. Even if the firm has produced some of the best quality work available, this doesn’t mean anything if they hired somebody off the street to handle your specific project. The firm should also consist of more than one “star player,” since they could easily leave and join a new firm.

• Contacts. A good PR firm will have working relationships with influential organizations, since endorsements from third parties are crucial to good PR.

• Things to Avoid. Agencies should talk about what they can do for you, and why it will work, not what they have accomplished before. It should not follow a template strategy. An agency that is straightforward about its strengths, rather than claiming to provide everything, is also preferable. They should have no problem spending time with you to form a plan.

TEXT 2 Basic PR Strategies

Most people are well aware of some of the basics of PR strategy. The basic process is about segmenting the population based on demographic data, creating lobby groups to influence government and public opinion, introducing a unique spin on a current event that benefits the client, and pointing out the flaws of competitors. Since lobbying is a strategy best left for entire industries or monopolies, let us focus on the other three strategies.

Demographics and Market Segmentation

Effective market segmentation should be approached in a scientific manner. Successful PR begins with good demographic research. This is all about segmenting the market into different categories. While the public is not strictly divided into groups that all think alike, certain categories tend to think similarly, and public relations are more effective if communication with each one of these groups is addressed separately, at least in part.

Some of the variables that might be used to categorize people include income, sex, nationality, race, education, religion, age, and family size. There are many other variables that can be used, but these are common because the information is already well documented and easily obtained. It is a mistake to think that these are the only variables that should be used, however. A PR specialist can choose any variable they want if they feel it is relevant.

Effective market segmentation should be approached in a scientific manner. There is an art to it, but engaging in extensive testing and research is preferable. Ideally, aggregate data should be retrieved from surveys, government institutions, case studies, and so forth.

Relevant behaviours should be recorded, and the data should then be analyzed to see if there are any patterns. Older segments of the population, for example, might respond better to reserved statements, while younger segments might respond better to bold, controversial statements.

The key here is to test each segment of the population with test audiences or surveys, if possible. This isn’t an option in every circumstance, but over time it helps to build a “template” of the behaviors you can expect from each segment of the market.

One challenge of public relations is to successfully cater to each group individually without appearing hypocritical.

Responding to Current Events

The primary difference between public relations and advertising, if there is one, is that public relations focuses on more “social” subject matter. It is less about a company’s products, and more about the activities of that company, and events in the industry as a whole. For this reason, it is easy to see how current events and public relations are closely intertwined.

Much of this is related to the concept of “spin.” Again, many of the techniques used to spin current events in an organization’s favour are already well known. These include “cherry picking” the facts to present things in the best possible light, implying things without stating them outright, making a positive announcement in order to counteract a negative one, or using a “non-denial denial,” which is when a carefully selected statement is chosen to dismiss a statement without actually denying its truth.

There are several problems with these approaches, however. The public has become quite familiar with “spin doctoring,” and isn’t easily swayed by these techniques. A more fundamental problem with these approaches is that they are primarily reactive in nature, rather than proactive. The focus is more on protecting an image than on building one. A well managed public personality is less susceptible to negative attention, and less likely to rely on these techniques.

Negative Public Relations

Relatively self-explanatory, negative public relations are about using the same tactics discussed above, but to harm the image of a competitor, rather than to improve the image of the organization. There is quite a bit of debate over whether or not negative PR is beneficial to the brand doing the “attacking.” Some studies indicate that, at least in politics, negative campaigning can actually demobilize the audience.

Despite this, there are certainly cases in which negative campaigning has worked for a company. For example, in 2006, the “Get a Mac” campaign, which hounded on the PC, improved Apple’s share of the market by 42 percent, a campaign that also won them the Grand Effie award.

Many experts seem to agree that the effectiveness of negative PR is directly related to what it says about your brand. While some discourage ever going negative, others say that, if it highlights the strengths of your brand, it is worth the effort. They also recommend only doing so in a fun, lighthearted way, rather than a demeaning and vindictive manner.

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