Your agency is doing well, you’ve had some terrific client
wins and you’ve attracted top talent. You’re thinking of starting a PR effort,
but is it as simple as drafting a press release and just waiting for reporters
to call? Unfortunately, effective PR is not that simple. Here are the top ten
tips on how to make this PR effort work best for your agency.
Tip One – Set a Goal
What is the point of the PR that you’ll be doing? Is it to
win new business? To entice investors to buy your stock? To recruit the
hottest employees who may now be ignoring your company? To impress your
friends and relatives at parties? Whatever it may be, set a specific goal and
focus every effort, idea and communication back to that goal. To get more
clients, focus on successful case studies. To recruit top talent, focus on the
new office space, and the fact you’ve just added a doggy daycare center. Just
be sure that your effort ties back to your original goal.
Tip Two – Speak From One Source
All PR must go through a single source with one voice.
That means all requests for interviews, ideas for press releases and PR contacts
come from one central source at all times. This enables your designated person
to decide which opportunities fit your PR strategy set above and to assign the
priority to completing them. This also ensures consistent messaging from your
company and when appropriate, enables your company to grant exclusives to hot
material..
Tip Three – Viva La Difference!
All interviews and bylines must highlight key
differentiators from your competition. It’s great if you can claim that your
company has the best creative in the business, but even better if you won an
award or had campaign results that you know knock that agency down the street
out of the water. Whenever possible, highlight the things that you’re your
company superior, just be sure to do so in a positive way. It’s great to say
“Our client list includes the leaders in their industries - only Fortune 1000
companies”. Just don’t say “ABC Agency? They only work with those little
companies no one else would touch”.
Tip Four – Be Selfish
In PR, you must take credit for your client’s successes.
The purpose of highlighting success stories is to promote your company, not to
make your clients feel good. It’s perfectly fine to say “This new campaign was
a great success and promoted the clients terrific product.” But it is just as
important to say “Our leading edge creative is what got it there”.
Tip Five – Go for the Big Bang
All press releases should be strategic, not strictly
chronological. All PR must be carefully considered for its value – on
potential coverage, the amount of effort required and other criteria. It’s okay
to be picky. Some topics just may not fit your objectives and aren’t worth the
effort to release. There also may be times when it makes sense to combine news
into a larger communication. For instance, 3 new employees hired, combined with
one medium account can get great mileage as a “growth” release – not a series of
minor press releases.
Tip Six – Be Meaningful
Pitching stories is a lot like dating – persistence is
important, but so is making a good impression . In lieu of important news,
pitch “soft news” or refrain from press contact all together. Too many press
releases that don’t reflect real interesting news may decrease the attention
paid to your company. Bylined articles (like this one), executive profiles or
perhaps surveying your clients and releasing interesting trends that you’ve
discovered.
Tip Seven – Be Realistic about Results and Opportunities
Sending a press release does not mean you’ll get a story.
You have to follow through by calling each reporter you’re sending to and
discussing the opportunity. Sometimes it takes a series of releases before a
particular reporter or publication will pay any attention to your agency.
Consider every release a step in the process.
Conversely, while it’s flattering to be asked to do
interviews and speeches. It’s also important that you makes the best use of
your resources. Don’t go to a lot of trouble if you’re think a publication is
too small to send any business your way or if you don’t think you’re going to
get a significant mention. It’s okay to turn down opportunities if they will
take more time than potential results will bear.
Tip Eight – Know When to Be Quiet
If there is a subject that comes up that has any potential
for causing negative publicity, be prepared to decline any discussion on that
subject. It could be that the most effective case study your agency has is a
terrific email blast to kids and teens. Do you want to be take chances on
having 60 Minutes show up to ask about children’s rights and spam? May be one
to not mention at all.
Tip Nine – Be Prepared
It’s not hard to blow an interview and even easier to miss
opportunities for better promotion. There are significant tricks to making an
interview work in your favor and in making PR work well. Things like saying
the name of the company so many times that you think it’s annoying, but that
will ensure your company name will be included in any quotes. Or answering a
reporter’s question about the competition with a great, yet unrelated answer
that results in a quote about the terrific response to your latest campaign.
Tricky, but worth learning to increase good coverage. Consider hiring someone
to media train you and your staff;
Tip Ten – Hire a Pro
You don’t do your books yourself and you don’t handle all
production in house. Consider putting outsourcing some of the PR efforts –
either by hiring a professional to design and implement a whole campaign or by
using a freelance copywriter to write releases or draft bylined stories for your
executives. This often gets the PR efforts off the back burner and increases
the effectiveness of the program overall.
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Jackie Walts is a marketing consultant specializing in
marketing strategy, database analysis, direct marketing and PR. Prior to
starting her own business, Jackie had a successful career in marketing, database
development and sales. She has been featured as a speaker on direct marketing,
media and business-to-business advertising for the Direct Marketing
Association. Jackie has also been featured by Microsoft Press and in Fortune
Small Business, Forbes and Expo Magazine.
