What To Look For Before Hiring a PR Firm

Tip 1 - Experienced Journalists Pitch Story to Personal Contacts, Ask who will be pitched

Experienced Journalists Pitch Your Story to Personal Contacts.  A good PR company should be able to leverage personal media contacts and utilize a live media database that includes all reporters in the area. They should pitch specific beat reporters related to your company, story, product and website and position your company executives as 'go to' expert sources for topics that fit your expertise. Most important is : To Produce Results.

Tip 2 - Do They Have Repeat and Long Term Clients

Do They Have Repeat and Long Term Clients:  Context has now represented Carrentals.co.uk for eight years.. read the case study.

Contextpr

Tip 3 - Assess whether their clients have the reputation you want

Find out about their clients and consider how their reputation and image is managed by the firm. If it is to your liking you can consider hiring them.

Tip 4 - Measuring Success : how media outlets are covering your brand

Measuring Success : how media outlets are covering your brand.

When you ask, “How will we measure success?” you’re looking for one answer: analytics. Your PR agency should provide you with some combination of daily, weekly, and monthly media reports that provide a comprehensive overview of how media outlets are covering your brand and your industry. End of story.

By Alex Honeysett

Tip 5 - How the agency will prioritize your company relative to other clients

A few years ago, I came across this simple assessment strategy at the Idea Grove, a full-line marketing company in Dallas, TX. Ever since I adopted their great guidelines to help organizations find the right PR representation, while making them aware of some common issues along the way.

Many PR firms are downright spectacular during the review process, but just mediocre once they’re a few months into the engagement. This is because large firms, in particular, win new clients through the sales efforts of senior executives — but then make a junior staffer the primary contact on the account.”
 
Once you have interviewed a few PR firms, have your search committee members ask themselves the following 25 questions to compare the candidates across these four categories: Qualifications, Prioritization, Cost-Efficiency, and Compatibility — before making a decision:
 By pr-perfect

Tip 6 - How often should I expect to see media coverage

How often should I expect to see media coverage? This question is HUGE. You can’t leave the answer up to interpretation. Even though an agency may not give you an exact number of times you will be covered by the media on a monthly basis (this isn’t advertising), they should be able to at least provide you with a range. It is absolutely and unapologetically unacceptable to pay a monthly retainer without receiving monthly coverage.

By Kate Finley

Tip 7 - Cross fertilisation opportunities between clients : who can they connect you with

Cross fertilisation opportunities between clients who can they connect you with?  Media outreach is one aspect you should ask for but also you should see what kind of existing clients they have and will they agree to connect you with them? 

The most important asset that differentiates Purple from competitors is the diversity of our client base  and the cross fertilisation opportunities between clients that so often become available.

Purple offers a wealth of experience and expertise across a broad range of sectors which is used to great effect to leverage clients’ communications. We have an unrivalled network of influencers worldwide, which along with our unique and individual skill set enables us...