Liesse Jayalath is director of artistic and content material strategist at Look Left Advertising.
As a former in-house marketer, I’ve managed businesses starting from branding and net improvement to technical writing and PR. After a decade, I’ve discovered a factor or two about find out how to discover the suitable company for the job and find out how to benefit from the engagement. Now as an company director at Look Left Advertising, I’ve been on each side. Right here’s the recommendation I give people once they’re on the lookout for an company to accomplice with:
The place to start out
So, you’ve been tasked with discovering a brand new PR company to take your organization to the following stage. Whether or not this offers you cancel-all-plans-level nervousness or makes you Slack your work bestie with pleasure, I’ve received you coated. These are the highest three issues to think about when on the lookout for a PR accomplice:
- Maintain your RFP brief and direct – I’ve been on the giving and receiving finish of numerous requests for proposals (RFPs). Some are wonderful and others create extra confusion than readability. Once you’re writing an RFP, don’t overthink it — hold it brief and direct. Your RFP ought to assist potential companions perceive what you’re on the lookout for and offer you a really feel for the way their company thinks. Make necessities, timelines and objectives clear, and embrace it in your preliminary e mail to businesses you’re interested by working with
- Search for chemistry – Good businesses turn out to be an extension of your workforce, so it’s essential to search for chemistry and appropriate communication types throughout your search. Since belief can take awhile to construct, it’s essential to spend a while attending to know the workforce through the RFP course of.
- Contain management – We work with startups the place the CEO is usually the face of the corporate. Which means they should be prepared to dedicate time and power to PR, so it’s essential that they’ve a reference to, and belief in, the company. If this doesn’t apply to the CEO at your organization, take into consideration what chief will work intently with PR and embrace them within the determination. In the event that they don’t vibe with the company, hold wanting.
Discovery ideas and what makes an company stand out
Whether or not I’m hiring an company for a one-off mission or a long-term engagement, I at all times begin the identical method. I search for examples of labor that I believe are wonderful after which work out who produced them. I monitor them on a spreadsheet and attempt to do as a lot of the invention alone earlier than I attain out. My spreadsheet often contains the title and web site of the corporate, the worth, their timeline (if it’s a project-based engagement), their location, notable work and notable purchasers — particularly opponents. This spreadsheet additionally helps me centralize proposals and hold notes as soon as I’ve talked to them.
What I really like about this technique is that I can evaluate businesses aspect by aspect. I can see if the worth is similar for 2 businesses however the high quality of labor for one is method higher than the opposite. Or, if the identical quantity of labor will take twice as lengthy with one company than the remainder, I can dig in and see if the standard justifies the time tradeoff.
As soon as I’ve accomplished my private discovery, I arrange conferences with the businesses I need to work with. Whether or not it’s in individual or over Zoom, I’m on the lookout for a number of issues within the first assembly:
- Have been they well timed {and professional} of their response to my e mail, scheduling the assembly and following up? In the event that they aren’t immediate with in-bound enterprise, they most likely received’t be when you’ve signed the dotted line.
- Did they do their homework? I have already got a complete spreadsheet with details about them. They don’t should go that deep, however they need to have checked out my firm web site and know what we do earlier than we meet.
- Can they up-level our firm? To me, an company is a workforce of specialists that assist an organization study, develop and produce wonderful work. I’m on the lookout for artistic concepts and new methods of doing one thing that we hadn’t thought of earlier than.
Get essentially the most out of your partnership
When you’ve secured your new company accomplice, set a technique, objectives and highway map with them early on. They might have a course of in place for this, but when not, don’t be afraid to take the result in:
- Agree on a PR technique – When you select an company, use the RFP that you just offered to create a technique. For one-off initiatives, you’ll be able to define the technique for all the engagement earlier than you start working collectively. For retainers, define the primary quarter intimately after which work with them to ascertain greater objectives for the 12 months.
- Set metrics – It doesn’t matter in the event you use KPIs, OKRs or another goal-setting acronym, as long as you’ll be able to measure success. Having a framework in place and common check-ins on objectives will assist hold you and your company on the identical web page. I’ve seen partnerships that don’t have a technique or a framework for speaking about efficiency lead to miscommunication and one celebration feeling like their wants aren’t being met.
- Be life like – Share a set of life like objectives and a set of stretch objectives, and pay attention when the company tells you what’s inside your attain now or sooner or later. If you wish to be in The New York Occasions however it isn’t the most effective outlet to your viewers, ask them what your white whale must be and go after that. Keep in mind, you selected this company since you belief it, so take recommendation to coronary heart.
- Collaborate and talk – Though your company is like an extension of your workforce, it doesn’t have institutional information or entry to labeled enterprise data that in-house entrepreneurs do. Moreover, it most likely doesn’t perceive the intricacies of your product simply but. To achieve success, the company must work intently and collaborate along with your workforce. It’s a good suggestion to assign a single level of contact out of your inside workforce and one from the company to speak with each other. They need to be capable to reply most questions, and if they’ll’t, they’ll be those to get the data or essential approval. This streamlines the communication and workflow between groups.
Selecting a PR company that seems like an extension of your workforce is crucial to a profitable partnership. The individuals in your account workforce ought to stay and breathe your model, sport your swag and say your title in a crowd of influential individuals. I’ve managed numerous businesses, and those that ship this are uncommon. The following tips ought to enable you to begin your search on the suitable foot, and handle the connection to enhance your work and attain your objectives.
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