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Selecting A New PR Agency - Best and Worst Practices

Most weeks, somewhere in Australia, a PR agency or consultancy is being hired - either to replace an incumbent agency or as a new appointment.
However, as indicated by continuing complaints from both clients and agencies, there is not a large amount of experience in hiring PR agencies in the marketplace.
The closest analogy is the hiring of an advertising agency - but there are some significant differences between hiring a PR agency and an advertising agency.
The essential difference is that the remuneration of PR agencies is solely based on a time basis. That means it’s vital for the scope of w ork - or alternatively a budget for PR - to be clearly defined upfront.
Visual creative concepts and media selection - both vital elements in advertising - are missing in PR.
Here are some best and worst practices, based on guidelines prepared by the Council of Public Relations Firms in the US for organisations embarking on a search for a PR agency.
The Search Process
Best Practices:
Worst Practices:
The Capabilities Phase
Best Practices:
Worst Practice:
The Final Phase/Selection
Best Practices:
Worst Practices:
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Seeking an agency to develop specific and detailed creative or program proposals and/or strategic or tactical proposals. This practice is fraught with difficulty at this point, unless there has been a very thorough briefing. Again, where agencies develop this, it remains their property - unless they are chosen!
- Seeking specific and detailed financial and performance data about the agency. Normally it should be adequate for an agency to provide generic data - eg client wins and loss, average length of client relationship etc.
- Seeking information about the salaries of individual agency staff or data that would enable this to be calculated.
Acknowledgement: Council of Public Relations Firms: ‘Standards for Conducting a Public Relations Firm Search - Principles and Practices’.
For more information on hiring a PR firm, click through to these articles:
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'PR Influences' is a free information resource from Network Communications (Australia) Pty Ltd to show how PR can
be used by organisations. It features articles, trends, insights,
comments and tips relating to all disciplines with communication -
corporate, consumer industrial, B2B and associations. The site's newsletter
is produced approximately five times per year with the latest issue
always available here. The site's other resources are added to on
a continual basis. Editor: Grant Common
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PR Influences Australian Public Relations Newsletter. Article: Selecting A New Public Relations Company or Consultant. Information Content: Managing PR
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