How Do You Go About Choosing The Right PR Agency?

By Yvonne Eskenzi, Founder of Eskenzi PR

I’ve been running Eskenzi PR for over 30 years and in that time had around 300 clients pass through our doors and I think I’ve seen it all from a company owner’s perspective when it comes to dealing with clients and making them feel comfortable, happy and valued. It’s paramount that both the client and the PR agency get along and want to work well towards the same end goal which is ultimately to get the client good quality PR in the right media and build their brand. The agency should always aim to be a seamless extension of the client’s PR and marketing team and to that end it’s you need to invest time to find the right PR agency that’s going to work for you for a long time as it’s expensive and very time consuming choosing your PR partner and you only want to go through this process once.

Here are some of my suggestions when looking for the right fit when choosing your PR agency.

Stay clear of the generalists

First, you need to find out whether they specialise in your space. Think of it a bit like choosing a doctor, you wouldn’t go to your GP for a nose job or a heart transplant, You’d choose a specialist. The same principle applies to picking a PR agency. You want to choose one that knows your space inside out. As a PR professional it’s all about contacts – so your agency needs to understand your market and be able to sell you into their contacts with the right stories at the right time. When you get to the pitch process ask them to name their top 20 journalists and contacts.

Boutique or big named agency?

Whether you go with a smaller agency or big name it’s horses for courses and ultimately depends on what you’re after. If you are a big corporate, the chances are you’ll feel tempted to go with a big name – that way your board is far more likely to recognise the agency and give the okay. On the surface, a known name can appear to be the safest bet, because if anything goes wrong, you can blame it on the big named agency.

However, I’d never advise anyone to choose an agency purely because it’s a safe bet. It can, in fact, prove effective to choose a smaller boutique agency where every client is key to their business. That way, the team will look after you as if you are their only client. You’re also far more likely to get the input of the directors as everyone pitches in if it’s a smaller agency. Additionally, the smaller agencies tend to be specialised so you’re dealing with subject experts, where the entire agency staff will share the contacts and know the space, so if someone leaves or goes away on holiday or mat leave, the transition should be seamless.

An international presence

Many companies find managing multiple agencies across different regions incredibly taxing, so they opt for a PR agency that has offices throughout the world. Beware of these agencies as often they claim they own these agencies but often they are white labelled or using a PR network of agencies. Also, just because they are good in one region doesn’t mean to say they are going to be good in another. My advice is to do your homework to see which PR agency is getting the most coverage for their clients. Look at who your competitors, partners and industry companions are using and get 2 or 3 to pitch, but don’t use an agency just because their sister agency in the UK or the US is doing a good job.

Get the RFP right

When you’ve done your market research about agencies, write a really clear and concise brief and then get multiple agencies to pitch. Make sure you get to meet and hear from the whole team – don’t just rely on the directors to come in and do the glitzy presentation – ask to hear from the people you’ll be dealing with every day and see samples of their work. See whether they are prepared to work for you on a trial basis.

Are the staff overstretched?

Ask the agency directly how many clients their account directors, account managers and account executives work on – if it’s more than 5 clients don’t touch them with a barge pole. I’ve been in this business a long time and once you handle more than 5 clients you really don’t have quality time to spend on each of your clients. Recently, I interviewed someone and they said they were working on 13 clients – as a client you’re never going to get a look in if they’ve got that many clients.

Three-month chemistry trial period

When it comes to the pitching process, very often an agency will pull out the big guns, they may even bring in outside expertise to write the pitch and deliver it. The agency owners may present to you during the pitch, and you may never see them again. It’s an imperative to get two meetings with the company before you choose them, one with the founders, if that’s who you’re being offered, and then the actual team you’re going to work with. If you like the team, ask for a 3-month trial period which is just long enough to suss out whether they are as good as they say they are.

It’s not what you know it’s who you know

PR is not just about having the right contacts in the media, it goes beyond that, it’s about having wider contacts in the industry that your PR agency can help you tap into. If it’s in cybersecurity, it’s about also having the ear of the CISO community, the analysts, channel, educators, influencers, associations, exhibition organisers and helping to network within the wider community. Can your agency introduce you to other movers and shakers in the industry and other like-minded companies within their network – all of which will help you with your marketing efforts.

Recommendations

Most of our work comes from recommendations as we’ve been around for 30 years and often when a client leaves their company they take us to the next. A PR’s reputation proceeds them, so it’s worth taking up references from current clients, colleagues and your own network. Be bold too and ask them what clients they’ve lost in the past 6 months and why they lost them. The answer to that question will give you a good idea how the agency is fairing.

You’re only as good as last month’s coverage

PR is a pretty transparent industry. You’re good if you’re getting coverage, you’re not good if you don’t. Simple. Ask to see the last 3 months’ worth of coverage for 3 clients from the very people who you are going to work with. The coverage won’t lie. If the team are doing a great job for other clients, they’ll do a great job for you too. And make sure it’s the coverage from the clients your specific team are working on, not clients that are the agency’s best performing, as they could be a good name, with a brilliant PR team working at the client end.

Is your team creative?

In cybersecurity, there are around 9,000 companies all vying for coverage, however there are less that 30 decent publications that you want to be seen in. Imagine the competition. It’s really important you ask the team how creative they are, can they think out the box? What campaigns have they done that’s won them coverage and was it done proactively by thinking cleverly that won the attention of the media.

Tried and tested techniques that the agency use

Ask the agency, what they’ll do for you in their monthly retainer, and ask to draw up KPIs that they use generally for all of their clients. This way, you have cadence for each month and can measure what they’re promising you against some proper objectives and activities. Ask questions like:

Will you write an article once a month?

Do you do rapid responses or newsjacking; if so, how many opportunities will you send?
Will you do speaker submissions and awards?
Will you write up research and survey questions as part of the retainer?
What is included in the retainer and will we have to pay more money for every extra service or will it all be bundled up into one main retainer?
Do you charge per hour and keep time sheets?
Do you promise a certain amount of coverage per month?
Do you also include analyst relations in your retainer?

Are they investing in good tools?

It staggers me to find out when people leave Eskenzi PR that they go to agencies where they don’t spend money on the right tools to help them do their job professionally and efficiently. Ask the question: how do you distribute press releases, gather breaking news, or pick up requests from journalists? Do you use a wire service and how do you track coverage for your clients? What PR tools do you use and pay for? Will the client be charged for these services or will it be included in the retainer or will there be extra expenses at the end of the month?

Although choosing a PR agency can be a daunting experience, you’ll know when you’ve found the right one. It’s a bit like going on a date and finding the right chemistry, you can feel it immediately. If your agency likes you and you like them, then you’ll have fun getting the coverage. It comes down to meeting weekly, normally over the phone, brainstorming and thinking creatively on a regular basis – if you get that right, the rest will follow!

Summary of questions to think about before engaging your PR agency

Always prepare a Request for Proposal from the PR agency so they get a good understanding of your company and requirements. This gives them a chance to prepare a thorough and detailed presentation.
Always ask for evidence of the last 3 months worth of press coverage for 3 clients so you can see where they are getting publicity.
Meet the team you’ll be working with – preferably face to face.
See how they report at the end of the week – is this to your liking and are they flexible?
Ask about the PR tools they invest in, you may find they can give you more visibility than you realise.
Will they work on a monthly retainer, do they charge expenses for press distribution and monitoring?
Ask if they charge per hour or do they do as many hours as it takes to get you the coverage you agreed on within the monthly retainer.
Agree set KPIs and ask if they do similar KPIs for all their clients
Ask for client recommendations before engaging the agency.
Do they have international capabilities if you want to expand into new territories and do they use their own teams or white label through other agencies?
Do they have any competing clients that could conflict when it comes to getting coverage?
Ask to see evidence of doing projects out of the box, so you can see what they’re doing creatively.