Are you thinking of appointing a new PR consultancy? What do you need to find out to pick the right agency? Here are the five question that you need answered.
1. How will you help me achieve my goals?
Great communications is not about being in the paper, on the radio or the TV. It’s about connecting your great work to those that really matter.
An essential element of any communications plan is knowing what you want to achieve. Being high profile, or increased awareness will only get you so far. What you really need to ask is how is this communications effort helping me achieve my organisation’s goals. For this to work you must clearly know what these are. It could be to sell more products, get people to attend an event or to change the Government’s mind on a particular policy. Great objectives are clear and easily measured.
The most important thing is that you know what it is and that you start your conversation with your prospective new communications agency with the line: “This is our goal – how can you help us achieve it.” Great agencies love being set a specific challenge. If you can measure it, you can achieve it.
2. What is my Magic Slice?
Imagine two intersecting circles where one is what you want to talk about and the other is what people want to hear. Where they cross over is your magic slice.
Your Magic Slice is that unique place where the attention of your audience is perfectly aligned to the power of your story. It is the place where your customer is most receptive to your message.
We created the Magic Slice concept when we realised that it’s the place that every organisation wants to get to. In effect it is the Narnia of communications.
We work with many brands like Kingspan, and Ancestry to shape and define what their Magic Slice looks like. Any PR consultancy you work with should help you find your magic slice.
3. How will you tell my story?
Stories are the essential element at the heart of great communications. You need to find out how your prospective new agency will tell your story. For true success, it cannot just be on press releases on other people’s websites where you have to look for permission to be published.
Your new agency needs to have a strategy to tell your story on your website through your social channels. Take a look at the ‘brand newsroom’ we have created for Irish brand Glandore. It now only executes their magic slice, but it does so in their own newsroom creating content that people want to read.
4. What does your best work look like?
Who is your prospective new agency working with now? What challenges are they overcoming for clients? What does their best work look like? If you like these projects then you are on the right path. Look for creativity, flair and new ideas.
5. How will we know it’s working?
Success in the new way to do PR is easily measured. It’s not by column inches or air time.
Firstly, if you set a clear objective at the start it will be easier to measure. Are you selling more products, are more people attending your events, is your policy being accepted by Government? The definition of the Latin phrase QED, quod erat demonstandum, is that we proved what we set out to prove. Is your PR delivering on your objective? Also you should be using online analytical tools like Google analytics and Lead Tracker that tell you who exactly is reading your stories in your online newsroom.
So here are your 5 questions. Go to every meeting with your prospective PR consultancy armed with these and you wont fail.
1. How will you help me achieve my goals?
2. What is my Magic Slice?
3. How will you tell my story?
4. What does your best work look like?
5. How will we know that it’s working?