How-To Vet a PR Agency in the Internet Era
How does any organization in today’s online world develop a credible voice online and stay competitive? How can you go about selecting a PR agency that really can deliver expert help for building a footprint of awareness online?
Building off my post of March 1, this is one of the biggest challenges facing any business, association, NGO or not-for-profit that wants to hire communications skills and support — how to sort out the PR sales hype to find the genuine thing?
This is not big agency bashing but a reality. Today’s PR business has largely morphed into hype and salesmanship, wringing the most amount of billable hours out of clients, promising whatever they want to hear.
So, how can you get your money’s worth?
It’s a subject I have been discussing with several colleagues and journalists, all of whom are known as visionaries in today’s digital online world of media and communications, and it is a subject not limited to this one post.
My friend, David Meerman Scott, took some time out of a European lecture and book tour to email:
Show me your agency’s blogs, Twitter feeds, YouTube videos, Web site, Facebook profiles, and any other social media presence you have. I’m looking for the agency’s stuff, not what they did for clients.
A well-known journalist who writes often about online technology said:
I think we are quickly moving to Web 3.0, where mobile matters more and more. I’d want a firm that knew how to get me in front of iPhone, Blackberry and Android users. It wouldn’t be enough to know if they could post canned Tweets.
All of the thoughts were practical and forward-looking, leading to this starter checklist to use when vetting any PR agency, in order to really test their tech savviness and strategic thinking. Note … if any agency hesitates in their answers or if they pause and exchange glances, cross them off:
- How would the agency define Web 3.0? (One answer is emphasis on wireless devices, constant interactivity and social media where users publish and share content. A better answer is tomorrow’s style of online and wireless communications where we are only limited by our own imagination.)
- Ask who in agency leadership is active on Twitter, and are they engaging in conversations or just promoting/selling the agency?
- What are some of the best-known sites that use the WordPress blog platform? (Answer: NYTimes.com, eBay, and PEOPLE magazine are among tens of millions, including this site.)
- By the way, what does WordPress software cost? (Answer: it’s free.)
- Visit an agency’s blogs. Are they one-way sales promotions or are they engaging people in conversations and listening?
- About blogs, what is “MySql?” (Answer: The core database of any blog that contains everything, including posts, comments, images … everything.)
- What is a benefit of Android and does the agency have any developers on-staff? (Answer: Android, as an open-source wireless platform, provides unlimited new creative ways to communicate and capture awareness. Any big PR agency should have at least one developer on staff.)
- How many members of the Apple Software Developer’s Connection does the agency have? (Answer: Any agency that is creating applications for the iPhone should have at least one on staff. If they are not developing Apps for the iPhone, they might consider getting in the game.)
- Visit the agency’s YouTube, Facebook and Delicious accounts. Are they sharing good information, and are they reaching out to authentically connect?
- As thought-leaders, what books have agency leaders written, especially on today’s seismic shifts in communications? (This helps to cull out the talkers from the doers.)
Notice how most of the questions center around evolving technology. Anyone can create a blog today. A blog is no longer unique. You don’t need an agency to send out a press release into oblivion through a costly blast email spam service. Just hire an intern.
As Steve Kayser at the IT software giant Cincom says:
Many agencies are still Web 1.0, and we’re on Web 3.5 right now.
What is really special is finding professionals who know how to adapt what’s happening now and coming in the near future to help your organization achieve a competitive edge in communications and the media, and ultimately, to solve your challenges and meet your goals.
Never hire an agency to promote your products or services … because no one cares about what you do. Hire an agency that knows how to use technology strategically to show your customers how your products and services will solve their problems and enrich their lives. It is a subtlety that makes all the difference.
David Meerman Scott and I have each written respectively and extensively about these issues in our new books – David’s World Wide Rave: Creating Triggers that Get Millions of People to Spread Your Ideas and Share Your Stories
Category: Featured, Online Strategies
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Another great post although it makes it sound like everything done in public relations these days is all about social media. IT AIN’T, plain and simple, even as social media grow ever larger as points of contact for and with our target audiences. Most PR is still dominated by the use of traditional media and traditional communications channels. But that doesn’t discount the advice given here — specific, concrete, insightful, helpful — although I shudder to think what it means to the time, attention and pocketbooks of small PR shops (one to ten people, say) who struggle mightily to do good work while staying up to speed with what the big boys and girls are doing. I’m trying to help by creating a pill that will allow their staff and management to live without sleep.
I agree with Don in the sense that many people either don’t want to write press releases or cant, nor do they want to bother with news wires to distribute them. Also, even though press releases are seen as “traditional” they are great tools to tell the clients story, if written correctly by someone who’s not trying to sell. Another thing, many clients also don’t want to bother with writing their own blogs. I’ve written many of blogs for large clients who are busy and would rather have the PR firm think of targeted messages that make sense. This may seem silly to us because we do it all of the time and it easy, but not everyone is as interested in communications like those of us who write and comment on blogs. I also agree with you David, more PR agencies should utilize these technologies to tell stories rather than focusing on the selling aspect. I’m all for web 2.0 or even 3.5, but there are still those clients that request more traditional services like writing their press releases, blogs etc, even if it seems silly to pay for now.