Articles

PR Relationship Counseling: Why Even the Best Agency-Client Relationships Go South

Bulldog Reporter's Daily Dog
August 21, 2007
By: Chris Parente
http://www.bulldogreporter.com/dailydog/issues/1_1/dailydog_barks_bites/8171-1.html?type=pf

Many agencies view their relationship with clients through a warped prism, seeing the relationship as a one way street, where information flows from the client to the agency. They view their clients as the boss and the agency as order-takers. Coming from the client side, I can tell you companies are fed up with that PR paradigm.

Problems often arise from the beginning of the engagement. While it's the job of the client to help set initial goals and to always stay engaged in the process, it's imperative that agencies provide effective counsel and drive the client's vision to success and completion. In addition, many agencies employ the "bait and switch" tactic, where they showcase senior talent in the sales process. But when it comes down to execution, it's often younger staffers that are expected to manage the work. Clients realize that a partner or managing director can't do every last bit of work on an account, but they want to know that they're getting a well-rounded team capable of providing top-notch service. They expect contributions from the entire team and hope that younger team members may have unique strengths to offer, especially in areas such as social media and Web 2.0 initiatives.

That said, they also expect and pay for the strategic thinking and experience of the more senior members of the team. The key thing to remember is that clients demand more than just media placements from public relations agencies. They want true business counselors who can help them navigate through their toughest communications and marketing challenges, thereby providing a more quantifiable return on their investment.

But there are two sides to every story, and many clients are not fully prepared to support public relations agencies. The old adage, "First to get hired, first to get fired," still rings true for many institutions. It's important that clients offer the same support and respect to agencies as their internal staff, because any effective PR agency should be executing as an extension of the client's communications team. A public relations engagement should be managed in much the same way as a sales, marketing or business development division.

At the same time, public relations practitioners need to take the time to truly understand their client's business, and it's an unfortunate fact that many do not. To be successful tactically and also seen as a valuable business counselor, agencies need to go beyond mere awareness of their client's business goals and develop a true expertise in their specific market. The agency needs to have almost as deep an understanding of a client's competitors, partners and stakeholders as the client does.

It's more than just a problem of how clients view agencies, though. At the core, public relations professionals need to take more care in managing the relationship. Agencies need to be more firm in outlining expectations and goals from the beginning of a contract, and through the course of the relationship. This is crucial to keeping clients engaged in the process and to providing the value that clients expect and deserve.

The responsibility of keeping a good relationship and expectations high is a shared one. PR practitioners need to be accountable and take initiative to step up and say "here is what needs to be done" in order to support clients in their business goals. Smart companies want quality recommendations, not just a bunch of order-takers. Whether it is increasing press coverage, promoting a new product or event, or a rebranding effort that encompasses all of those tasks, agencies need to work harder at managing client relationships and prevent communication gaps from developing between client and agency. That is our line of work, after all: communication.

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