Stronger management the key to a better PR agency relationship

If Australian businesses want to get the best out of their PR agency they need to actively control, and more strongly manage, the PR agency relationship.

In my 30 + years experience in the PR agency business too many organisations simply don’t put in place practices, processes and management procedures that will enable the partnership and relationship with their chosen PR agency to develop or flourish as it should.

Furthermore if problems or issues develop too often the PR agency is blamed, when in many instances the PR Department, and its management of the PR agency, is at least partially at fault.

Often this is because they genuinely don’t understand how PR agencies work and how they need to be managed in order to have a productive relationship that will contribute to outstanding results.

Some of the signs that a PR agency relationship is not all that it could be include:
• Disputes over budgets with the PR agency claiming that they are spending considerably more time than are being compensated for.
• Feelings from the PR Department that the PR agency and its people don’t fully understand what the organisation is ‘on about’ or have the degree of product knowledge expected.
• Deadlines being missed and projects being compromised or corners cut because the workflow isn’t happening as expected.
• Communication issues between the PR Department and the PR agency – both at a personal level and as part of the day-to-day business relationship process.
• Claims from the PR agency that it is unable to perform as required because of problems from within the PR Department.

The processes to be followed depend on the seriousness of the problem – and if the objective of the PR Department is to genuinely mend the relationship with its PR agency.

At one end of the spectrum a PR Department might just require an objective, independent, and discreet, assessment of its own management methods and approaches. This will be with a view to making sure its procedures are up to standard and benchmarked to best practice so that it understands what it needs to do to get a better result from its agency. In this case the PR agency need not be involved.

At the other end if the relationship has deteriorated the PR Department may see value in calling me in a ‘relationship doctor’ role to conduct a full 360degree review of the PR agency relationship. This will usually involve talking to the PR agency as well and making recommendations to both parties with the sole objective of getting things back on track.

If the exercise is primarily an internal PR Departmental review relating to management of the PR agency it can be undertaken in 7-10 working days. If it also involves the agency it might take 10-15 working days to formulate recommendations and a way forward.

An organisation hires a PR agency to add value and usually it commits a reasonable budget for this purpose. Therefore clearly any impediments based around management of, and the relationship with, the PR agency, that inhibits the agency from performing to the highest levels need to be addressed.

Consequently it follows that any solutions that can result in the agency performing to its potential will be beneficial to both the PR Department and the PR agency.

If you wish to have a no-obligation chat about how you might manage your PR agency better then please contact me.