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Public Relations Agency Selection Guide Public Relations is a key activity throughout a companys lifecycle and is often its major marketing activity leading up to a company or product launch. Unlike other service agencies (graphics, web, advertising, etc.), a PR firm must have an in-depth understanding of a companys products and strategies in order to represent it accurately to press and analyst audiences. Since your team will spend significant time and resources building the PR firms knowledge base, it will be well worth the up-front investment to select a firm with the right capabilities and personality fit. Start by phone screening 3-5 firms based on knowledge of your technology and product category, experience with companies of your size and maturity, and cost. Determine whether there is a potential conflict of interest, e.g. are they are working with competitors or potential competitors. Schedule in-person capabilities presentations with 2-3 firms that meet your criteria. Selection Team: CEO, VP Marketing, Director of Marketing Communications Here are key questions that should be addressed during the search and selection process: Capabilities

1. What is the size of your firm? Number of clients? Number of permanent employees vs. number of contractors? Where are they located?

2. What is your experience in our technology, market, and product? Can you

provide examples of your ability to understand technical concepts and products and communicate it in an accessible manner to a wide range of audiences?

3. A. What are the backgrounds and experience of the team that would work

on our account? What other accounts do they work on? What % of time do they devote to each? (3-4 accounts should be maximum for an account executive)

B. With which key influencers in our market do you have established and ongoing relationships? C. What is your level of experience in working with launching new technologies/products, helping create new markets, etc.?

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4. Team structure. Who exactly is responsible for what facets of the program activities? Will there be one person who will be our day-to-day contact? When will we meet that person?

5. Provide three current or recent client references with requirements similar

to ours.

6. Why have you parted ways with clients and visa versa? Strategy Development

7. How do you ensure that a companys positioning and branding strategies and message architecture are properly conveyed?

8. What do you think are the most important PR challenges facing our

company?

9. How does your agency develop content and messages? How will the messages be articulated and approved? What does a typical message document like?

10. Describe your planning process. Will you begin working on programs prior

to completion of a plan? What is a typical plan like? What time period does it cover?

11. How does your firm integrate with your clients website and web

capabilities?

12. How will your agency address the issues associated with the fact that our markets are global, that we have potential customers in several geographies outside of the U.S.?

Programs and Tactics

13. What kinds of press materials do you recommend?

14. Do you recommend ongoing programs like editorial calendars and testimonials? How do you work with clients to get information for such programs? What are your requirements from us?

15. What is the approval process for programs and materials including press

releases?

16. How would you schedule and conduct press tours and meetings?

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17. What do you think are the key publications, websites, newsletters, etc. that

we should be targeting? Key analysts? Have you worked with them in the past? What were the results?

18. How should PR programs be measured? How will we know were

successful?

19. . What is your experience with new media such as blogs, podcasts, etc.? Billing and Fees

20. How do you bill for services?

21. Is there a retainer or will we be billed by project or on an hourly basis? If hourly, what are the rates of the various team members and what will their roles be? If retainer, what if we dont require any services during the retainer period? How do you handle client related expenses (especially travel)?

22. How are project fees approved? How are potential overages approved?

23. What do similar companies spend on PR services? Including expenses?

Key Questions a potential PR agency should ask you

1. What is the current status of your product (alpha? beta?)? 2. Do you have a positioning strategy statement? A message architecture?

Have they been validated with customers, partners, press, etc.?

3. Who are the company spokespersons? The level of their prior experience with the press?

4. Who within the company will manage PR activities?

5. Who are your publicly reference-able customers?

Copyright 2003, Rosemary Remacle, Market Focus, rosemary@mktfocus.net. All rights reserved.

mailto:rosemary@mktfocus.net

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