You have probably heard some horror stories about PR agencies in the past – many businesses and entrepreneurs have, sadly, had poor experiences when working with a PR firm.

Common complaints are failure to place press releases as promised; weeks of inaction; not picking up on key stories in the media; poorly written content; messaging that is ‘off-brand’; and an inability to get a strong handle on the company, its service proposition and the sector it works in.

Importantly, these experiences should not deter businesses from working with a PR agency. They simply reaffirm the importance of choosing the right one. 

But how do you do that?

There are many important factors to consider. Here are six to mull over…

1. 1. Cost

Naturally, the agency’s fees will likely be the most immediate concern. And there will be huge swings in the amount agencies charge, from hundreds per month to thousands or tens of thousands. 

Going for the cheapest option can be a false economy – opt for a small retainer within a larger agency and it’ll likely mean you fall down the pecking order of their client list, as well as only receiving the attention of more junior members of staff.

Obtaining multiple quotes from different providers will give a sense of what’s on offer.

2. 2. Deliverables

When comparing quotes, you will likely be comparing apples and pears. That’s to say, it’s not just the prices that will vary notably, it will also be how the retainers or projects are assembled.

Are you paying for a guaranteed number of articles or pieces of content? Or is about a number of campaigns executed over a period of time?

Whichever way it is done, it is absolutely vital that businesses get crystal clear deliverables from an agency. They must know what they will get for their money.

Transparency and accountability are key watchwords for us here at City Road Comms. Our retainers are built on a list of clear deliverables – the campaigns we will run, the content we will create within them and the research we will commission. Yes, we offer a figure in terms of the anticipated media coverage that will be secured based on past case studies, but PR seldom offers an guarantees, so we find it far more effective to plan and execute our work based on an agreed timeline of activities, then setting out to achieve the very best results within that framework. 

3. 3. Strategic approach

PR agencies differ significantly in how they approach their work. Some specialise in outlandish stunts and events; others on video content and viral social media campaigns.

At City Road Comms, we focus on using independently commissioned quantitative research and expertly-crafted content to deliver razor sharp insights into pertinent issues and trends. Using that, we develop brands and their leadership teams as expert commentators on the subjects that matter most to the audience they want to reach.

Not every approach will be right for every business or brand. So, it is important to pick an agency whose approach tallies with how you want to be perceived. 

4. 4. Industry expertise

Choosing an agency with a proven track-record in your particular field is important. It means the agency will not only understand the subject matter, but also have the contacts with relevant journalists. Combined, this ought to mean they have a sharp perception of what will and will not work when developing PR campaigns.

Ask to see case studies of relevant clients in a similar industry or market to yours, or at least businesses that are at the same point in their journey and seeking similar outcomes from their PR.

Head over to our case studies page for a sense of our own case studies – we specialist in finance, property and tech PR, but also have worked with many exciting clients in tangential industries. 

5. 5. Size

Small and large agencies will each have their own strengths and weaknesses. The former may be a little more dynamic, cost-effective and eager to prove their worth; the latter may have a wider range of services under one roof and a higher proportion of senior figures. 

More often than not, though, it makes sense for a business to work with an agency of a similar size. This should ensure better alignment between their ways of working and overall expectations

6. 6. Culture fit

Linked to size is culture. It is clichéd, but businesses need to find a culture fit when working with external partners. 

From the way their work is planned, how they report on it, how they present and communicate themselves, and the speed with which they go about things, businesses should seek out an agency that broadly thinks and acts like they do. No tow companies are the same, so an exact mirroring is not possible – but there should be a clear connection in the core culture of both organisations.

It is also worth considering values. ESG, CSR, diversity and inclusivity – do you and an agency share similar values when it comes to socio-political issues? If yes, the chances of forging a fruitful, long-term partnership are improved.

Lots to consider

There is undoubtedly a lot to consider. Businesses must take the time and carry out the necessary due diligence to find an agency that matches their requirements, vision, culture and budget.

And agencies must equally invest a great deal of time and effort into this process (businesses should expect to see this). Agencies must research any prospective client thoroughly and show they understand who they are, what they do and where they sit within their field. Multiple meetings can then help refine pitches and proposals, allowing the PR agency to prove their credentials.

With buy-in and professionalism from both sides, businesses and PR agencies can forge hugely successful partnerships. But there must remain acknowledge for each that sometimes the fit is not right – it’s best to be honest and focus efforts on the opportunities that can truly go somewhere. 

Dominic Pollard

Communications Director

About the author

With a history degree, journalism Master’s, and several years’ experience writing about business and technology for both the national and trade press, Dominic moved into the world of content marketing and comms in 2014. He joined City Road Comms in 2016, becoming the agency’s director of comms two years later. Dominic now oversees clients’ strategies and the overall operations of the agency.

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For any startup or scaleup, choosing the right service providers can have a strong bearing on the success or failure of their venture. Whether it’s tech, HR, finance or PR, selecting an external company to play a key role in your day-to-day business operations is a decision that takes time and consideration.

For instance, did you know that more than two fifths (42%) of UK business outsource some or all of their marketing? Of those, 36% listed PR as the element of their marketing and communications activities that they entrust to a third party. 

This raises some important questions.  

Why work with a PR agency over doing it yourself?

Choosing to work with a PR agency makes sense in many instances. For one, early-stage companies often lack the resources and skills internally to fully commit to a successful, long-term PR strategy. 

Do they have great copywriters, or people who know how to craft a press release that will get read? Do they have any existing contacts with the media, or know how to find them? Do they understand how to tailor content depending on whether it’s going to press, on their blog or onto social media? And if the answer to all those things is yes, there is still the issue of whether there is enough time for those people within your team to commit to doing them regularly.

More often than not, the answer to many of those key questions is “no”. Hence, many businesses turn to outside support. 

By going with an agency, they gain access to vital skills, experience, contacts and tools – such as media monitoring software, journalist databases, reporting platforms, and more. They will gain a team that – assuming they choose wisely (more on that here) – will be aligned with their own goals and ways of working, and will help build their brand proactively and in the right way. 

PR is an exercise in building and maintaining a positive image of your business. It requires a clear vision on how you want your brand to be seen – what are the values you stand for, what is your tone of voice, and what do you want to be seen championing across the media?

Finding the right partners who can shape and then achieve this vision will be crucial to the long-term commercial success of a business. After all, PR is the all-important opening to the sales funnel; it is typically how startups and scaleups can get their names in front of the most people, and it is how they build up the reputation of trust in their brand over time.

Dominic Pollard

Communications Director

About the author

With a history degree, journalism Master’s, and several years’ experience writing about business and technology for both the national and trade press, Dominic moved into the world of content marketing and comms in 2014. He joined City Road Comms in 2016, becoming the agency’s director of comms two years later. Dominic now oversees clients’ strategies and the overall operations of the agency.

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For businesses, the challenges that have ensued from the COVID-19 pandemic are too many to list. Supply chains have been disrupted, market demand is fluctuating massively from sector to sector, and products and services have to be pivoted.

Pete Flint, a managing partner at NFX, a seed-stage venture firm based in San Francisco, wrote the below in an article about how to overcome the current situation:

The first of those points comes down to making difficult but empathetic decisions as a business leader. When it comes to the second and third points, though, the value of a coherent PR and communications strategy is huge.

In fact, in the midst of the coronavirus crisis, it is more important than ever to ensure a business has a carefully calculated PR and comms strategy in place.

PR and comms during crisis

First and foremost, timely and well-managed communications are at the heart of successfully managing any crisis. That is, of course, why there is a specialist field dedicated to it: crisis comms.

However, when the going is smooth, some businesses take their communications with external and internal stakeholders for granted. Many of these are quickly learning the danger of doing so.

Business leaders must find ways to effectively relay information to current or prospective customers; they must not just inform them of their own actions at this challenging time, but also provide insight into how their market is responding (you should want to be seen as an expert, after all, so people should look to you for expertise); they must try to answer people’s questions and reassure them.

At the same time, internal staff, the supply chain, business partners and investors — should your business have them or work with them — must also be kept abreast of how you are handling the situation. A business must show all these different audiences that it is taking swift, positive, decisive action.

Silence breeds suspicion in the current climate. A fatal error is to pretend it’s “business as normal” when everyone can clearly see that it isn’t. It causes staff, customers and partners to fear the worst and question your approach.

Blogs, social media platforms, newsletters, email marketing, webinars — these are just a few of the ways that businesses can communicate with relevant audiences about what is happening and why they should stick with them. Better yet, reports and infographics can provide genuine insight into what is happening right now.

Content is king, or so the cliché goes. And right now, well written content and thorough communications can go a long, long way to steadying the ship.

Businesses must have a clear handle on:

• What is the message, or messages, they want to promote at this time
• How will they carefully construct that message so it has the desired effect
• And where will they distribute that message to ensure it is actually seen

Thriving not surviving

Steadying the ship is only half of the battle, though. Crisis comms will be vital for virtually every business if they want to survive the coronavirus lockdown, but many businesses will also need to find ways to pivot and break new ground while their competitors falter. Indeed, there are some businesses who will emerge from the other side of this pandemic with a far greater market share and larger customer-base than before it.

The global financial crisis 12 or so years ago offers a good example. While many businesses suffered, some seized on new opportunities. Many have written about the bigger firms — the likes of Netflix and Groupon — which grew at pace, but many SMEs also thrived by being responsive. It kickstarted the alternative finance and fintech revolutions, for example.

At City Road Comms we have already seen many of our clients pivot. They have used their products, services, infrastructure or networks to create a business model that better fits with the current social and economic landscape.

For those that are shifting their focus, targeting new customers or delivering a different product, they need potential customers, clients and investors to hear about it. And this is where PR comes in.

Due to self-isolation and social distancing, people around the world are consuming more media than ever. They are inside more. They are watching and reading more news. They are seeking ways to stay informed or be distracted. And already we are seeing a slight fatigue in the media from coronavirus content — journalists have been telling us that they are on the hunt for interesting (and ideally ‘feel-good’) stories to write about, rather than the contents of the Government’s daily briefings.

Be bullish

Now is the perfect time for businesses to take a bullish approach to PR. Creating the right narrative and sharing it with the right journalists will enable a business to raise its profile, boost its reputation, get in front of potential customers, and shout about what it is doing.

There are undoubtedly ways of adapting products or services to better serve consumers and businesses in the current climate. The business leaders best able to spot these opportunities have the best chances of not just surviving but thriving. But all that work risks being done in vain should they not find ways to communicate their message through their own channels and with the wider world.

That is why both crisis comms and PR are more important than ever. They could be the different between life and death for a business.

Dominic Pollard

Communications Director

About the author

With a history degree, journalism Master’s, and several years’ experience writing about business and technology for both the national and trade press, Dominic moved into the world of content marketing and comms in 2014. He joined City Road Comms in 2016, becoming the agency’s director of comms two years later. Dominic now oversees clients’ strategies and the overall operations of the agency.

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Last month, in an interview with ITV, former Prime Minister David Cameron admitted his decision to call for an EU referendum still haunts him. And given the sheer, unadulterated chaos that has ensued since the vote in June 2016, such regret is easy to understand; after all, the decision not only cost Cameron his job (even though he had said he would remain in power regardless of the outcome), but it’s also turned UK politics on its head.

To put some of the political mayhem into perspective, here are a couple of interesting stats. The first: since Theresa May was elected with a minority government in 2017, more than 70 MPs have changed party affiliation — including becoming independent or joining a new party. This is the same number as in the entire preceding two decades.

The second: between 1979 and 2017, only once did three ministers resign in the same 24-hour period (Humphrey Atkins, Lord Carrington, and Richard Luce, over the Falkland conflict). Between June 2018 and July 2019, it happened four times.

David Cameron, like the rest of the country, could not have predicted the torrent of shocks and surprises that would be thrown up by Brexit. It has seldom strayed from the front pages over the past three-and-a-half years; yet despite the volume of media coverage it has received, the UK public has often been left scratching its proverbial head wondering exactly what is happening.

Putting aside one’s personal views on Brexit (as much as is possible), it is hard to dispute that the whole event has been something of a PR disaster. Heads have metaphorically rolled, political parties have been divided into countless factions, and many reputations have been tarnished, some beyond repair.

At City Road Comms, we have been pondering over what PR lessons, then, can be learnt from the Brexit saga? And more specifically, based on what we’ve seen from the government’s communications strategy over the past three years (or lack thereof), what can businesses learn what it comes to maintaining support and trust during times of intense scrutiny?

If one thing has become apparent in the government’s handling of Brexit, it is the need for honesty and transparency when delivering external communications. This becomes all the more important when dealing with complicated or potentially unpopular matters.

In fact, this is a golden rule for virtually any effective PR and comms strategy. Audiences will not sit open-mouthed and swallow whatever lines you give them. Whether it is a newspaper quote, radio interview or press release, organisations must state their points clearly, but also offer information or opinions that are genuine and honest.

A failure to be truthful about events that are taking place, or relying too heavily on rhetoric and hyperbole, is an easy way for organisations to alienate an audience.

This is a point many people would relate to, with much of the frustration regarding Brexit stemming from a lack of understanding about what is happening. And in truth, even if there is bad news — or no news at all — the most effective option is often for organisations to be honest and say just that.

The same is true in any form of crisis communications; experience teaches us that people will be far more forgiving and, thereby, a brand’s reputation can be protected if an organisation is proactive in communicating the latest developments. What’s more, it must ensure when it does so that it is clear, honest and transparent in the message it delivers.

Avoid jargon

The goal of almost any PR and communications strategy is to effectively bridge the gap between an organisation and a particular audience (typically its customers). To achieve this, the language used within external comms must be as accessible as possible.

When it comes to Brexit, the government — and Westminster more generally — has failed. Most MPs have frequently used jargon within their political speeches, TV interviews and newspaper columns.

Backstop, no deal, transition period, WTO rules, divorce bill, withdrawal agreement — these new terms have entered our everyday lexicon since the EU referendum. So much so, in fact, that the BBC and many other media outlets have their very own “Brexit jargon buster” on their websites to help readers.

However, while admittedly hard to avoid, this jargon can hurt an organisation’s chances of winning trust and support from an audience. And again, this comes back to clarity in communications. If a person or group cannot easily understand what a person is saying and why they are saying it then it becomes difficult for them to offer their support.

Organisations and their spokespeople must try, as best they can, to remove themselves from the bubble in which they operate and ensure certain terms are either avoided or clarified.

Create a united front

Regardless of there being too little honesty and too much jargon, the most obvious flaw in the government’s Brexit communications strategy has been its inability to create a united front. Indeed, this has proved almost impossible due to the lack of consensus within the Conservative Party — let alone the House of Commons — regarding the desired Brexit outcome.

Nonetheless, there is a clear lesson to be learnt here: when there is a lack of a uniform “party line”, the scope for negative news is greatly increased.

From charity to startup, multinational business to government department, it is vital an organisation’s spokespeople are seen to be championing the same values. Not only will this ensure a particular message is clearly conveyed to an audience, but it also prevents contradictory statements appearing in the media — something that is certain to damage the reputation of a brand or company.

Even when people’s opinions or perspectives vary, a party line can still be achieved by making sure there is a core set of points — ideals, if you will — that unite the people within an organisation.

The government’s failure to create anything like a united front has fuelled the media’s portrayal of Brexit chaos. While such divisive events may not ever impact other businesses to the same degree, the need for a strong brand identity that is supported through a proactive, consistent PR strategy remains hugely important.

Considered, coherent PR strategies

It is all too easy to criticise the government’s handling of Brexit as an armchair pundit. It’s also unfair to take cheap shots at bestiality-related stories involving a former PM.

Ultimately, uniting a country divided (almost) down the middle while also negotiating a deal with Brussels and getting a majority of MPs to agree to it is perhaps the hardest task any Prime Minister has been faced with in recent times. Nevertheless, there is no question that businesses can learn some valuable lessons about PR and communications from the way political leaders have struggled with Brexit.

Businesses can be thankful that they will never face such scrutiny as Cameron, May and Johnson have. Yet the challenges involved in connecting with particular audiences, building trust and handling potentially negative news are ones that many leaders will face.

To overcome such challenges, businesses require a well-considered, coherent PR strategy. Moreover, as has hopefully been stressed here, clarity and uniformity in both the language and messaging they use are absolutely essential. Adopting such an approach will maximise the chances of a business’ communications being effective, in turn ensuring its overarching PR strategy is successful.

Dominic Pollard

Communications Director

About the author

With a history degree, journalism Master’s, and several years’ experience writing about business and technology for both the national and trade press, Dominic moved into the world of content marketing and comms in 2014. He joined City Road Comms in 2016, becoming the agency’s director of comms two years later. Dominic now oversees clients’ strategies and the overall operations of the agency.

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