10 Yetis Insight Blog: How To Be The Best PR Agency

A public relations agency is usually employed to get their client in the news, so to be the best you just… do that. A lot. Right?

Well, it’s not quite as simple as that. We’ve experienced hundreds of clients coming to us after working with both traditional and online PR agencies that, on the surface, have performed very well. The coverage is flowing and the client’s name is getting mentioned all over the shop – so why are they coming to knock on our door as opposed to sitting back and rubbing their hands together, with maybe a cackle or two for good measure?

The thing is, there’s more to life than coverage. No, really, there is. Let me just take a moment to explain…

1.Same PR, Different Day

God, it’s boring. Don’t resign yourself to doing the same thing day in, day out. Yes, you might have a magic formula and, yes, it might work a treat; but trust me, journalists are going to get so freaking bored of your calls and emails if they’re always about the same kind of things. Even if they don’t, you will – and the client probably will, too. PR is changing all the time, people are doing cool things, there’s new challenges and opportunities around every corner; so embrace them! There’s no harm in having a failsafe backbone to a PR campaign, but try and pop in some different activity now and then to keep it fresh.

2.Get Down With The Kidz

Happily, this doesn’t (necessarily) involve any dad dancing. Because we are working in a very fast-paced and ever-changing industry, particularly for those of us bobbing along in the B2C zone, it’s crucial that you keep up. The advance of technology, for instance, has hugely changed the PR game and yet some agencies still can’t tell their SEOs from their CEOs. Not good news for the clients. You need to be a voice of authority, or failing that – at least knowledge, in what the future holds and how to get ahead of the curve. One of most of our clients’ key PR objectives is to boost their SEO, so it’s our job to know exactly what that entails,including all the hows and whys.

3.Do You Want Fries With That?

A PR agency shouldn’t just do the whole PR shebang – in fact, even getting your head around PR for SEO isn’t enough – you need to offer all the bells and whistles that your clients could ever ask for, or at least aim to anyway. As we said earlier, PR shouldn’t be a boring, static process of samey content; it should include all kinds of different elements to bring it to life, from microsites, to stunts, to videos, to social media. Outsourcing, though, is definitely not fun. It hikes the cost up and takes things out of your control – which is never, ever a recipe for success. The more you can keep in-house to cater to every PR-related whim, the better.

4.Service With A Smile…

Never forget that PR is a mystery world for those not in it. Too many PRs fill the air with jargon and god only knows why; most of the time it’s just to make themselves look and feel important. A good agency won’t have chips on its shoulder and it’s team members won’t need to prove their worth by baffling everybody around them. Being friendly, clear and honest with clients will improve the relations tenfold; basically, be nice to people. It’s not rocket science.

5.…But The Customer’s Not Always Right

If a client is heading in totally, absolutely, obviously the wrong direction – tell them! Whatever you do, don’t just sit in silence, nodding and smiling. If you’re an expert on these things, then you’ve got views and insight that they will undoubtedly benefit from. Sitting on it and moaning behind closed doors won’t do anybody any good, plus they won’t get the chance to take advantage of your experience. You might not want to cause any waves, but there are ways of ‘making some suggestions’ that will enable you to get your thoughts out there without causing offence.

6.Tackle The Tricky Stuff

We all know PR is hard to quantify and measure according to the bottom line blah blah blah, but if you can’t show results, then the client is not going to be able to place a value on you. This could quickly lead to them undervaluing the benefits you are bringing to the table, resulting in all kinds of bad and awkward situations. You need to avoid this by clearly showing all the good work and results you are achieving and directly what that means for the client, from circulation figures and reach through to the number of mentions, links and followed links. That way, no one forgets how great you are. Win!