Let Your PR Firm Take a Peek Behind the Curtain
Real success in working with a public relations firm comes when you truly connect them to your company. When you give them opportunities to interface with individuals beyond the marketing department.
Too often, the PR firm is connected via only one or two marketing people. Everything is filtered through them, so your PR people never get the opportunity to take their own look at how the business operates, how it deals with customers, and how it develops products and services.
That closer look can yield a lot of opportunities. PR practitioners – the good ones, anyway – tend to be idea people. Whatever they see, they evaluate in terms of how it could be leveraged for publicity that benefits the client.
The most successful engagements we have had with clients have been those where we were invited into cross-department meetings, or given free rein to reach out to and talk with individuals in different roles. We learned things that helped us find whole new ways to gain visibility for the client.
Where engagements haven’t been as successful is where the marketing contact keeps us at arm’s length from everyone else. They may have their reasons, but it hamstrings us. If we aren’t getting insight into less obvious but “unique” aspects of the client’s business, we can’t do as much to help that client stand out as a thought leader in its market.
Some marketing people are excellent at looking over the company as a whole and seeing ideas and opportunities and conveying them to their PR firm. They perceive possibilities everywhere they look, and that’s ideal.
Others think in more limited ways, not recognizing how many opportunities could be uncovered. They might benefit more by encouraging their PR firm to take a look behind the curtain. It’s a strategy that we heartily recommend for each and every client.