Recently, a medium sized hotel group contacted us because they were considering changing luxury travel PR firms. They were dissatisfied but in the end decided to stay with their current agency.
Is the devil you know better…? Well, we all know the rest of the saying. My opinion is that if you think you are not getting your money’s worth, then you probably aren’t. So what is the best way to evaluate your agency and compare it to another so you are looking at apples to apples?
At Abelow PR, we provide both monthly reports and a media tracker where circulations are compiled along with whether the story was a mention or part of a round up. Too often, agencies garner lots of mentions but few features. We have found that what our clients are looking for are solid, multi-page stories with lots of eye-catching photo spreads. After all, that’s what captures the attention of your target audience.
If you are reviewing your agency, you should also evaluate the quantity of stories in each category: features, round-ups, or one line mentions. Providing a metric system for each of the categories, with features being the most heavily weighted, of course.
Then you can categorize the stories in terms of circulation. We use 50,000 as a benchmark, and usually only take journalists from publications with circulations over 100,000. Then you will want to evaluate whether the outlet is reaching your target market, be it geographic or demographic.
Agencies should also be evaluated in terms of their accessibility and responsiveness. Do they only allow a specific number of conference calls monthly, and is that reflected in their fee? Our agency provides regular conference calls on a frequent basis — usually once a week — at the beginning of an account, and then bi-weekly or monthly as required once the campaign is rolling. And we are always available to the client on an impromptu basis.
Creativity in approaches to solving business problems is key to evaluating the effectiveness of an agency. The objective of the campaign should be clearly stated at the outset, and friendly agency/client meetings to take stock of the strategic approach and achievements are important as well.
Most of all, be sure to keep the lines of communication open, particularly as you plan your PR campaign moving into 2015.