PR Consultancy or PR Consultant?

If you start asking this question then you probably have been aware that why you need a PR service. Continue reading might be of some assistance to you.

PR agency and freelance PR have their own features. Making the choice of going for which one really depends on the nature of your business and how you would like PR to help you. Basically, freelance consultants are independent consultants - one person who often works on various accounts and small projects, eg. press release/article writing, interview, activity evaluation,etc. at same time. They are flexible and able to offer short or long term support. On the contrary, agencies have the ability to provide more services to organizations and handle more massive campaigns such as a big show or a serious crisis. They can also build up either short or long term relationship with clients. Usually freelancer will cost you less than PR agency does, however it is not always.

In that case, when deciding going for an agency or a freelancer you need to be clear on the objective and deadline of your project, what and by when you want them do for you, what is the scale/time frame of the project, do you want them to be based in your office or from their own, etc.

When start using a PR service of course you will be looking to obtain maximum benefits from it. Choosing an appropriate person/agency to help you is important otherwise your project could be destroyed. Most people do not know how to measure if the service providers are really qualified or if they can fit in the job and work with. Some questions can be main factors for you to consider about you potential working partner: If they have professional background? Do they have experience in the relevant activities? Is there any likely conflict of interest with present clients? How do they charge? What is the fee? Are they individual members of any public relations institute? In according to my experience, some companies would requested PR agencies to do some small projects for them at beginning as trial campaigns in order to see if they are really able to handle the project and bring them the results as they wanted.

Why should I use a PR agency?

A business man was not sure whether he should appoint a PR agency. He asked a PR account manager: "What can you do for me?" The manager answered: "We can help to make your company on news". The business man said:" I can do that too!"

Ain't you sure whether you need a PR agency or not? Actually there is no hard and fast rule when a company decides whether to use a PR agency. To make things more clear, you need to make sure you know how to distinguish advertising and public relations. Compared with advertising, PR is more convinced and persuasive. Unlike advertising, PR is more likely make people walk up to you and say: "Hi, I want to buy your company's product as I have heard that it is very good." instead of you walking to people to say confidently: " Hi, come to buy my product because it is good". Once be clear of this point, you would understand what's the point of using a PR strategy. At this stage what you need to do is to condiser whether to manage PR by yourself or alternatively appoint a PR agency. The following questions are suggested to ask yourself:

• How confident/successful am I at dealing with journalists?
• How much cost and time I spend at managing my public relations?
• Is my response quick enough to cope with those news that damage my reputation?
• Do I have enough resource (staff or facilities) to handle a PR campaign?

Once get answers to those questions, you should consider using a PR service by a third party (PR agency or freelanc PR consultant) if:

• Your PR or advertising budget is over £10,000 annually. If that is a one-off campaign you can consider about a service based on a rate of £200.00/day or £20.00/hour.
• You are not satisfied with the media coverage.
• You are keen to know what does your public think of you.
  
• You have some local media contacts but your company actually is national or international. You need people who have relevant experience and contacts. It is difficult to diffuse the information to national or international media without a suitable PR agency.
• You need multi-language personnal to help to expand your reputation worldwide. It would be costy to hire several multi-language staff only doing PR in your company.
  
• Some bad news related to you company has been published on newspaper but you do not know what to do. You need skilled and well trained PR professionals who are specialized in coping with crisis. They know how to spin a bad situation into an advantage to the company.
• An event cost you so much time and money but it is not as successful as you expected. You hope to save your resource from some work that is not your core competency.

Yes, you can make yourself on news, however, is that the news that you hope to be seen by your public? Do you have sufficient time and money to support those PR campaigns? Or have you successfully turned around a bad news to be advantageous to you? If your core competency is not PR but you need PR, then working with a PR service provider probably would find you a good value for money.

What is Public Relations at all?

Just now I read an article on Wisegeek.com by a chance. The topic is: What is public relations. Actually each time when introduce my job title to some people I have always been asked such question: what is PR? For me, this article does not embed too much wise or geek, (I am not trying to be aggressive to the author) just because the author's explanation is not comprehensive enough. The original article is as below:

(1)The main goal of a public relations department is to enhance a company's reputation. Staff that work in public relations, or as it is commonly known, PR, are skilled publicists. They are able to present a company or individual to the world in the best light. The role of a public relations department can be seen as a reputation protector.

The business world of today is extremely competitive. Companies need to have an edge that makes them stand out from the crowd, something that makes them more appealing and interesting to both the public and the media. The public are the buyers of the product and the media are responsible for selling it.

Public relations provide a service for the company by helping to give the public and the media a better understanding of how the company works. Within a company, public relations can also come under the title of public information or customer relations. (2)These departments assist customers if they have any problems with the company. They are usually the most helpful departments, as they exist to show the company at their best.

PR also helps the company to achieve its full potential. They provide feedback to the company from the public. This usually takes the form of research regarding what areas the public is most happy and unhappy with.

(3)People often have the perception of public relations as a group of people who spin everything. Spin can mean to turn around a bad situation to the company’s advantage. It is true that part of the purpose of public relations is to show the company in a positive light no matter what. There are certain PR experts that a company can turn to for this particular skill.

(4)The public often think of PR as a glamorous job. Public relations people seem to have been tarred with the image of constant partying and networking to find new contacts. The reality is usually long hours and hard work for anyone involved in public relations.

There are certain skills necessary to work in the world of PR. These include a very high level of communication skills, written and verbal. The PR person must also be very adept at multitasking and time management. (5) He or she may also have some form of media background or training in order to understand how the media and advertising work. Organizational and planning skills are also important in public relations.

The PR worker must also be able to cope very well under pressure. He or she must have the ability to cope with a barrage of questions from the media and the public. If a company comes under critical attack, it is the PR department who must take control of the situation. They must effectively answer the criticism and turn it around in order to protect the company’s reputation.

(6)A public relations worker usually has some form of relevant college qualification. Competition for jobs in PR is fierce. A talented public relations person has the opportunity to work up from a junior account executive to an account director in around five years. This is not a nine to five job; the hours are long and can be stressful. However, for successful PR workers, the pay is good and the perks may be even better.

My thoughts:

(1)The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) claimed: "Public relations helps an organization and its public adapt mutually to each other." Public Relations exists in every organization and institution, profitable or non-profitable. Here the public includes not only customers who will pay to buy an product or service but also those who will take action in other forms upon the information they receive. For example: An governmental department launched a series of anti-drug campaign, the key audiences are the people who used to take drugs, are taking drugs or intend to try drugs. The campaign itself is non-profitable and the key audiences are not expected to pay any penny to the organizer. Thus, the author of this article has made two mistakes:1. in a PR activity, the launcher is not must be a company, it could be a government, a society, an academic institution, or even an individual. The public are not must be buyers, they could be anyone who have the potential to be involved in the PR activity.

(2) When reading this sentence I had a strong feeling: does this guy refer PR to customer service? According to the PRSA, the essential functions of public relations include research, planning, communications and evaluation. Nowadays, in some big organizations, PR has been directly involved in the management level such as setting up annual goal, making decision and planning business strategy. It plays a big role in media relations, stockholder relations, investor relations, staff relations, as well as customer relations. So far I have summed up a conclusion, this guy conceives PR as Marketing.

(3) I would say that I agree with the author, especially in Crisis Communication. A PR practitioner uses his/her skill to turn around a bad situation into an advantage and display the organization to the public in its best light is a very tough and challenging task but not that difficult once the PR practitioner is well trained and skilled. In Chinese, crisis is interpreted as: danger and opportunity. To explore the opportunity embeded in the disadvantageous situation is exactly a PR practitioner is looking to do.

(4) Another truth.

(5) Again, the author mistakes advertising same as PR. Actually the difference between advertising and PR is: advertising is when you go up to the person and confidently talk about how fantastic your company is, how it is the greatest finishing company on Earth and perfectly equipped to make his or her every finishing dream come true. Public relations is when the prospective customer comes up to you and says admiringly, "I've heard how wonderful your company is, and I'd really like to get to know more about it."

(6) I am holding a Master degree in Public Relations and have been working in this industry for a while. My feeling is that as long as you love this job, it could be very exciting and rewarding. I never feel like I am working under pressure, the other way around, the fast pace of life makes me feel enriched.