A lawyer once told us he never takes on new clients unless he genuinely believes he can win their cases. In nearly any industry, money can persuade us to partner with difficult clients. We rationalize ignoring our instincts and red flags. But the benefits of short term clients generally are the equivalent to business one-night stands: You knew it was a bad idea from the beginning.
How do you avoid bad PR clients and, if you are a business leader, when should you steer clear of public relations firms?
If your company can’t define communications roles, you might be a bad PR client. If an employee or contractor already provide communications, don’t hire a PR firm without setting boundaries first. If you hire a PR firm without clearly explaining that another person on board already handles similar responsibilities, you risk sparking a turf war. You risk wasting money for two people to complete overlapping work. Without clearly defined roles, the internal employee might feel threatened and the PR firm might feel pressure to prove their worth.
If your company can’t stick with a single strategy, you might be a bad PR client. A good PR firm will start by partnering on building a public relations strategy. Don’t hire a PR firm to focus on only one aspect of your business and then soon ask it to switch gears. Furthermore, asking a firm to publicize one department while ignoring others often is not realistic.
If you can’t identify a consistent point-of contact at your company for the firm to communicate with, you might be a bad PR client. Don’t introduce the firm to their point-of-contact and then, a few weeks later, explain you want all communications to go through a different person. PR firms are wasting your time and money if they feel confused who they should copy on which emails.
If you have internal dissension, you might be a bad PR client. Don’t have a team leader telling the PR firm something on the phone while another executive is demanding the opposite of the firm via email.
If you can’t make quick decisions, you might be a bad PR client. If a PR firm offers your company an opportunity to talk with the news media, don’t make the process feel like an act of congress. Reporters generally don’t wait days (or even hours) for companies to figure out the right spokespeople and key messages.
If your spokespeople can’t provide interviews without pissing off your lawyers, you might be a bad PR client. If you earned a news media interview but the company attorney won’t even allow you to share it with customers or on social media due to legal concerns, consider investing in media training prior to PR.
If your company can’t return emails and phone calls, you might be a bad PR client. PR firms should be regularly pitching you timely ideas. If you can’t provide responses or feedback in a timely manner, why did you hire the firm?
If you believe news releases are still the key to success, you might be a bad PR client. You don’t need to necessarily be up on the latest PR trends, but at least understand we no longer live in 1985.
If you can’t attend an occasional meeting with the firm, you might be a PR client. Your scheduled meetings with a PR firm shouldn’t be the first ones you postpone when the office is busy. And it doesn’t count if you simply show up to the PR meeting without having any answers to questions from the last meeting.
If you can’t attend a PR meeting without spending most of it completing unrelated work on your phone or laptop, you might be a bad PR client. Be present. At least pretend you care.
If you can’t put in place basic recommendations from your PR firm, you might be a bad PR client. Your PR firm might start off the relationship by recommending you stay consistent on key messages and prepare for particularly tough questions. If you show no improvement a year later and force the PR firm to continually repeat itself, you hired a consultant but don’t listen.
If the negative web chatter about your company is actually true, you might be a bad PR client. Companies with bad online reputations like to insist the reviews aren’t an accurate portrayal of the business. However if stories of high turnover, constantly changing business plans and poor communications are mostly true, fix your inside issues before attempting to expand outside credibility.
No matter how many questions you might ask prior to hiring a PR firm, there will be surprises. But don’t pretend to prepare for a longterm relationship if your company is still attempting to resolve its own identity.
