No matter how much experience corporate marketing or communications professionals have, unless they’ve worked in a PR/communications firm they can’t fully appreciate the amount of work that public relations agencies put into preparing a proposal. It’s not uncommon for agencies to spend more than 40 hours on a proposal. The ballpark cost for 40 hours of work, time that could be spent on billable work for existing clients, is anywhere from $10,000-15,000, if billed in the United States, depending on where the agency is. On top of that, in many cases there are agency travel expenses.
Given the time, effort and cost of a proposal, communications firms have to be selective about which invitations to bid they pursue. How do they choose? The actions and behavior of potential clients are a big factor in this decision. To attract good PR firms to vie for your business, there are some basic rules of etiquette to observe during an agency review.
RFP Etiquette When Hiring a PR Firm
Often a request for proposal (RFP) as the first step in hiring a PR firm. An RFP communicates a lot about the professionalism and behavior an agency can expect from a potential client. Numerous communications firms have stopped replying to RFPs because many of them are unprofessional. Think hard whether you really need an RFP or could just as easily obtain the information you need at a meeting with a potential agency. If your company’s purchasing department has a long list of required information from prospective agencies, issue a simple request for information (RFI) that can be answered quickly in writing, and use that to make sure your prospects meet your company’s requirements for service companies/vendors.
However, if you must issue an RFP, do your homework first. Don’t issue an RFP to a dozen or more agencies. Develop a good, narrow list of prospects:
- Get recommendations from colleagues who have hired PR firms. Do a website search for agencies that serve your industry and/or are in your region. Do an online search for articles written about the agencies or by their staffs.
- Then have a short telephone call with the decision maker at each potential agency and explain what your needs are and why you’re looking for an agency. Be honest about how many agencies you’re considering. Tell them why you’re interested in inviting their firms to bid for your business.
- Research and decide on your needs in advance so your RFP can home in on the basic requirements you have for an agency. The worst RFPs are very vague and don’t specify what the company is looking for in an agency. The more specific and transparent you can be about what you want in an agency, the more likely the agencies you approach will be interested in bidding for your PR business.
- Next, let the top agency candidates know they’re on your short list. Meet the short-listed agencies in person (or by video conference if necessary) to brief each one about your needs in more detail and answer their questions. It’s a good idea to ask each candidate firm to sign a non-disclosure agreement before this briefing. But a briefing is mandatory – a PR firm can’t prepare a proposal that will meet your needs unless they know something more about you than what is on your website or in the news, including difficult communications challenges your organization faces.
This process will help you narrow your list of prospects to no more than three or four. More than that is unwieldy and will scare off many potential agencies from bidding.
“We once presented in front of a client and learned they had heard a dozen agency pitches on one day!” exclaimed Kai vom Hoff, managing partner, vom Hoff Kommunikation GmbH, in Düsseldorf.“We presented in front of 20-25 people, who judged our proposal. Everyone had a different view on the aim of the project and no one wanted to pay money for PR. In the end, they couldn’t agree on common next steps and (luckily?) they did not choose us as partner.”
What Not to Do
Small companies that look for large well-known PR agenciesare heading down the wrong path. Almost all clients of the big multinational conglomerates’ PR agencies are paying anywhere from $15,000 to $50,000 a month or more, depending on how complex the work is. If your budget is below $10-15,000 a month, you will be an extremely minor client for a large multinational agency, a small fish in a very big pond. You’re much better off looking for a small agency where your business will really be appreciated. At a small agency there will be significant involvement from senior staff, which wouldn’t be the case at large agencies. You may find an appropriate boutique agency near you at PR Boutiques International’s website. PRBI’s member agencies around the world are carefully vetted for membership.
Don’t keep your budget a secret. The time to reveal your budget is on your first call with an agency, before inviting the agency to bid for your business. Most PR firms will not pitch for your business unless you give them a budget, or at least a budget range. From an agency viewpoint, preparing a proposal without knowing the budget forces the agency to guess. Some will guess too high and others too low.
Don’t expect PR agencies to provide a complete PR strategy and planin their proposals. Agencies don’t want to give away their work without pay. You wouldn’t ask a doctor to examine you when you’re ill and care for you for free.
“We’ve had clients ask us to do a massive amount of unpaid work prior to deciding if they really want to work with us,” says vom Hoff. “They don’t realize how much time and effort it is.” Use the proposal process to see how the agencies have approached challenges similar to your company’s and ask general questions about how they would meet your needs.
Don’t conduct an agency search under false pretenses. Don’t pretend to go through the search process when you’ve already decided on an agency! Unfortunately, this occurs far too frequently, often because the organization’s purchasing rules require that all outside vendors, including consultants, be chosen via a competitive bid every time a contract is up for renewal, no matter how happy the company is with the vendor.
One of the most frustrating things PR agency owners face is the unethical practice of conducting an agency review simply to get free ideas and advice from the proposal process, with no intention of hiring an agency at all. “Idea stealing is very unscrupulous,” comments Julia Labaton, president and founder of RED PR in New York. “Sharing ideas with a potential client is a double-edged sword. We need to share some ideas and creative thinking to get hired, but we don’t want to give away our work.”
Says vom Hoff, “We have had numerous situations where we’re invited to pitch for an organization and after the presentation of our extensive proposal, they decide they don’t want to do the project or don’t need an agency after all.”
It is also unethical to hire one agency and use the ideas from agencies that lost the competition for your business. Companies that do this (and the staff who are involved in these practices) earn a bad reputation in the marketing and communications industry.
What you should do
Provide adequate time for agencies to prepare a proposal.Agencies are often asked to prepare a proposal with only a week (or even less) lead time. This is unreasonable and inconsiderate.
“Base your decision on which agency can best meet your needs, not just on cost,” advises Durée Ross, president and CEO, Duree & Company in Fort Lauderdale, FL. You and your staff will have to work with the agency. You must feel comfortable with the know-how of the agency you choose, as well as the potential for a smooth relationship with the agency.
Inform all bidders on the outcome, not just the winning agency. Very often companies don’t follow up with the agencies that didn’t win to let them know. “It’s ‘ghosting,’” says Labaton. “They vanish into thin air never to be heard from again despite numerous follow-ups. When a prospective client disappears after you’ve jumped through hoops, it’s rude and simply disrespectful: you’ve done one or two meetings or calls, submitted a tailored proposal and budget, and revised or answered additional budget or tactical questions, and then never hear from them again.”
Adds Dan Leinweber, “A few potential clients went into radio silence after we presented new business proposals. In one case, I had to repeatedly try every possible communication technique (email, voice-mail, etc.) to reach the prospect.” David Ball, founder and president, Ball Consulting Group in Boston, notes, “We just need to hear a‘yes,’ ‘no’ or ‘we are tabling it.’ If the answer is ‘no,’ it’s helpful to know why so we can continue to improve our proposal process.”
Consider hiring a PR agency search consultant to help you conduct an agency review if you are not sure what your communications needs are, or if the search process sounds overwhelming and too time-consuming. Some excellent consultants specialize in helping organizations find appropriate agencies. Make sure the consultant you use has a lot of experience doing PR agency searches, not just ad or marketing agency searches. A professional law firm marketing consultant knows all the best legal marketing strategies. One firm that does this kind of work is Communications Match, which prepared a checklist of questions to ask search consultants.
For more information about hiring a PR firm, the following sources may be helpful:
- PR Boutiques International blog posts about hiring a PR firm:
- “10 Expert Tips for Hiring a PR Firm that Will Make You Look Smart”
- “Hiring a PR Firm: How to Find Firms that Fill Your Needs”
- PR Week: “Ghosted: Scorned PR Agency Pros Recall a Time a Client Prospect Vanished”
- PR Counsel templatefor developing an RFP
- O’Dwyer’s: “How to Hire and Get the Most from Outside PR Counsel”