Are you a business owner working with external agencies? How’s it going? Are you paying for their expertise but not sure what you’re really getting in return for your PR retainer fee?
You know the situation. You’ve agreed a retainer package with the agency and, based on the colourful proposal, you’re expecting big things. At the end of every month their invoice comes in like clockwork and it gets paid. But, there’s a niggling thought, what have you actually got in return?
In short, has your PR agency lived up to their promises!
It’s an awkward conversation to have. And most business owners sit on that feeling for longer than they should, convincing themselves it’ll improve, or that maybe they’re being unreasonable.
You’re probably not being unreasonable.
What does a PR agency do?
Ok, so let’s start with the basics – what do you get when you work with a PR agency? Public relations works hand-in-hand with marketing to shift public perception, make sure your business is seen, trusted and talked about by the people who matter.
A good agency doesn’t just ‘get you media coverage’ they will make sure your message is seen across a wide range of channels. Whether it’s a clear message on social media posts, a website that tells your story, handling press releases, media relations or preparing you for interviews. The services on offer go into every form of communication your business uses.
They will get your customers to trust you by developing stories about your business, your services and your team so that anyone visiting your website, reading an article in a magazine or seeing social media content will immediately recognise your company.
While public relations agencies will operate on an ad-hoc basis where you only pay for the services when and where you need them. To get the best results you ideally want to go for a retainer package where you agree every month the number of hours they will commit to your business. That way, they can build a relationship with you and truly get to know your customers and how to communicate with them.
Aura PR operates as a tight and no-nonsense agency, with decades of experience working with clients. If you’re already working with a PR agency or are looking to sign up to one – here are some of the things we think you should watch out for with your agency.
The ‘hours question’ nobody asks
Here’s one of the most common frustrations we hear from businesses have worked with agencies before they came to us. They have a PR agency on board, but they have no idea what they’re getting for their money.
Let’s say you’ve agreed for 20 hours of work per month. The invoice arrives. But did anyone actually do 20 hours of work? Was any of it documented? Were you ever told what was done with that time?
It’s not unreasonable to want to see a summary, just like it’s not unreasonable to see your bill in a restaurant to see what you actually bought with your money (oops, the wine was more expensive than you thought, but at least you know).
Is your agency being transparent on their work?
It’s very common within this industry to work with a client on a retainer basis. It’s a way of building the relationship, knowing your brand and effectively growing awareness.
But, retainer hours should not be a subscription box that arrives whether you use it or not. They should be time actively (and proactively) worked, tracked and accounted for by your PR agency.
Now ask yourself this question, how often has the agency been in contact with you this month? If the crickets are chirping and no one has been in contact, then maybe they’re not working hard for their retainer.
A good PR agency should regularly check in to find out your company’s priorities, be entirely transparent about what work they are focusing each month and keep you updated on progress.
Above all else, a good agency should chase you, not the other way round.
Where is your monthly report
Linked to this is something equally common…the absence of any kind of regular and proper reporting.
It’s very important to say at this point – public relations and communications work isn’t always immediately tangible. But actually, that’s exactly why reporting matters as much as it does.
Your monthly report should look at the tangible metrics such as what coverage has been achieved. But, it also needs to look at work in progress such as what’s been placed, and what’s in the pipeline. If your report is non-existent or doesn’t show you progress on work then how do you know if the relationship is working?
Some agencies get away with this for years, often because clients don’t know what to ask for, don’t realise it’s part of the process or feel awkward demanding it. A structured monthly report should never be a premium add-on – it’s a basic professional standard for a paid service.
Are you getting one?
When you end up doing their job for them
This one is perhaps the most frustrating pattern of all, and it’s particularly common in technical industries.
You hire a PR agency to take work off your plate and deliver expertise in their field. After all, it’s the whole point of taking on an agency. You want someone who can get to grips with your sector, understand your product or service, develop a feel for your audience and get on with the work.
What sometimes happens instead is that you find yourself writing their task lists, answering endless questions about your product or service, drafting content for them to ‘lightly edit’, and essentially doing the job they’re being paid for.
Some of this is inevitable in the early stages. There’s always an onboarding period…no PR agency on earth walks in on day one knowing your business inside out. And you ARE responsible for briefs if you want something done the way you want it (spoiler: telepathy is generally not a skill that comes with the package).
But if, six months in, you’re still doing the heavy lifting, something has likely gone wrong.
The public relations promises that were always too good to be true
A word on the topic of free coverage, because it comes up a lot.
Some agencies will tell you, often in a first meeting when they’re keen to impress, that they can get you placed across a long list of publications and that all of this will be earned, organic coverage that costs nothing beyond their fee. It sounds brilliant, doesn’t it?
Sometimes a few early wins make it seem like it’s working.
Here’s where we’ll tell you the truth. Journalists are not waiting around to run your founder’s story or your all-important thoughts and feelings about new Government data.
Coverage is competitive. And if your story isn’t genuinely newsworthy, or if a piece reads like an advert, it won’t get picked up, regardless of how good your agency’s contacts are.
What should happen is that your PR agency is honest with you from the start about what is achievable and what isn’t.
If you want to publish a piece that’s essentially promotional, that’s absolutely fine, but it will need to be paid-for placement. Your PR agency should tell you that directly rather than letting you believe it’ll land as organic coverage.
Honesty like this might feel less exciting than a bold promise in a pitch deck. But it’s far more useful to you as a business.
What it should a good PR agency / business relationship look like
In a nutshell you shouldn’t have to chase your PR agency.
You should hear from them regularly with updates, ideas and progress. At the end of each month, you should receive a clear summary of what’s been done with your time and budget.
If something hasn’t worked, you should be told why, and what the plan is to approach it differently.
Expect your PR agency to do the legwork. They should get to know what your competitors are doing, and eventually how to position you within that context.
They should tell you when a piece of content isn’t strong enough to pitch, rather than sending it out anyway and following it up with an invoice. And when something isn’t possible, whether that’s a particular publication, a particular timeline or a particular type of coverage, they should say so.
None of this is rocket science. Instead it’s about respecting you as a client, rather than trying to offer the world and then throw the blame around when it doesn’t come off.
A final thought on PR retainer fees
If you’re reading this and it all sounds a bit too familiar, it might be time to have that conversation you’ve been putting off. Not necessarily to end the relationship, but to reset expectations and make sure both sides are happy.
You’re spending real money… don’t you deserve real answers?
Fancy a chat?
Are you a business owner working with external agencies? How’s it going? Are you paying a PR retainer for their expertise but not sure what you’re really getting in return? What does a PR agency do?
You know the situation. You’ve got a package for retainer agreement with the agency and, based on the colourful proposal, you’re expecting big things. At the end of every month their invoice comes in like clockwork and it gets paid. But, there’s a niggling thought, what have you actually got in return?
In short, has your agency lived up to their promises!
It’s an awkward conversation to have. And most business owners sit on that feeling for longer than they should, convincing themselves it’ll improve, or that maybe they’re being unreasonable.
You’re probably not being unreasonable.
What does a PR agency do?
Ok, so let’s start with the basics – what do you get when you work with a PR agency? Public relations works hand-in-hand with marketing to shift public perception, make sure your business is seen, trusted and talked about by the people who matter.
A good agency doesn’t just ‘get you media coverage’ they will make sure your message is seen across a wide range of channels. Whether it’s a clear message on social media posts, a website that tells your story, handling press releases, media relations or preparing you for interviews. The services on offer go into every form of marketing communication your business uses.
They will get your customers to trust you by developing stories about your business, your services and your team so that anyone visiting your website, reading an article in a magazine or seeing social media content will immediately recognise your company.
While public relations agencies will operate on an PR project fee basis where you only pay for the PR services when and where you need them. To get the best results you ideally want to go for a retainer package where you agree a set number of monthly hours they will commit to your business. That way, they can build a relationship with you and truly get to know your customers and how to communicate with them.
Aura PR operates as a tight and no-nonsense agency, with decades of experience working with clients. If you’re already working with a PR agency or are looking to sign up to one – here are some of the things we think you should watch out for with your agency.
The ‘hours question’ nobody asks
Here’s one of the most common frustrations we hear from businesses have worked with agencies before they came to us. They have a PR agency on board, they pay for PR retainer services, but they have no idea what they’re getting for their money.
Let’s say you’ve agreed a retainer model of 20 hours of work per month. The invoice arrives. But did anyone actually do 20 hours of work? Was any of it documented? Were you ever told what was done with that time?
It’s not unreasonable to want to see a summary, just like it’s not unreasonable to see your bill in a restaurant to see what you actually bought with your money (oops, the wine was more expensive than you thought, but at least you know).
Is your agency being transparent on their work?
It’s very common within this industry to work with a client on a retainer model basis. It’s a way of building the relationship, knowing your brand and effectively growing awareness.
But, the retainer hourly rates should not be a subscription box that arrives whether you use it or not. They should be time actively (and proactively) worked, tracked and accounted for by your PR agency.
Now ask yourself this question, how often has the agency been in contact with you this month? If the crickets are chirping and no one has been in touch, then maybe they’re not delivering the volume of work expected for their PR retainer fee.
A good PR agency should regularly check in to find out your company’s priorities, be entirely transparent about what work they are focusing each month and keep you updated on progress.
Above all else, a good agency should chase you, not the other way round.
Where is your monthly report
Linked to this is something equally common…the absence of any kind of regular and proper reporting.
It’s very important to say at this point – public relations and marketing communications work isn’t always immediately tangible. But actually, that’s exactly why reporting matters as much as it does.
Your monthly report should look at the tangible metrics such as what coverage has been achieved. But, it also needs to look at work in progress such as what’s been placed, and what’s in the pipeline. If your report is non-existent or doesn’t show you progress on work then how do you know if the relationship is working?
Some agencies get away with this for years, often because clients don’t know what to ask for, don’t realise it’s part of the PR retainer fee or feel awkward demanding it. A structured monthly report should never be a premium add-on – it’s a basic professional standard for a paid PR service.
Are you getting one?
When you end up doing their job for them
This one is perhaps the most frustrating pattern of all, and it’s particularly common in technical industries.
You hire a PR agency to take work off your plate and deliver expertise in their field. After all, it’s the whole point of taking on an agency. You want someone who can get to grips with your sector, understand your product or service, develop a feel for your audience and get on with the work.
What sometimes happens instead is that you find yourself writing their task lists, answering endless questions about your product or service, drafting content for them to ‘lightly edit’, and essentially doing the job they’re being paid for.
Some of this is inevitable in the early stages. There’s always an onboarding period…no PR agency on earth walks in on day one knowing your business inside out. And you ARE responsible for briefs if you want something done the way you want it (spoiler: telepathy is generally not a skill that comes with the package).
But if, six months in, you’re still doing the heavy lifting, something has likely gone wrong.
The public relations promises that were always too good to be true
A word on the topic of free coverage, because it comes up a lot.
Some agencies will tell you, often in a first meeting when they’re keen to impress, that they can get you placed across a long list of publications and that all of this will be organic earned media coverage that costs nothing beyond their fee. It sounds brilliant, doesn’t it?
Sometimes a few early wins make it seem like it’s working.
Here’s where we’ll tell you the truth. Journalists are not waiting around to run your founder’s story or your all-important thoughts, product launches and feelings about new Government data.
Coverage is competitive. And if your story isn’t genuinely newsworthy, or if a piece reads like an advert, it won’t get picked up by media contacts, regardless of how good your agency’s contacts are.
What should happen is that your PR agency is honest with you from the start about what editorial coverage is achievable and what isn’t.
If you want to publish a piece that’s essentially promotional, that’s absolutely fine, but it will need to be paid media placement. Your PR agency should tell you that directly rather than letting you believe it’ll land as organic coverage.
Honesty like this might feel less exciting than a bold promise in a pitch deck. But it’s far more useful to you as a business.
What it should a good PR agency / business relationship look like
In a nutshell you shouldn’t have to chase your PR agency.
You should hear from them regularly with updates, ideas and progress. At the end of each month, you should receive a clear summary of what’s been done with your time and marketing budget.
If something hasn’t worked, you should be told why, and what the plan is to approach it differently.
As part of the retainer fee, your PR agency to do the legwork. They should get to know what your competitors are doing, and eventually how to position you within that context.
They should tell you when a content ideas aren’t strong enough to pitch, rather than sending it out anyway and following it up with an invoice. And when something isn’t possible, whether that’s a particular publication, a particular timeline or a particular type of coverage, they should say so.
None of this is rocket science. Instead it’s about respecting the client relationship, rather than trying to offer the world and then throw the blame around when it doesn’t come off.
A final thought
If you’re reading this and it all sounds a bit too familiar, it might be time to have that conversation you’ve been putting off. Not necessarily to end the relationship, but to reset expectations and make sure both sides are happy.
You’re spending real money on a retainer agreement… don’t you deserve real answers?
Fancy a chat?
At Aura PR, we support businesses with PR that cuts through, and build long-term relationships with clients with transparency, reporting, and results.
If you’re looking for a PR firm who proactively works for you, we can help. Our PR services include:
- Developing press releases
- Building media relations to secure media coverage
- Build relationships with media outlets
- Reputation management
- Writing thought leadership pieces
- Social media management
- Building brand awareness
- Digital PR and backlinks
- Internal communications
- Content creation
Want to find out more?
Drop us a line today: becky@aurapr.co.uk
