Why Pay on Performance Might Discount Performance
This week, CEO, writer and speaker Margaret Heffernan, took aim at PR agencies with her Huffington Post Story, “Don’t Waste Money on a PR Firm: 4 Smarter Ways to Get Press.” Heffernan provides some great ideas for companies looking to garner exposure, unfortunately it’s at the expense of PR agencies, many of whom have mastered the art of effective communication. Defending our industry is nothing new, and I’m not intending to dissect the entire post.
Heffernan made one suggestion in particular that discredits some of the skills that PR people bring to the table. The concept of “Pay for Performance,” meaning that clients pay for actual secured media coverage, sounds good in theory. The problem is that good PR agencies do a lot more than dialing for dollars. A couple of things the Pay for Performance model doesn’t take into consideration:
· PR planning – While most of us win programs via our PR plans, those overarching communication strategies are constantly evolving. Good PR pros will locate your target audience, monitor your competitors, identify vehicles to communicate the message, pinpoint seasonal or newsworthy tie-ins, trend watch etc… That takes time, and its valuable research that can be used for a comprehensive marketing plan.
· Communication architecture – Companies understand their value to their constituents, unfortunately, not everyone knows how to translate those benefits into persuasive messages. Good PR pros help with that, and create influential messaging that can be used across the board to effectively communicate that goal.
· Full service communication – Media relations is one vehicle for public relations. A true PR program also includes social media messaging and education, grassroots outreach, trade show and event attendance, sponsorships, award identification, charitable tie-ins, stunts, and the list goes on. Each program is different. And if you are relying solely on media hits, you aren’t getting your bucks worth.
· Relationship building – We work hard to create relationships with press and other influencers, and we are constantly developing those relationships as we connect on your behalf. In terms of media relations, we may influence a story that hits stands an year or more from the initial outreach. I once spent a year traveling, talking, massaging a story for a top tier fashion glossy, and a year and a half for a blurb in USA Today. What may not fit today may fit a year from now. We aren’t placing ads, so we can’t control that.
· Quality – What makes a great placement? The circulation of the magazine? A Quote? A link to a Web site? How many times it’s shared across the Internet? A picture? How do you place a value on the results of a media placement? Column inches is a poor measurement on the impact a good placement has. Maybe there are better benchmarks, like awareness, site traffic, donations, changing of perception.
· Long term groundswell – A one hit wonder is rarely a sustainable business. You have to look in the future to see if a communication strategy turned the dial. That doesn’t happen overnight, even for large companies. Unfortunately, we don’t live in a world where we can see, at an instant, the impact we’ve had on the bottom line. Good PR pros are setting the stage for a long term advancement in awareness and education. Identify success metrics and see how (or if) those metrics change after a period of time. Is the message succeeding?
What do you think? Should PR pros own up to the fact that media hits are our bread and butter, and only charge a client on hits secured? Is all of the rest designed to achieve that goal? I welcome your thoughts in the comments.
Photo credit: tim pitt
Rachel: No no no, absolutely not! Public relations professionals have to be more than just press agents. To be effective for our client, we need a comprehensive and strategic communications strategy that encompasses a wide variety of tactics — not just story placements.
I had a prospect ask me once what was one of the most effective communications programs I had implemented. I know he was expecting me to say the cover story of such and such magazine or the above-the-fold story in the largest daily. Truth be told — the story never ran in any print publication or aired on television or radio. And that was a success. Our ability to work with the press to keep our client OUT of a story was what was the intended goal of that particular campaign.
Together with our clients, we need to set goals and expectations and create a plan that is flexible to adapt to the changing marketplace. Media placements may be a goal, but so might all the things you mention in the post. Disappointment in a public relations agency comes when goals are not defined and agreed upon.
Admittedly, I entered the PR world thinking along the same lines of Margaret. More specifically though-why hire a PR agency when you could have in-house expertise that really lives and breathes your business?
So that is the route I took. However, now, several years later I understand the value an agency can bring. Unfortunately (and what originally soured my opinion) was companies that use PR agencies as you described: as dialers for dollars. Paying big bucks to have an intern harass reporters on your behalf all day.
Yes, some company choose to do that, and some firms offer it as a service (hey, not a bad ROI for an agency I suppose). However, now I’m a firm believer in having the in-house expertise who works with an agency to get everything mentioned accomplished. Working with a PR agency can give you an outside perspective and fresh ideas and having an in-house person means you can build a meaningful partnership for long-term success.
It’s truly the best of both worlds.
Absolutely brilliant and bang-on, Rach. Sadly, too many businesses only see the end results. Great if you’ve got them on NBC or Oprah, or even a nice piece in their local business publication if on a smaller scale. They think it’s just a matter of writing a release, calling a news station, and hiring an event hall. They don’t necessarily think of the behind-the-scenes work that goes on; much like a duck paddling. Beautiful on the top of the water, industrious like hell underneath.
And pieces like Margaret’s always fail to delve deeper into that, and offer above-the-line solutions that don’t really tell the full story.
Great stuff, miss.
Found this post on Twitter and so glad I did! I wrote about this topic today on my blog inspired by a brand marketing blogger’s attack on how PR agencies are failing in social media.
More of the same, as I see you’re noting above. While I didn’t dive in as deeply as you, Rachel, I’m used to the finger pointing and naysayers after 26 years in this business.
Makes it all the more critical that we influencers speak out on behalf of our profession.
Love this. You know how offensive I found the original blog.
Like I commented there, I see PR as a combination or art, science and American Gladiators! It’s constantly changing, facts are facts, there are no facts and sometimes, big monsters get in your way of success.
Perhaps too many people confuse PR with advertising, which is the root of frustration. Perhaps bottom-line marketing folks see PR as too risky – you can’t assign every cent to a specific outcome.
You’ve done a beautiful job of showcasing some of the “back-end” work that goes into a fabulous feature touting the client as world-savers everyone should invest their money in.
Fantastic!
I appreciate this blog, and wholeheartedly concur that good PR is more than just a press engine. But the whole argument misses the point – that is one of accountability.
Pay-on-Performance PR firms like mine set measurable goals for all things – including strategy, relationship building, community outreach, events and messaging platforms — in addition to media, then tie a portion of their fees to delivering on them. In short, we put our money where our mouth is.
I have a five-part series on my blog that discusses this very issue. If you ever want to do an event around this in a “point/counter-point style,” just tell me where and when and I’ll be there!
http://payonperformance.ning.com/profiles/blogs/2017446:BlogPost:501
David,
Thanks for commenting. In looking at your model on your Web site, it appears that you bring more to the table than media relations, which is part of my argument, so we may not disagree as much as you think. You clearly strive to be held accountable for a number of factors, so maybe that isn’t such a bad thing. It’s hard for me to counter your discussion without really seeing what an actionable plan looks like – and how you lay out the goals and then determine a fee structure. There is something very authentic about guaranteeing a result and I do see that value. I just think there are so many variables to consider, but I’d love to see how you put your model into play.
Rachel
I agree with all your points. The value a PR Professional brings to an organization is more than measurable…oh God, I’m going to say it…’metrics’…Lord forgive me I feel like such a fool.
Part of the value of a PR professional is to assess the public image of an organization (view from the outside) and then help the organization to understand their public image and how all media can be used to modify that image (or maintain a positive public image.) Any company that measures success of the PR by hits or revenue will eventually end up like GM; making lots of money, but not seeing that the public hates you until it’s too late. I’ve said it before, but it’s still valid, “How bad do you have to be at PR to have over half of America to want you to fail?”
Having someone outside of the company who can objectively tell a company about the state of their Public Relations is vital. This brings up the ethical question of whether a PR firm is willing to risk losing a client that may not want to hear the truth about their public image, but that’s another discussion.
And with measurement, Paul, comes the ability for an agency to be held accountable for actions.
More to your point, firms should not be afraid to lose a client for telling them the truth. It will not be a profitable venture for both parties otherwise.
David:
(I started this afternoon and got distracted.)
Dang you’re fast. Were you reading it as I was writing?
I put up a post today on my blog about not ‘selling’ but ‘educating’ the client/customer that I think applies here. I feel that a consultant’s job is to help a client understanding what they don’t know about what they don’t know. From my point of view a client would be dependent on the PR professional to tell them what is acceptable (i.e.; set the standard), so the goal of accountability is lost when the party being measured is also the party setting the standard.
I don’t disagree with accountability, but I’ve yet to see a measurement tool that truly measures performance. I have experience in helping managers write performance standards for employees (which, I’ll grant you is not the same as what we’re discussing) and they always fail to measure the intangible factors that define great performance. In addition, performance ‘standards’ establish a ‘meets standards’ mentality, which I feel is inappropriate.
An analogy I would offer is someone going to a store to buy a suit or a dress. When they go in they may not know exactly what they want. When they leave they come out with the suit or dress. They know that the experience was positive or negative and they are either satisfied or not. They didn’t need standards to evaluate the experience. If they did create standards it might measure a wide range of factors about the physical store and the staff, but would those standard reflect what they already know about the experience? My ‘opinion’ is that standards do not accountability make.
As you can see I get passionate about performance evaluation and it’s shortcomings.
Rachel and Paul, good points. We should hold a brainstorming workshop about it. Game if you all are. Perhaps over coffee or drinks informally and potentially present all points at a PRSA event?
David:
Again, are you reading as I’m writing?
That sounds fun. I will be down in SoCal in mid-June. I’d be happy to meet up for coffee while I’m there. pakiser@sbcglobal.net or 775.224.2228.
Paul
As someone with over forty years experience in all facets of the PR world including big traditional agency, major corporate client side, and…the founder of a pay-for-performance PR firm thirteen years ago that’s been providing accountable results backed by by great strategy, research, messaging, and social media to some pretty neat global clients…I’d love to join that brainstorming workshop. Just let me know where and when.
Dick Grove
INK inc.
My good friend, Dick Grove, chiming in! Good to hear from you, sir!
It’s my favorite subject…you’d think after all these years that the “traditionalists” and hourly fee bandits would not still be making the the same tired arguments against pay-for performance PR. “The client sacrifices full service…including strategic messaging, etc. etc.” My particular favorite is “relationship building”…shouldn’t every client pay for that? After all, it may pay off sometime, somewhere in the future…even for another client. Give me a break! As I said, always open to a good discussion…
All the best, Dick
Dick,
Do you create strategy, messaging, research etc… free of charge? Does a cost only incur when a media placement hit the stands? I’m just trying to understand your model.
Happy to come together with the three of you.
Rachel
I’m finalizing my schedule for the month next week and will advise. Would welcome it!
Hi Rachel,
The cost is incorporated into the pricing of the individual media placements.
Nothing in this world (although many clients would like to hope so…) is free of charge
We spend a great deal of time when first beginning with a client as well as later thoroughly understanding the client’s business, their products or services, their marketing and PR goals, and the best ways to communicate these to their key audiences. We also spend considerable time analyzing the most appropriate media (including social media) to carry this messaging as well as the hooks we believe will have the greatest success in gaining the media’s interest. The perfectly crafted “message” that is only heard by the client and their attorneys in a self-serving press release is about as effective in making an impact as the proverbial falling tree in the empty forest. We believe, as do our clients, that the perfect message is one given credence by a third party, i.e., the media, and carried to their key audiences. That’s when accountability comes in…and an invoice is sent for a tangible result.
Wholeheartedly concur. Strategy is why they hire consultants, but it’s only as good as the success derived from its execution. There should be measures of effectiveness for all strategic PR plans, and agencies should not be afraid to hold themselves accountable to its success.
This sounds like a measurement problem. It’s simple to measure the number of articles or news stories that show up about a company. The other PR factors are more intangible, and this post is a good warning that pay for performance work may not provide these intangible factors.
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