It is a truth universally acknowledged, but seldom questioned, that PR agencies are bad at doing their own publicity. Consumed with securing coverage for clients and ensuring that each hour in the day is billable, it’s hard enough to squeeze in prep for a new business pitch, let alone time to work on actively promoting our own agencies – particularly for small businesses.
Out of curiosity I recently sat down to calculate how many press releases I’ve written in the last three years since joining my current agency. The number I got to, based on an average of 1.5 per week, was 234. I then added up the number of releases I’ve written about my own agency in the same time period (which is a worrying insight into how I spend my free time these days – good job this column is anonymous), and it came to a grand total of one. Yes, on average just 0.4% of the press releases I write are aimed at promoting the business I work for. If any of my clients dedicated this little time to PR and marketing it would be worrying indeed, and I might advise them to rethink any projected figures they had totted up for their next quarter of growth.
When the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) told us that PR, events and main media would benefit the most from the 30% of UK businesses expecting to increase marketing spend in 2015, we rubbed our hands together in glee. But why shouldn’t PR agencies also be part of this 30%? Why aren’t we applying the skills and expertise at our fingertips – indeed already in the building – to our own businesses? If one more client tells me they’re going to be “walking the talk” this year I may chew off my left arm (again, anonymity is a blessing here), but really, why aren’t we practising what we preach?
In January, I attended an event where young entrepreneurs talked about their success, and almost every speaker mentioned a double-page spread that led to phones ringing off the hook with orders, or a business deal secured because of the noise the media made about a previous project. And yet none of them made a conscious connection between their success and the genius of whoever was doing their PR (even if they, themselves, were doing it). Why would they? Of course journalists would want to write about them – they were brilliant. The importance of training clients to say thank you is one for another time, but the necessity of raising the profile of the power of PR is one for right now. We need to speak out about our successes, to give our opinions and share our knowledge.
PR is arguably the least understood of today’s marketing artillery. Often – although more archaically – measured against advertising, it can seem intangible to those on the outside. If we were advising a client on how to make their business offering understood by the audiences they needed to reach, we’d present them with a strategy for doing so. It’s time we devised a strategy for ourselves, and made PR more understood and thus more respected. We need to add value to what we do in the eyes of potential clients, and stop underselling ourselves. We are experts in reputation management, communications consultancy, brand building, content marketing, and social media – the list goes on – and we understand how the media works. It’s high time we utilised these skills for the benefit our own organisations.
Of course, there are stumbling blocks. The number of publications specifically dedicated to our industry is limited and tend to be read by our peers rather than potential clients. This makes them a great space for recruitment and debating ideas, but not necessarily for attracting business. Likewise, as PRs we still need to ensure our clients come first, and that we are not releasing information that may benefit their competitors. However, whether by targeting vertical press within client sectors, or working more closely with publications occupying the marketing or branding space (areas that are becoming increasingly less defined) – there are opportunities we can utilise to build our brands. On the whole PR agencies are already prolific on social media, which is a fantastic way of raising the profile of our work. But by taking an integrated approach to our own PR we can engage with new audiences, build the reputations of our agencies, and increase understanding and appreciation of PR as a whole.
Personally I hate resolutions, but if you are thinking of committing to anything during Lent why not make it investing time in PR for your agency? It’s bound to be much less painful than giving up chocolate.
To get weekly news analysis, job alerts and event notifications direct to your inbox, sign up free for Media Network membership.
All Guardian Media Network content is editorially independent except for pieces labelled “Brought to you by” – find out more here.
Could you be one of our bloggers? Got an idea for an anonymous blog post about the realities of working in PR? Get in touch here.