Six Reasons Not To Hire A PR Firm

Having had huge success AND failure with public Relations agencies, I often get asked by CEOs if their firm should hire one. Sometimes it is better to understand the reasons NOT to do something rather than doing it. So here are my top six reasons to not hire a PR Firm:

1. If You Are Going to Make Claims That Are Not True

I met the CEO of a company in a market space that I knew quite well who made the claim about his firm being the largest provider in North America. When I questioned him on it, he admitted it was not accurate. Nothing hurts your credibility more within an industry and in particular with the media than making claims that are easy to disprove.

2. If You Do Not Have Realistic Expectations

A number of CEOs expect to be in The Wall Street Journal within six months of hiring a PR firm and use that or a similar benchmark as the threshold of success. As someone who has hired multiple PR firms that ended up getting coverage in a number of high profile publications like The Wall Street Journal, there is always plenty going on in the background on the part of the company and of course the PR team to even get a shot of having a story that resonates with the writer of a high profile publication. You will also need to make your own luck .

3. If You Do Not Regularly Have New and Interesting Content

PR professionals are not magicians; they need content just like your sales team does. For PR, the trick, is to take your content, for instance success stories (you hopefully have a few of those, don’t you?), and turn them into potential stories or parts of stories that could be useful to a writer working on their own particular story. The more stories you have in terms of interesting content and/or brands, the better off you will be. Even better, especially if you want to be included in main stream articles, is if your stories have hooks that can tie into current events.

4. If You Are Not Genuinely Helpful to the Media and Their Own Concerns

Media professionals have their own job to do with their own goals and deadlines just like your business. The more you make moves to genuinely help them with their own personal ambitions and goals, the more likely they will seek to help you out. Be available and use your own network of contacts to help them with their stories, even when it is has nothing to do with you or your company.

5. If You Do Not Select the PR Firm Based on the Point Person on Your Account

Even though plenty has changed in the last few years especially with the advent of social networking, PR is more than ever about the person and the team who are accountable for delivering results. Make sure that for any PR firm you hire, there are specific and measurable goals that your point person agrees are truly possible and will stand behind making them happen. Further, and there is nothing more important when working with a PR firm, make sure you have confidence that the person and her/his team can deliver on those goals.

6. If You Expect Media Coverage of Your Firm to Immediately Lead to an Increase in Sales

It is quite likely that being covered by a publication, even a mainstream publication, in and of itself will have very little impact on short term revenue goals. You are much better off if you have realistic offensive and defensive monthly goals for what you expect, such as the number of conversations with members of the media in the areas that are important to you (offensive) or setting the standard with your PR firm that there should be no story about your space where you are not at least mentioned as a significant player (defensive). The goal for PR is to be a part of the long-term strategy of building a brand that has value in the marketplace not to win a particular deal or to hit this month’s quota.