Three Tips for PR Agencies and Vendors

PR Meets Marketing - http://prmeetsmarketing.com. This is a video response to Steve Gershik's post, "Open Letter to PR Agencies" regarding the frustrations Steve had during the PR agency vetting process. I elaborate on this to add three points to his original blog post:

Be Honest
In the end, I want a successful partnership (stress partnership here). But in order to do this, you need to be honest with me regarding your workloads and what is truly possible. This way, we can set the right expectations for success. Which leads me to

Referrals are key
In this economy, referrals are worth their weight in gold. The expectations are higher when youre referred by a person I trust or Ive worked with you in the past. But dont waste this opportunity. If you do poorly in front of my executives, it looks bad for you, me and the person who referred you. In the end, Ill never refer you again. So bring in your A game and do 150% if youre referred to me. But one word of caution

Respect My Process
People like Steve and I are managing entire marketing programs. For me, I cannot manage the vetting process from beginning to end so I work with my colleagues to help me in the process. Dont try to circumvent that process by trying to reach me directly. In fact, you may lose the business as a result. And for PR agencies, would you go around a reporter to the editor becuase you thought the reporter was too slow? I guess it depends but you would think twice before doing that becuase of the remifications, right?

What do you think? Are there any other points to consider?

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• marketing
• public relations
• pr agency
• Steve Gershik
• vendor
• honesty

[kaizen356]

I'm pretty sure his name is Gershik, not Gershwick.