By Andrew Blum*
It’s an age old issue: the client wants the best ROI from their PR agency and the agency wants the client at the best fee rate it can get. How do you get these conflicting issues to work?
For both the client and the agency, each needs to know what their budget is. They also need to know what their PR goals are.
The client, of course, wants to get the best bang for their buck so that the ROI for PR can be justified up the ladder. The agency must not only see the good PR opportunity, but know that they need the appropriate account numbers to work for its bottom line.
Often the client won’t truly know the real ROI until it engages in the PR process for a while. It’s important that the agency makes the client understand this.
So, figure out a monthly number, whether it be on the low end at $2,500 to $5,000, or $10,000 or more on a higher end, and agree that this is the fee. Figure out what time period works for an initial contract and be sure both sides know what the exact PR goals and needs are for the client.
A PR Agency should know how to provide the best price for a client, and if the client has a good story to tell and also understands the PR process, the conflicting issues of ROI vs fees can easily be minimized.
Hopefully, the client-agency relationship will flourish for both parties. If not, both the client and agency can move on.
Getting this right can be a work in progress, but knowing the ROI and PR goals for both parties will help from the outset.
*Andrew Blum is a PR consultant and media trainer and principal of AJB Communications. He has directed PR for professional services and financial services firms, NGOs, agencies and other clients. As a PR executive, and formerly as a journalist, he has been involved on both sides of the media aisle in some of the most media intensive crises of the past 25 years. Contact him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter: @ajbcomms