The 5 Evils of Agency PR: #2 - Measurement

This is #2 in a 5-part series of posts that discuss the "Five Evils of Agency PR." Specifically, we're talkin' about the 5 prevailing reasons for firing a PR agency.

#1 - Employee Churn.

#2 - Measurement Misunderstanding

Unfortunately everyone seems to have a different opinion about how to measure Public Relations success. When the client asks the PR firm, “How do we know if we are moving the needle?” they are probably frustrated by an answer that leads to a forlorn-looking clip-book.

What do you think about PR measurement?

Do you like the Ad-Value Equivalency approach? Do you like Share of Voice? Do you think that the Share of Voice model will gain more clout and sophistication, thanks to the rise of blogs? Do you think it is possible to help clients ascertain how PR impacted their inbound lead flow? Do you think that a fat clip book is enough? Do you think that the CMO will feel increased pressure to quantify the revenue impacts of each & every marketing program?

I will not use this post to go off on yet-another toot about tying PR to Sales. But I'll have a lot more to say on that subject, soon. Will you?

The 5 Evils of Agency PR: #1 - Churn

This will be a 5-part series of posts that discuss the "Five Evils of Agency PR." ... Specifically, the 5 prevailing reasons (in no particular order) that clients use for firing their PR firm.

#1 Employee Churn.

After investing time and money getting a new agency up to speed, clients find it off-putting when one or more of the key people leaves the Agency.

They need to "start over" with a new team. Momentum is lost. Maybe it works out with a new team, maybe it doesn't. It begs the question, though: "If we need to invest our time and money in evaluating and ramping-up with a new team, we might as well review other agencies."”

Can you blame them?

If you run a PR agency, and this issue resonates, then you might need to think differently about how to run things. You've probably heard the apocryphal Marketing 101 story: "The railroad barons lost the war against the automobile because they failed to realize that they were NOT in the railroad business, they were actually in the TRANSPORTATION business. If they'd realized that early on, they might have had a chance at re-architecting their business."

Here's how the lesson applies, at least at our shop:

SHIFT is not a PR agency. SHIFT is a TALENT MANAGEMENT AGENCY - whose talents just happen to be focused on Public Relations. It makes all the difference.