Comments on: Ridiculous clients and fearful PR agencies

By: Laicee

Laicee — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 09:55:57 +0000

bgikez That’s a mold-breaker. Great tnhiking!

By: The”P” in PR «

The”P” in PR « — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 19:02:03 +0000

[...] Yuan, an independent PR and new media consultant commented in one of my earlier post about how many PR folks are thinking press relations rather than public relations. ….Ask any [...]

By: Interesting reads about PR «

Interesting reads about PR « — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 12:58:33 +0000

[...] to manage your clients Spun off from my last post about ridiculous clients, Walter wrote a useful post (from a client’s point of view) on how PR agencies should [...]

By: pristan

pristan — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 11:43:43 +0000

Walter — I believe in what we call “media training” for clients. I have worked with clients whose spokesperson/s were sent for training on not only how media works but what PR can help achieve. Those clients usually ended up as great clients to work with and at the end of day, we could see better results that both parties were happy with. Now that I am going to move to the “client” side, it is interesting…

Estee — where are you working at now?

Daniel — it is true that, at times clients have their marketing budget cut, thus lesser amount of money for above-the-line communications. The burden is then put on PR to perform.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 02:32:24 +0000

I agree that rising expectations from clients – with marketers having to show ever-increasing ROI to their bosses – is one of the key reasons that lead to unreasonable demands being placed on PR agencies.

My experience that you can’t even logically explain away to clients why their coverage is delayed/small/missing/poor/inaccurate. They want absolutes – if I pay you $X, I demand Y. If I don’t get it, I’ll shop for another agency who can.

Unfortunately, too many agencies are complicit and shortsighted, and so agree to such demands despite knowing better.

Is it a wonder that the industry starts an irreversible slide towards unprofitability and mediocrity?

By: eStee

eStee — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 02:09:45 +0000

I’ve read all your posts and I’m glad to hear you guys speak up and clear the air…

It is hard being a PR person, please share more…

By: walter

walter — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 22:46:45 +0000

I think what more PR agencies could do is to educate their clients on the processes involved. Let them in on what happens in the newsroom and why certain stories will always get more mileage than others.

Newspapers are written from back to front, with page one being the last page to be written. This is to accommodate any HUGE breaking news, which is usually negative. This is why occasionally, you will find that the news editor is bylined for those stories.

I have heard before from a journo friend that a bad news day is actually a good news day. Sometimes, editors even celebrate when a huge tragedy occur (after of course offering their condolences and saying their prayers). This is because everybody knows (or at least should know) that bad news sell a lot better than good news!

I don’t think client education would necessarily result in your client “DIY-ing” and hence the agency losing his or her business. On the contrary, it may help to clear all the misconceptions about PR from the onset. Hmmm…. sounds like somethign I should blog about!

By: pristan

pristan — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 04:15:12 +0000

hey Melvin, welcome back to blogging! you have brilliant views and please continue writing!! For the sake of folks who are reading this post, i am linking your latest post here for reference:-

http://thepr2.0universe.com/2007/11/27/the-myopia-of-pr-detractors/

By: Melvin Yuan

Melvin Yuan — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 20:37:35 +0000

PR consultants/agencies are fearful when they don’t know what their real job is.

Ask any consultant to list his/her top five tags for PR and you’ll know the level of his thinking.

If “media relations” and “pitching stories” are in that list, you’ll know what’s going to rattle his nerves… and yours!

By: pristan

pristan — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 10:48:02 +0000

Brian, great thoughts there. I was reading various news and online posts about the latest MDA’s rap video and sure, it has probably gotten some great hits but a huge percentage of those hits – negative.

I am hoping to be a good client when dealing with PR agencies in future.

Matthew! I love your comments, as usual. I sent them to my friend and urge her to share with the client. haaaa