We have traditionally paid our way by earning space in traditional media, predominantly newspapers, television and radio. This worked well for decades and although the industry was always – unfairly I might add – advertising’s poor cousin, by and large it was a good model. Clients got to leverage the good stuff they were doing, and mitigate the not-so-good, and we got to build good businesses with solid annuity income and have a lot of fun doing so.
But this idea of valuing what we do by dint of the media space that we secure for our clients has had its day. As a gauge of success, it’s out-dated.
Not only that, but it is also very inaccurate. The value equivalence assigned to PR depends to a very large extent on which clipping, or measurement, service we use. It depends on how they value space – and the different service providers ascribe very different values to space across the various platforms that they track.
They are also limited to traditional media channels.
A problem occurs when the methodologies differ between different services.
As media evolves, and with the growing importance of social media like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, the question arises about how valuable traditional reporting is when it comes to influencing purchase decisions.
And there can be no doubt that this what it is all about. Our clients want sales and PR is now undoubtedly a part of the sales mix now.
PR now has to justify its cost and success is proportional to sales and attendance.
One of our clients has been in the eventing space for a number of years and one of our deliverables was attendance. To build a full partnership we entered into a risk sharing agreement putting a portion of our retainer at risk and basing it on getting feet through the door. If we made or broke budget we earned our fee and made bonuses. It was good for all of us.
What I love about this model is that it is a true “concretisation” of partnership between us and our clients. We all have a lot to gain when it works and we all lose when it doesn’t. Agency and client become accountable to each other and the blame-game is reduced and the kudos for success gets shared. In this model KPIs are tied to attendance – which is measurable – rather than coverage which is less so. To paraphrase a well-known expression, not all coverage is created equal.
For example, social media is unparalleled when it comes to communicating with audiences, but how do you value this engagement? How do you value the influence of influencers, tweets, retweets, likes and shares? Online and social media is very murky, and valuing it is just as complicated. The value of a tweet depends on who follows the tweeter, how many retweets they get and by whom, and the influence of the people they influence.
Column inches, blog entries and the like will remain an important part of what we do but we want exposure that will deliver tangible benefits to our clients and not merely put their names in lights.
The work we do has to sell the brand in the same way that advertising does. It must get our clients’ customers to act – whether that be clicking on their keyboards, taking out their wallets or getting their feet through the door.
That is the new game we are in. And we need a new way of keeping score and valuing what we do. PR is no longer a one way, it’s all about the conversation. It’s no longer about space on a page. It’s now quality and power of engagement and what this does to sales or in the case of events, footfall and spend.
