About Us
Selecting a Consultancy
Public Relations consultancies vary enormously in size and capability. They range from individual operations, offering specialist skills to consultancies providing a wider range of services and expertise. They can be local or international, located in a single city or have offices or affiliates in every State and Territory in the country.
Registered Consultancies
The PRIA Registered Consultancies Group seeks to establish standards for the operations of a public relations consultancy. In much the same way as the PRIA establishes professional standards for individual practitioners, the Scheme seeks to impose professional standards on consultancy operation which will be a guide to consultancy principals as well as public relations clients.
Why is this important? Because many "consultancies" offering their services are not necessarily ethical or responsible and this results in a poor reputation for the entire consultancy area. Further, there is a need for consultancies to strive for professional excellence by achieving standards laid down by the PRIA, just as the PRIA seeks to lay down standards for public relations professionals.
While it is possible to undertake this establishment of standards on a consultancy-by-consultancy basis, the task is greater and there can still be challenges made to the professionalism of some consultancies unless there is a common standard.
These established standards become an assurance to clients and prospective clients of the professionalism of consultancies, which have been registered after a review by their peers.
Choosing a Consultancy
It is important to understand your needs as clearly as possible before choosing a consultancy that best matches those requirements.
Among the services provided by consultancies, are:
- Strategic communications management
- Media relations
- Issues management
- Crisis management
- Reputation management
- Employee relations
- Investor relations
- Community relations
- Government relations
- Financial public relations
- Product or service marketing
- Brand building
- Corporate identity
- Special events
- Print production
- Video and Web production
- Change management
- Sponsorship
- Training inr anything from media skills to corporate or community presentation skills
- Litigation public relations
The list changes with the needs of business and the community. They key is matching your needs to the consultancy’s capabilities. Some larger corporate or government organisations often use in-house public relations in tandem with one or more consultancies.
A useful first step is to create a short list of relevant consultancies. You can accumulate information in any number of ways. Coming to this website is as good a start as any, but you may wish to seek recommendations from business contacts that might include colleagues that have used the services of a registered consultancy, and members of professional organisations eg lawyers. You can then look up the web site of each of the short-listed consultancies.
Initial Selection
Create a short list of consultancies that appear to meet your needs. Phone or write to see whether they are interested in pursuing your business. Some may have clients that would put them in a conflict of interest so a “no conflict” clause may be required..
You may then wish to ask for an expression of interest to determine whether they have the relevant experience to carry out the work you need and how they administer their business. You will undoubtedly have any number of questions to ask, including:
- What is the background of senior consultants?
- How much work has the consultancy done in similar areas to yours?
- Do they have any case studies on these assignments?
- Would they be conflicted by working with you?
- How does the consultancy charge – by monthly retainer, by the hour, by the magnitude of the assignment as it unfolds, by the elements of the task or tasks you wish to have fulfilled?
- How are expenses charged – at cost or with a management fee?
- What are the hourly rates for each consultant working on your assignment?
- Who would be working on the program and why those people?
- What are the methods of reporting – a contact report after each meeting, a monthly report, a six-monthly or annual review?
Ask if they will provide you with referees from their client lists who might provide you with an insight as to how they work. After this process, you can reduce the short list.
Consultancy Presentations
You will now want to meet the people who are likely to be working for you. If the Chief Executive is present, ask him or her whether they will be actively working on the assignment.
You will want to provide a brief before this meeting so that the consultancy can prepare an outline of a program. Public Relations companies rarely, if ever, present a fully detailed, long-term communications strategy. This would entail a great deal of expensive research into your stakeholders and their relationship with your organisation and is not recommended by the RCG. If, however, you do require a major presentation, be prepared to pay a negotiated fee.
You are entitled to ask about work they have done in the areas of your needs, what they did in each case and what was the outcome.
One of the most important aspects of this meeting is to find out if you feel compatible and comfortable with the consultants who will be working on your case.
You should brief the consultancy as thoroughly as possible, but if you want a highly detailed response, be prepared to pay. You are asking for their intellectual capital.
Finally, the consultancy you choose should get a thorough written brief, outlining your objectives and desired outcomes. If you are also going to use an advertising agency or more than one Public Relations Consultancy, ensure they all receive the brief at the same time. They will need to work together to ensure you are getting a comprehensive and consistent program.
Last Updated: May 18, 2007