The public relations firm

The Public

Relations

Firm

Bob “Pritch” Pritchard

Stacey Smith

Public Relations Collection

Don W. Stacks and Donald K. Wright, Editors

The Public Relations Firm

The Public Relations Firm

Bob “Pritch” Pritchard, APR, Fellow PRSA,

Captain, U.S. Navy (Ret.)

Stacey Smith, APR, Fellow PRSA

The Public Relations Firm

Copyright © Business Expert Press, LLC, 2015.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,

stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any

means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other

except for brief quotations, not to exceed 400 words, without the prior

permission of the publisher.

First published in 2015 by

Business Expert Press, LLC

222 East 46th Street, New York, NY 10017

www.businessexpertpress.com

ISBN-13: 978-1-60649-664-0 (paperback)

ISBN-13: 978-1-60649-665-7 (e-book)

Business Expert Press Public Relations Collection

Collection ISSN: 2157-345X (print)

Collection ISSN: 2157-3476 (electronic)

Cover and interior design by S4Carlisle Publishing Services Private Ltd.,

Chennai, India

First edition: 2015

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Printed in the United States of America

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my mom, Shirley Smith, who taught me that if

you really love what you do then a job isn’t work at all, and to my JJ&W

colleagues who made all these years so much fun!

Stacey Smith, APR, Fellow PRSA

Senior Counsel & Partner

Jackson Jackson & Wagner

I dedicate this book to my father, who passed before he could see the final

result. He was a great man and one of my greatest supporters and advisers.

I hope I made you proud, dad! I also want to thank my wife of 20 years,

Brenda Gayle, for her support and encouragement.

Bob “Pritch” Pritchard, APR, Fellow PRSA

Captain, U.S. Navy (Ret.)

Instructor & Faculty Adviser, Lindsey + Asp

Abstract

This book takes an in-depth look at the client/agency relationship by dis￾cussing what business leaders should expect of their public relations firms.

It discusses how and why they should pick an agency along with the types

of firms at their disposal. The business of public relations is covered in

the first section of the book. The second section provides detail on the

relationship between firm and client and focuses on what firms must do

to satisfy client expectations of their work. The third and final section

outlines how firms establish success or failure. Expert advice is provided

on everything from hiring a firm to defining output and outcome expec￾tations and everything in between.

Keywords

PR firms; PR agencies; Hiring a PR firm (agency); How to Hire a Public

Relations (pr) firm (agency); Hiring a pr (public relations) firm (agency)

(company) (person); How PR firm’s bill; Evaluating a pr firm (agency)

(plan) (campaign); PR firm billing rates; pr firm (agency) contracts ; pr

practitioner roles, Responsibilities; Public relations evaluation; Client￾Firm relationship; Public relations research; Public relations execution

Table of Contents

Preface..................................................................................................xi

Introduction .........................................................................................1

Part I The Business................................................................... 3

Chapter 1 Why Hire a Public Relations Firm?...................................5

Chapter 2 Types of Firms.................................................................17

Chapter 3 Hiring a Firm..................................................................27

Chapter 4 Defining the Work ..........................................................35

Chapter 5 How Firms Bill ...............................................................45

Part II The Working Relationship between

Client and Firm............................................................ 57

Chapter 6 The Client–Firm Relationship.........................................59

Chapter 7 Progress Reports..............................................................69

Chapter 8 Research and Execution...................................................77

Chapter 9 Evaluation.......................................................................87

Part III Meeting Expectations: Measurement

and Evaluation.............................................................. 93

Chapter 10 Meeting Client Expectations...........................................95

Chapter 11 Wrapping Up................................................................103

References...........................................................................................107

Index .................................................................................................109

Preface

My coauthor and I were asked to collaborate on this book by our editor,

Don Stacks. Don is one of the top researchers in public relations, espe￾cially in measurement and evaluation. He’s also been my mentor since I

first entered academe in the fall of 2001, so it was a tremendous honor to

be asked by him to write a book.

This is my first book, though I had contributed several chapters to

other texts. Stacey Smith, my coauthor, had the edge on me as she’s coau￾thored one of the top case study textbooks and edited and wrote for the

well-thought-of industry publication pr reporter for more than 20 years.

Still, the challenge was a little daunting for us both.

When Stacey and I first sat down to organize this book, we had in

mind practicing business executives. It has always been our hope that this

book will help inform management practice and help current and future

business leaders identify and better utilize public relations firms and in￾dependent professionals.

But, we also knew the audience was broader than that. We hope

this volume is helpful to students and faculty in any number of pub￾lic relations classes, including Introduction to Public Relations. And

while a niche market, we hope our book will be especially helpful to

students and faculty starting or growing a student-run public rela￾tions firm. As these experiential learning laboratories have become

more popular, the need for information on the business side of agency

operations is more in evidence than ever.

We start our book with an in-depth look at the client/agency rela￾tionship, discussing what business leaders should expect of their public

relations firms. We discuss how and why they should pick an agency along

with the types of firms at their disposal. The business of public relations

is covered in the first section of the book. The second section provides

detail on the relationship between firm and client and focuses on what

firms must do to satisfy client expectations of their work. The third and

final section outlines how firms establish success or failure.