When is the right time to engage a PR firm?
Written by Zoe Alexis Whitehorn
There’s a buzz in the air, tempting you with ideas like: “Can we stand up a whole campaign next week? Can we land that shiny New York Times piece? Can we push out all of our fresh data to everyone across digital?”
And maybe, “You know what… we’re gonna need some help with this.”
Ultimately, knowing if and when you're ready to engage a communications firm helps make sure that you’re making a sound investment and sets you up for a solid, successful partnership!
So, when it comes to taking that next step to engage a PR firm, here are three checkpoints to help you know if the timing is right:
1. You’ve considered your team.
We always suggest starting with a few simple questions and some very honest answers:
Have I checked in with my team?
Is now the right time for us to launch this work?
And, do we have real, dedicated time to commit to a partnership?
Teamwork may make the dream work, but that starts with recognizing workloads and checking for a shared readiness to make this work a priority. Early, shared alignment around why you’re pursuing this work now and what this work means for the team’s workloads can set us all up for success.
That preliminary team check-in is a chance to make sure you get the most out of our partnership – that the work we do together won’t live on a shelf, and you’re ready to execute, track your progress and make real change you can measure
The amount of collaboration time that you can expect to dedicate varies from project to project.
But, at a minimum, you can assume that a partnership with a firm might mean about 1-3 hours a week for you or a main point of contact on your team.
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2. You’ve got your lofty goals in place and are ready to talk strategy.
This one’s simple: goals drive clarity. If you’ve already got your long-term organizational goals in place, you’re likely in a golden spot to start discussing communications and advocacy strategies to achieve those goals.
You should expect that your partner agency will begin with a strategic conversation where you make big decisions. For example, if you are working with Forthright, we will always start with diving deeply into your organization’s vision for success, both long-term and for our work together. You’ll want every tactic to have a clear ROI and feel truly worth your time. That means ensuring that all your efforts map back to your goals -- no vanity metrics, blanket solutions or aimless strategies in sight!
So, if you’re fired up to talk about what success looks like, and you’re committed to drawing a bright line between every tactic and specific goals, you’re probably ready to roll!
3. You’re ready to narrow down those audiences.
Have you erased “general public” from your vocabulary? Fabulous, us too. (Why? There’s no such thing.)
Narrowing in on your target audiences is an absolute must. At Forthright, for example, we’ll push our partners to get as specific as possible when it comes to selecting target audiences.
Being ready to engage a firm means a willingness to think through (with helpful facilitation from a firm!!) not just who you’re trying to reach, but why you’re trying to engage them, specifically.
You’ll want to be open to answer questions like:
Who will be most impacted by your campaign?
Who is the decision maker who will make your campaign succeed or fail? Who can say yes or no? Is it voters? The city council? The Mayor?
Who does your decision maker listen to? Who has their ear? Who do they trust most?
Once you’ve got those three checkpoints in place, then it’s time to find the best agency partner for you and your team. It’s just like our founder Katie says,“It’s in our brand: we’re not for everybody.” (And, there’s not a firm out there that is.)
So, when you’re thinking through potential partners, here are some questions we suggest considering first and foremost:
Values alignment: Don’t skip this, start with it. Does the potential firm share your values in a way that will make working together productive, connected and safe?
Skilled project managers: Does the potential firm love project management? Can you rely on them to know all the details and stay super on top of it, to support you in a way that makes your work easy?
Experience: Does the potential firm have lived experience and experience working on the things you’re working on? Have they stood where you’re standing or do they truly understand your mission?
X factor: And then the all important intangible of do you and the potential firm’s team get along – is there chemistry? Are they fun and easy to work with?
No matter who you work with, we’re right there with you, cheering you on!
