Embarking on a relationship with a new HR PR agency, some might say, is a bit like a marriage. It can only work if both sides are willing to put the effort in.
From the moment an organisation puts out a tender for PR support, the hard work begins. There’s the brief to create, researching and selecting a shortlist of agencies, fielding their questions, and inviting them to pitch for the business. After sitting through the pitches and weighing up each agency’s ideas, experience and cultural fit, it’s time to make your decision.
Whether you’re looking for broad communications support or a specialist HR PR agency that understands the challenges, trends and conversations shaping the people profession, the choice goes beyond credentials alone. You need to choose an agency that not only meets your brief but impresses you with its ideas. It must also demonstrate a genuine understanding of your audience and feel like a partner you can build a productive working relationship with.
Surely that’s the hard bit over, isn’t it? Now you can sit back, leave them to get on with it, and wait for the results. Sadly, that’s not the case. In fact, this is the point where your new agency should become the demanding one in the relationship.
From the outset, your agency needs to get under the skin of your business. It needs to understand what you do, why you do it, and who you do it for. It needs to understand your products and services, your market, your competitors. And not forgetting the challenges your customers are trying to solve. For businesses selling to HR professionals, that understanding needs to go even deeper. The agency must get to grips with the issues influencing HR leaders. What pressures are shaping workplace decision-making, and the trends driving conversations across the people profession? Only then can it identify the stories, opinions and insights that will genuinely resonate with your target audience. It also needs to understand what motivates your senior management team. What are your spokespeople passionate about? Where do their areas of expertise lie? Which customers would be willing to advocate for your business? The more insight your agency has, the better equipped it will be to uncover compelling stories and thought leadership opportunities.
Beyond that, it needs to learn about your wider marketing goals and ambitions. A good HR PR agency doesn’t operate in isolation. It works alongside your marketing team to support lead generation, brand awareness, market positioning and business growth through strategic communications. It will also need your help to champion PR internally. Ensuring key stakeholders understand PR’s value is crucial in them committing to making the campaign a success. On a practical level, as the main point of contact, you’re the person your agency will rely on to help fill its PR toolkit.
And what about creating compelling content that captures the attention of both HR audiences and the media. Here there are plenty of things an agency is going to need from you. These could include introductions to key spokespeople, access to company data and market insights, customer success stories, photography of your people and customers, and time with subject matter experts. It will also need support with content approvals, participation in brainstorming sessions, and regular meetings or calls to keep activity moving forward.
There’s a lot to cover, which is why the agency must continue to drive the relationship, clearly communicating what it needs from you and when. The most successful client-agency relationships are built on collaboration, transparency and shared accountability.
Just like a marriage, for a client-agency relationship to flourish, both parties need to work together as a team. Your HR PR agency can only achieve your communications objectives if your business is prepared to support its efforts and provide access to the people, information and insights it needs to tell great stories.
Like marriage, partnering with an agency is a significant commitment. But when both sides invest in the relationship, trust each other and work towards the same goals, the results can be transformative.
So, are you ready to say “I do” to PR?
