Luke Bull, account director with Kenilworth's Quicksilver PR ponders - how come PR professionals fall down on self-promotion?
Working in the PR industry, we're often so focused on delivering for our clients that finding the time to promote our own company can be difficult.
Yet the service which we work so hard to convince our clients is worth their hard-earned cash has the potential to work just as hard for us as it does for them.
It's ironic that many PR agencies don't follow their own advice and get good news about themselves out there in the media on a regular basis.
If we're selling the idea of editorial coverage as an awareness raiser and sales and marketing tool for our clients, then we don't do ourselves any favours by not being seen to use it ourselves.
And what probably undermines the credibility of a PR agency more than anything else is resorting to paid-for advertising - often alongside free editorial from their competitors - showing they either have no good news to talk about or don't believe their own line about PR being more effective than advertising.
Ask yourself this question; as a client, would you be keener to work with an agency that's winning and keeping clients - and shouting about it - showing they are good at what they do, or one who can't even get their own name into the papers?
If they can't do it for themselves, how will they possibly do it for you?
Some agencies may opt to hide their light under the proverbial bushel for fear that a competitor may try to poach their clients. But if they're doing a good job that client is unlikely to leave anyway.
All clients want to work with a supplier that's successful and if you are well organised then both client and agency PR can be effectively delivered.
Indeed smart agencies treat their own business as a PR "client" in its own right with its own designated account handler, strategy and budget. Ultimately, consultancies which fail to market themselves on an ongoing basis are likely to struggle.
It isn't just a case of opening the pipeline and finding a new client when another one falls by the wayside; it's a competitive marketplace, and a planned PR campaign is an essential tool in the business development strategy.
If you're a client looking to outsource your PR, why not spend some time looking at how effective your prospective agency is at doing its own PR before entrusting it with your campaign?
