A man’s world?

Apparently the region’s PR scene isn’t dominated by air-kissing bimbettes, and is in fact packed with proper professional business advisors who deserve boardroom attention. EN investigates a sector that just wants to be taken seriously.

Given the diligence with which they hounded EN’s journalist for a mention in this spot in the magazine, one would be forgiven for thinking the PR people in the North West had too much time on their hands. But, apparently, the agencies in the region have fared relatively well during the recession, developing their expertise in social media to win new clients and taking advantage of the public sector contracts that have become available up North.

Nick Jaspan, publisher of the media industry website How-Do, says, “There has been some pressure on fees but if you were to take an absolute comparison between PR agencies and advertising agencies, you’d find job losses in advertising and probably not in PR. In fact, the top 50 or so firms have probably increased their headcount this year.

“There is more public sector work being de-centralised too.

More government agencies and their communications campaigns are now being dealt with regionally and it’s creating opportunities for regional PR agencies. PRs can be very entrepreneurial, and they’re very good at land grabbing when they get the opportunity.”

What’s more, few, if any, agencies in the North West rely heavily on clients in the financial or property sectors, giving them an edge – for the past 18 months or so – over their rivals in London.

The region’s PRs, then, have done well – particularly well, in fact, if one considers that few businesses, despite many dedicating a budget to it, know exactly what PR is.

Clare Moody, managing director of Clare Communications, celebrated 20 years in the PR business earlier this year. She says the industry has always suffered from a lack of understanding of the discipline and the benefits it can offer businesses.

She explains, “PR is about image building but its level of impact depends on a business believing in PR and, more importantly, understanding the benefits. A lot of people out there don’t even know what it stands for or how it can help them.

“You only need to look at the number of people who go for colour separations [essentially the publishing of paid-for press releases] in the back of magazines – they don’t need to do that if they have got the right story and it’s placed properly.

A great number of companies could, if they understood it, reap great rewards from PR and it’s our job as PRs to get that message through.”

PR (public relations), basically, describes the process of organising communication between a company and its public. It is different from advertising in that the exposure it generates is not paid for – or at least in “proper” publications it isn’t.

Jaspan says, “For those businesses that don’t understand the concept of PR, I suspect, with the rise of social media it’s probably getting more confusing. But, basically, PR is about creating, enhancing and projecting a positive image of one’s company in print and digital media and making positive chatter.”

So anyone who thinks PR amounts to little more than a pretty lady in a pencil skirt massaging the egos of clients and journalists – who tend to be male and in their mid-forties – are off the mark, apparently.

Jaspan continues, “The girls with the doublebarrelled names are in London primarily. And a lot of the agencies up here are actually run by men [but in some cases staffed almost entirely by 25-year-olds with DD cups! –ed]. PRs aren’t going out and using their looks, they are going out and working hard. I think a lot of PRs get a bad press and it’s unjustified, actually.”

EN’s experience of regional PRs, it must be admitted, covers the full spectrum of tactics – including the more, ahem, “tactile” approach. However, there are many in the sector who believe they deserve to be taken seriously as professionals. One of these is Anthea Fosti, director of Zeus PR – the firm she set up in Manchester in March 2008 – who thinks a PR agency should be recognised as a business advisor, alongside accountants and lawyers.

“It should be a partnership,” she says. “PR is all about managing a company’s reputation amongst its stakeholders so it’s anything from internal communications, through to shareholders and customers. It’s about reputation management.

“Gone are the days when companies see this as a press release distribution service. We are business advisors and PR should sit around the boardroom table at that level and be working with firms on business strategy.”

It’s a disciplined machine, then, but one that can be costly to run. Understandably, some businesses’ PR budgets have taken a battering of late but, if Jaspan and the PRs themselves are to believed, clever bosses will recognise the greater need for good PR in a recession and they will make it pay.

Moody says, “There is a place for advertising and a place for PR. Advertising is a sales tool and PR is an image builder. A lot of my clients have reduced their advertising budgets because people just haven’t got the money. Not only is PR more effective than advertising, it’s cheaper.”

Fosti agrees, “Every business has a reputation to manage – internally and externally – and every business has customers so, for that reason, every business should see a good return on investment from having a good PR strategy.”

The trick is knowing what you want to get out of PR and, more importantly, demanding results.

While results-based PR in the traditional sense (measuring in column inches) is offered by only a handful of agencies as a “gimmick” these days, any PR agent worth their salt in the current climate will offer a guarantee of some sort in order to secure business.

Moody says, “I ask the client at the beginning what it is they want to achieve from PR. If they want regular coverage in the press, what level do they want it at? Weekly, monthly or every other month? I will pitch my fee based on that. If they want two articles a month, that will take me twice as long as one article.

“If I’m handling an account and they don’t get the coverage – and this has never happened in 20 years, by the way – I would feel guilty and tell them that they can’t pay because I haven’t produced the results. But it’s never been that way, I always get the results.

“Certain PRs – I won’t mention names –get such little coverage for their clients that they blow stuff up on a photocopier, to make it look like a big cutting and they present that as if it’s a result, which is ridiculous. I’ve never had to do that and I never would do that because I think it’s sneaky. But it’s something businesses need to be wary of.”

Jo Leah, head of Weber Shandwick’s Manchester operation, directed the firm’s recent launch of the “Bitesize” service – an entry-level PR product designed for SMEs.

Leah says, “The truth is, Weber Shandwick has big targets and to hit those targets I needed strong fees and, because quite a lot of discounting goes on in town, it was easier to go and win national accounts.

But the team here wants to work with brands in their region as well so we’ve worked hard to change the perception that we are this great big global agency that’s not interested in local SMEs.

“We’ve not reduced our rates. It just means that clients can come in and buy our account manager level – they don’t buy the strategy or the planning tools and all of Weber’s intellectual insight tools – but the account manager team can write press releases, organise launch events and things like that.”

For a business deliberating how to introduce or develop a PR strategy and how best to fund it, hiring an in-house PR person or team is another option worth considering. A reasonable salary may well be cheaper than a monthly retainer but would it produce the same results?

Jaspan says, “It depends on the company and the person. A good in-house PR can get to know the company, move fast and can probably get a bit more done. On the other hand, if your in-house person isn’t that good, they might find it harder to get access to the people at the top.

“If you are paying someone £400 or £600 a day, you are more likely to have a level of trust in the person, to engage them in strategic stuff and, in that sense, a good external PR can be an objective source of opinion and views.

“Whereas an in-house person might be afraid to say to his/her boss, ‘I think that’s a mistake’, a PR agent, unless they are really desperate for the work, will be objective.”

Whether through an agency or permanent staff, it’s imperative that your PR practitioner is au fait with the developments in the industry that have been forced through with the rise of digital and social media.

The tools available to the industry now include social media sites, search engine optimisation strategies and web analytics capabilities.

But for Moody – who says she is by no means ignorant about the digital age – the developments in technology aren’t all necessarily positive.

She says, “I think podcasts, blogs and Twitter and the rest are a big threat to PR. I remember talking to a journalist a few months ago who had PRs going on his blog and airing certain viewpoints. One PR placed a viewpoint on his blog that he couldn’t stand and the journalist decided, based on that, never to deal with him again.”

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