The Public Relations Blog

Don’t shy away from smaller opportunities.

We know your company – especially the CEO – wants media results. To get those results, your spokespeople must be available for interviews via email, phone, and in person. At Axia Public Relations, we’ve had companies hire us and then be reluctant to participate in interviews with smaller media outlets and with reporters who have smaller roles within bigger outlets. Being too selective about interviews is mistake #11 on Axia’s list of 15 mistakes companies make when hiring a PR firm.

In fact, there are a few benefits to participating in smaller interview opportunities. Here are three reasons you should be more willing to accept these types of interviews:

Don’t get frustrated when results don’t come quickly.

After much research and vetting, your company hired a public relations firm with the hope of gaining media hits and results. It’s been a month and you haven’t seen any results. You feel frustrated and ready to throw in the towel. It’s important to remember that a PR firm can’t guarantee results or say when you should expect results. In fact, becoming frustrated when the results don’t happen quickly is mistake #10 on Axia Public Relations’ list of 15 mistakes companies make when hiring a PR firm.

Don’t confuse the pitch team with your account management team.

Most companies consist of several departments including sales, marketing, customer service, and human resources. Every department (or team) includes team members who each play a specific role within the company. When partnering with a public relations firm, many executives confuse the pitch team with the account management team and expect that their initial contacts will continue to be their contacts throughout the partnership. This is mistake #8 on Axia Public Relations’ list of 15 mistakes companies make when hiring a PR firm. Don’t let this be your company. Most PR firms have a process to ease the transition as you move from prospective client to signed-contract client.

4 steps to help you choose the best media-monitoring platform

Capturing media clips to share with clients is one way a public relations firm shows its success. What many PR firms struggle with is capturing all the media mentions for its clients. No media-monitoring service can capture every media clip or media mention. Some platforms can’t access certain sites, while Google Alerts may capture a clip before the provider. When choosing a media-monitoring platform, it’s important to use the provider that best fits your clients’ needs. Some popular platforms include Agility, Cision, BurrellesLuce, Meltwater and TrendKite.

Finding a media-monitoring platform isn’t easy as each platform offers something different. Here are four things you can do to ensure you choose the right platform for your company.

2 reasons why you shouldn’t hire a PR firm that guarantees sales

As a CEO, you know that sales are the lifeblood of a company. Using public relations to increase your company’s share of voice within the media is one way to improve your sales. However, if your company hires a PR firm based on its offer to guarantee sales, you're making a mistake for two reasons:

3 tips to be certain your PR agency knows your field and can deliver success

Why would you risk hiring a public relations firm that hasn’t achieved results within your company’s industry? Before hiring a PR firm, do your due diligence to ensure you’re hiring a firm that fits your needs and wants – one that can create a successful PR campaign in your industry. Hiring an inexperienced PR agency is mistake #6 in Axia Public Relations’ list of 15 mistakes companies make when hiring a PR firm. Check out our three areas of importance to ensure you hire an experienced PR firm that will bring you success.

Invest wisely; don’t underspend on PR.

Most companies are looking to save money — especially on items they don’t believe are essential to success. You might think you should hire the low-cost public relations solution rather than finding the right solution for your company. However, choosing a cheaper solution instead of the solution that addresses your company’s needs may jeopardize your company in the future.

Public relations builds a company’s brand. It’s a vital element to success. Don’t endanger your company by underspending on PR. Use these four strategies to ensure you’re hiring the right PR solution for your company and not making mistake #5 of the 15 mistakes companies make when hiring a PR firm.

4 tips a spokesperson can use to prepare for an interview

In the midst of an interview, sometimes it’s tempting to exaggerate to make your company look good. Perhaps you’re unprepared to answer the question, so you respond enthusiastically with a “fish tale.” Or, perhaps you’re attempting to “fake it before you make it.”

No matter the reason, you should never exaggerate or tell even the smallest lie. You’ll lose credibility and put your company’s future in danger. We’ve had one such client whose CEO embellished during an interview, and it didn’t turn out well. Learn from that company’s mistake so you can prevent it from happening to your company.

3 ways to minimize the risk and maximize the benefits of PR

When hiring a public relations firm, some companies and executives don’t realize that PR sometimes involves risks, while others actually assign too much prominence to those risks. It helps to understand more about PR and how it can benefit your brand before you hire a PR firm. Unlike advertising, you have little to no control of the timing, content, and context of a news story. Not understanding the risks involved in PR is mistake #4 from Axia Public Relations’ list of 15 mistakes companies make when hiring a PR firm. Here are three elements to pay attention to in order to minimize the risk of taking the plunge into PR:

Don’t rely on appearances when choosing a public relations firm.

Some companies hire their PR firms based solely on appearances. This includes hiring a firm because it has attractive employees and agents who wear specific business attire. While these companies put on an impressive first meeting, they’re often lacking substance. The same goes for using only the company’s website as a gauge in deciding your PR partner. You need criteria by which to make your decision.

We hear PR horror stories from current and prospective clients and even people we meet at networking events about their experiences with other PR agencies. They hired a PR firm based on its appearances – perhaps even unintentionally – and they’re often left disappointed. We consider that mistake #3 when hiring a PR firm, and you don’t want this to be you. Instead, hire a firm based on these four items: