Projects replace retainers in the PR industry – but at what cost

“Public relations involves relationships. The relationships that attract the most attention involve stakeholders and the media. Yet the most challenging and vital relationships are between agencies and clients, and between employees and bosses,” says Richard Bailey, a PR practitioner-academic and editor of blog PR Place Insights. 

Yet there has been a decline in client-agency relationships in recent years, with the average agency tenure being 26 months and falling.

More and more, work is “project-based and month-to-month,” says Stephen Waddington, managing partner at Wadds Inc., a professional advisory firm, talking about his research on new agency startups. “The market remains cautious and is likely to continue to do so until we emerge from the pandemic,” he adds.

Measuring impact

But the uncertainty during the pandemic and the lockdowns is just one reason. Mike Love, retired ex-chairman of Burson Masterstellar UK, suspects it is due to “greater governance and procurement department involvement with many clients.” “Non-communications people involved in hiring and budget setting want to see more tangible results and to see them faster,” he adds.

But it is difficult to pinpoint whether the move to involving non-communications people in being responsible for PR budgets is a reason for or an impact of clients expecting more tangible results quickly. According to a 2018 article in PRovoke Media by Mark Stouse, chairman and CEO of Proof Analytics, CFOs overtake CMO roles because of the latter’s inability to embrace real accountability and tie the impact of their efforts to real business goals.

Being able to show the real measurable impact of PR budgets on ROI has become necessary in this changing environment of short-term project-based work, which is about achieving and accomplishing specific goals and initiatives. 

Fast-fail metrics

But is there a correlation between being able to measure ROI and short-term projects? Quite the opposite. The focus on getting quick results in a field that works well in the long term is not always desirable, both for clients and agencies. It leads to what Mike calls “fast-fail metrics”. “It is when the client sets a short-term timetable for the achievement of metrics with the knowledge shared that the account will be lost or re-pitched if metrics are not met.” 

He describes it as “‘Communications only’ metrics that just measures the work done, not what has changed as a result of the work – it rewards people for being busy but not always productive.” In this, you are essentially paying for time and not value.

Instead, he adds, sensible metrics that are linked to business objectives could be, for example, in a government relations area of work, a change in favourability with influencers or actual change to legislation or regulations. In internal communication areas, it might be linked to HR objectives in employee satisfaction or department/unit productivity or quality of recruitment.

But it takes time to achieve such metrics because new consultants would need the time to research your company culture, competitor landscape, industry, wider geopolitical environment and nuances.

PR is about building relationships with key stakeholders of the business. “The gains made by great work are not always apparent in the short term or in columns of numbers. That can make PR work a hard sell internally,” says Mike.

Research by PRCA and Opium published in 2019 shows that a whopping 89% of PR and communication practitioners have struggled with mental wellbeing. The pressure to tackle steep learning curves on a new client whilst simultaneously eyeballing metrics in a short-term project can impact the mental health of PR professionals, says Farzana Baduel, CEO of Curzon PR. This is driving some PR professionals to reconsider their careers in PR as they are expected to do more in increasingly reduced time scales. Short-term projects also leave less time for research, strategy, planning, measurement and evaluation and are focused purely on the delivery. 

Being a trusted advisor

While project-based work is likely to make professionals focus on “cosmetic reporting”, the best chance that agencies and consultants have in building a long-term relationship with clients is to be a trusted advisor and do what is best for the client’s business.

“All client-consultancy relationships come to an end. So the focus should rightly be on what you achieve during the relationship. You should serve your clients’ best interests, delivering value by being an independent voice warning of dangers ahead. When you come to measure your effectiveness, don’t only focus on what’s visible, but pay attention to the things that didn’t happen. Did you help avert a crisis situation? Did you avoid antagonising employees or another key stakeholder group?” says Richard Bailey.

“If you’re merely an agent who delivers social media content, say, or media coverage, then you’re easily replaced. But if you become a trusted adviser then you’re much more valuable and much less easily replaced,” he adds. 

Long-term relationships are also good for the clients. Agencies tend to go the long mile for clients they have worked with for a long time. It breeds loyalty. “The best work we have done has been for clients we have worked with for many years,” says Farzana. “When an old client comes to us, we hold institutional memory and can advise them accordingly,” she adds.

Becoming too comfortable

“However, there are dangers in working this way: Big budget, big team, long term appointed agencies sometimes “go native”. They lose the edge that external agencies are supposed to provide by becoming too comfortable and seeing challenges as insiders. They in effect just become another in-house team. This often happens when the budget is so big that the agency time work full time on one client. Personally, I’ve always hired agencies only when I’ve thought the agency bring something that we as the client didn’t already have and above all that was to bring an external perspective,” says Mike. 

If you think this has led to stale and groupthink and you need fresh blood in your team, some professionals suggest a repitching process every year. For example, inviting three agencies with preference given to the current agency. But Mike warns of the “tortuous procurement process” and that “repitching is costly and time-consuming.” If you as a client are unhappy with an agency, don’t rehire them, he says. After all, trust and relationship-building go both ways and it is best to let the agency focus on doing their best work instead of making them worry about repitching and losing you as a client.

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Curzon PR is a London-based PR firm working with clients globally. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our Business Development Team bd@curzonpr.com