How to Find, Evaluate & Hire a Public Relations Firm

With a list of carefully defined public relations firm (pr firm) candidates in hand, it now makes sense to extend an invitation to those candidates. Historically, clients have struggled to create the appearance that they knew precisely what they wanted and in what form. To do so, they adopted and cannibalized the fairly common RFP (Request for Proposal), used for years by purchasing agents when seeking bids on commodity items. RFP's were sent to long and large lists of ill-assembled "firms" - often pulled from name-only listings in telephone Yellow Pages, or from mentions by business colleagues and media reps.

Such RFP invitations meant tremendous labor for the client, and resulted in relatively low rates of response, coupled with a mixture of some qualified but many unqualified respondents and a significant burden for the client. Dissimilar firm materials had to be sifted through for common information, and that information was then posted to a client-created spreadsheet. The challenge was to find qualified candidates and an equal basis (apples and apples) for comparison and subsequent discussion. Finally, in evaluating candidates (i.e. - marketing partners, vendors, etc.) it is virtually impossible to bid on something that is of such esoteric value and subject to a myriad of interpretations. Public relations services can not currently be evaluated on a "bid proposal" basis.

Now, with the availability of the Internet and specific services designed precisely for this task, there is no excuse for ever using an RFP again to find a public relations firm (pr firm). Alternatively, what is known as the RFI (Request for Information) makes sense, for your search for an public relations firm (pr firm) should be based on your evaluation of information - an apples-and-apples examination of attributes; then of work product, then of relationships (chemistry) and then of specific suitability. That suitability is demonstrated when you invite two or three "finalists" to present and propose (to you and your management at your corporate headquarters) a strategic plan for managing your business during the following fiscal year with a budget you are willing to reveal. And to do so, you will need to furnish each candidate with a "marketing brief" that encompasses vital historical statistics and information on your company and on your marketing and public relations activities in the years prior.

If you follow such a plan, and assign and allow qualified individuals within your company to manage such a process, you will be successful in identifying and hiring a valuable marketing partner!