Pr consultancies

STAMFORD COLLEGE

DMC 115
PRINCIPLES OF PUBLIC RELATIONS

PREPARED BY :MS GOMALA SUKUMARAN

 PR consultancy has been very fast

growing business since early 1980’s.
 The earlier consultancies provided
specialist help to in-house PROs, but
today’s consultancies are also likely to
offer a full Public Relations service to
organizations.

 Consultants act as advisors.
 They are consulted for their expert

opinion.
 They do not carry out the work.
 Today’s Public Relations consultants do
more than advise.
 They are both advisers and agents.

This is because they advise

clients, and also handle Public
Relations strategies and tactics
on behalf of an organization.


Full service
Specialist


 They are large, well established

organizations that offer both
consultancy (advice and
recommendations) and agency service
(media relations)
 Every aspect of Public Relations is
provided within the consultancy.

 There are many types of specialist consultancies.

 Some specialize in particular
 Industries (agriculture)
 Financial
 Governmental
 Employee relations
 Sponsorship
 Exhibitions
 Corporate hospitality

HIGHLY SPECIALIZED
SKILLS
Public speaking
Training for media

interviews
Press release design
Production and distribution

CLIENT RELATIONSHIP
Consultancies are flexible.
They can offer exactly what

management specifies.


CONSULTANCIES..CAN…
 Be the Public Relations department of an

organization
 Support an in-house Public Relations
manager with advise on strategy but a focus
on tactical issues.
 Focus only on handling Public Relations
tactics.
 Provide a sub-specialist service.

CONSULTANCIES..CAN..
Be appointed for a long

period, or brought in to
handle a specific need.


CONTRACT
 A legal contract is essential.
 This protects both the organization and the
consultancy because it spells out exactly :
 What the relationship is to be
 For how long it will last
 How it may be terminated
 What the fees will be
 How they will be paid

CONSULTANCY ROLE
 To provide client management with

communication expertise in the form of
counseling and active communication skills
in order to further the interests of the client
organization or individual within the
constraints of the IPR Code of Conduct.


CONSULTANCY FUNCTION
 To advise the management of client

organizations of the most cost-effective
and efficient means of achieving
identified communication strategies
and tactics, and to implement strategic
and tactical plans in order to achieve
those objectives.

STRUCTURE
 A Public Relations consultancy sells the

knowledge, skills and talents of its staff.
 It has no tangible product.
 It is, in this way, operating like a lawyer.
 Public Relations consultancies can be small
and compact.
 They can be large and complex.

CONTINUED…
 Expensive and impressive offices are

not needed when the face-to-face work
is done in the client’s offices on or
neutral territory, so the focus tends to
be on impressing the client through the
tangible things.


CULTURE
 No Public Relations consultancy can

work on standard office hours.
 These provide a basis for the working
day, but Public Relations is a deadline
driven occupation.


CONTINUED…
 It is approach to working that takes a lot of

people by surprise, since nobody really cares
what time work starts or stops.
 The judgment is always :
 Did we meet the deadline ?
 Was the client happy ?
 Did we charge correctly ?

FUNCTIONAL
Provides for organization by

what people do.
Providing the structure is
simply for administrative
convenience.

CHART


CLIENT

 This recognizes the importance of the client and

organizes around clients and the services they
need.
 In some consultancies the organization may be
around markets, with several clients served by
each market group.
 Note that in both organization, the administrative
team has been separated. This is the only unit is
focused internally – its members will join with the
others when needed to complete the job

FEES
 Public Relations consultancies are in the

business of making profits.
 Normally they aim to make a return of
between 10% and 20% on income.
 In other words , for every RM 100 000 of
income they try to have RM 20,000 left
when all expenses have been paid.

EXPENSES…INCLUDE
 Salaries and wage costs
 The Public Relations Consultants

Association (PRCA) have estimated that
salaries account for some 50% of all costs.
 This is because Public Relations is a
people business, and talented people
cannot be hired cheaply.

CONTINUED…
 Equipment
 State of the art equipment is needed

and the necessary hardware and
software must be constantly
upgraded.
 5 % goes into this area

CONTINUED…
Running expenses
Support costs for the

office , travel, can run as
high as 20 %

CONTINUED…
Rent
Even standard offices are not

cheap, especially if they need to
be in commercial centre.
About 5 %

CONTINUED…
Taxes
Of the remaining 20% around

a third will go in tax.


CONTINUED…
 Balance
 If these cost breakdown are accurate,

about 13% is left as profit to cover
loan repayments, shareholder
dividends.


PUBLIC RELATIONS IN-HOUSE
OR THROUGH CONSULTANCY
The two ways in which an

organization can organize its
Public Relations activity
In-house
consultancy

IN-HOUSE
 An in-house Public Relations manager

will probably call on a Public Relations
consultancy from time to time – but
only to support, to provide special skills
or to help out in times of pressure .
 The focus, the leadership will be inhouse.

LEVEL OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
 Strategic
 Where advice is given to top management

in the formation of the mission and
corporate objectives
 Tactical
 Where the public relations programmes
are implemented.

QUALITY
 It should go without saying that a quality

Public Relations service can only be
delivered by quality people.
 Whether in-house or through consultancy
the need is to hire the best you can afford.
 Having hired the best is then essential to let
them do their job.

CONTINUED…
Public relations is a specialist
subject, which requires a subtle
approach.
It is a long-term, on-going activity
and the budget and management

controls must allow for this.

ADVANTAGES
1. Public relations staff are employed by the
organization. They :
 Identify closely with the aims and objectives of

the organization
 Have a personal stake in the organization
success.
 Do not need to refer – or if they do, it is
relatively easy because they have access
 Are close to the decision makers

CONTINUED…
 Can offer a 24- hour service
 Can move freely around an organization

 Can form internal networks with employees

from across organizations.
2) Internal communications can be set up
throughout the organization
3) Continuity may be improved because internal
staff probably tend to be more stable in
employment than consultancy staff.

DISADVANTAGES
 Staff can
 Too closely identify with their product offering (the
mirror effect).
 Become biased in favor of their organization.
 Have only a narrow range of experience.
 On be in Public Relations as part of an on-going
personal development programme, and therefore may
not have commitment, knowledge or long-term interest.
 Be limited in their aspirations : they may see their longterm careers elsewhere in the organization

CONTINUED…
 If there is not a full Public Relations department,
the function may be allocated to another manager.
 He may
 Have little interest in Public Relations
 Have little Public Relations knowledge
 Give priority to his “real” job.
 Use Public Relations as a way to get out and have

fun, without doing the background work
needed to make an event success

CONTINUED…
 Public Relations may be used as a training

and development activity for “fast-track”
managers.
 The Public Relations manager may not be
suited to the task. He will have been
appointed by non-Public Relations people,
and they may have made a misjudgment.

 There is no long-term commitment to employed staff.
 Costs are directly related to the work done
 The budget can be agreed in advance.
 Budgets can quickly be changed as necessary.


 The Public Relations people have current experience in

the markets. They:
 Work for other clients
 Commission more work than an in-house department

 Have a range of useful contacts
 Can call on immediate assistance from highly qualified

colleagues
 Can bring freelance help as needed.


 Their range of equipment, and support services, is
likely to be better since it has greater use made of
it.
 They can provide one or more limited services,

such as central information service, or a service to
do with a specific overseas market.
 Their contacts can be terminated quickly if
necessary.


 Consultants will have limited knowledge of the





organization and its products.
Access is difficult, especially to secure areas.
Identification is with the consultancy, before the
client.
Staff turnover ay be higher than in-house
Complex or difficult queries will have to be referred to
an organization's manager before the media can be
briefed.

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