Using RFPs to Hire PR Agencies: New Public RFP Option
Finding the best public relations agency to grow or promote a business and brand is among the most significant decisions corporate communications and marketing leaders make.
The cost of hiring an agency is significant and the outcomes are dependent on the quality and knowledge of the agency or consultant your hire. Getting the process right can be a challenge.
All too often, clients end up disappointed based on unrealistic expectations, because an agency may have over-sold its capabilities, or did not effectively manage expectations prior to engagement.
A disciplined hiring process is the key to finding the perfect match of skillsets, industry knowledge, and chemistry that are the foundation for game-changing results and long-lasting relationships.
Although we generally recommend sending RFQs and RFPs to a shortlist of qualified agencies, many companies, and particularly government organizations, are obligated to make RFPs public.
CommunicationsMatch™ has just created a public option for posting and managing PR RFPs in its ground-breaking Agency Select™ RFP tools to address this need. Read the announcement here. The tools use a structured template-based approach to streamline the RFQ/RFP process for both clients and agencies. This ensures focused RFQs or RFPs are built with the information agencies need to evaluate the opportunity and determine if they are a good fit for the assignment.
Once an RFQ/RFP has been created, choosing the public option results in it being posted on CommunicationsMatch’s Public RFQ/RFP page. A link to the public RFP/RFQ can also be shared by email with specific agencies and shared on social media. It’s also searchable on Google. The CommunicationsMatch™ team will also post links on a range of communications forums to provide maximum visibility with qualified agencies and professionals.
To issue a public RFQ or RFP, clients simply need to register and choose an RFP plan, which gives access to the tools for six months. Agencies looking to be found need an active profile on CommunicationsMatch. They can then review and complete the RFQ/RFPs for which they believe they are qualified.
Responses provide the information clients need to take the next step and reach out directly for more information or set up presentations. They can review responses in the RFQ/RFP dashboard on a side-by-side basis to create a short list of finalists, with the option of printing or emailing responses to other members of the search team.
As with all our agency search and hiring tools, the CommunicationsMatch™ philosophy is to give client organizations a range of options that fit their hiring needs. Whether or not this means using the highly customizable search tools, sending an RFQ or RFP to selected agencies or making them public, or engaging our search consultants to manage the agency hiring process, the goal is to address the needs of clients and agencies with a simpler, more productive process.
Watch this short explainer video. For more information visit www.communicationsmatch.com or contact support@communicationsmatch.com.
Simon Erskine Locke, founder & CEO, CommunicationsMatch™, developed and launched CommunicationsMatch, an agency search and engagement platform with 6,000 listed firms and professionals in 12 countries, to help companies find and engage agencies, consultants and freelancers that match needs. A founder of communications agencies and startups, he previously headed communications functions at Prudential Financial, Morgan Stanley, and Deutsche Bank.
Steve Drake and Robert Udowitz founded RFP Associates in 2011 after observing the agency selection process from “both sides of the aisle” and recognizing the need to streamline and improve the way searches are made and agencies selected from an honest, unbiased approach. Over the course of their careers Robert and Steve have worked at agencies, corporations, and trade associations in New York, Washington, and, for Steve, in Beijing, China, where he opened Fleishman-Hillard's first Asian office. In recent years they have also been sole practitioners for a variety of clients seeking media, crisis, and strategic counsel.
