MediaCoverage.ai

If you’ve been using AI to write your tweets, I regret to inform you that everyone can tell

PR agencies, part 2: How much should you pay for an agency? And how do you manage them to produce their best work? On fees: PR agency fees are typically a monthly retainer or project fee. Some charge hourly, but I try to avoid these arrangements because the incentives are misaligned (if they work more slowly, they get paid more!). The amounts are typically very opaque, and each contract is separately negotiated. Here are some ranges based on what I’ve paid consultants while running comms at a startup and a public company, and also what I’ve seen PR firms charge companies. Monthly retainers can range from $5K for a single junior freelancer or young firm to $500K or more for a massive global firm with a big scope. The most expensive agency I’ve had was around $400K a month (but it was silly and we ended the engagement). Typical tech PR firms tend to charge startups $20-35K a month, while more specialized or high profile shops might charge $60K-100K, depending on the person and project. Factors in pricing are seniority of the team, intensity and difficulty of the work, reputation risk, and opportunity cost — basically, supply and demand. If a firm is in high demand, they’ll charge more because they can. Take these negotiations seriously. @PalmerLuckey is one of the founders who's absolute tops at going direct and gets the value of good propaganda, and he's said he thinks Anduril’s comms have added hundreds of millions of dollars to the company’s value. You should not think of the work as dollars per hour. Comms can be a multiplier on your valuation. It’s worth doing right, and getting the right people is part of that. If they’re not the right people, even free is too much. The duration of the contract reflects your confidence in the team. You can always fire an agency even during a contract (usually with 30 days notice), but if you’re not sure how things will go then I strongly suggest starting with a shorter contract (3 or 6 months). How do you manage the agency and get the most out of them? First, set clear goals. Real goals like landing a big enterprise or growing users, not made up comms goals like share of voice or message pull-through. I used to get weekly reports from all my agencies and found these things to be low signal pseudometrics that correlated weakly with reality. Qualitative metrics are less precise, but I’d argue more meaningful. Eg: 1) Do you feel calmer and more assured when the team is handling something? 2) Are their recommendations good? 3) Can they pull off what they set out to do? 4) When they fail (which will happen and you should give them some space to make mistakes), do they find learnings or make excuses? Decide the frequency of your meetings. Meeting too often sucks because people will chew the clock with nonsense. Updates are a gas — they’ll expand to fill the space they’re given. But meeting too rarely will cause things to fall through the cracks. I suggest: - If it’s a crisis: daily, at minimum - If they’re handling all the day-to-day: weekly syncs - If it’s a high level engagement for strategic direction: monthly - If in between: fortnightly Make sure you have their cellphone numbers and have a Slack channel or chat group for quick responses. Don’t make the channel too big; a dozen or more people will create a chilling effect where the bar for posting feels too high and people get wary of being contrary. Lastly, look at their pitches every once in a while. This will feel annoying and like micromanaging, but it’s important to make sure you’re aligned. Does the pitch make you feel like “you said it better than I could!” or more like “wait, this makes us sound like a random vendor in the Yellow Pages”? If you need more recommendations, I’m happy to give thoughts on teams I’ve worked with — or, again, the best referral sources are peers whose taste and standards you trust.

PR agencies, part 1: When do you need one and who should you hire? Super common question. I've cofounded an agency and worked with at least a dozen others, and here's my answer. First, going direct as a founder doesn't mean executing every comms tactic, just as being a technical founder doesn't mean writing every line of code. If you can't keep up with all the comms work that needs to be done, you're a bottleneck and need to get help. And while you should never outsource the story and strategy, a good agency can help with crafting pitches, doing outreach, or managing a project like a launch or crisis. Finding strong writers is hard, so unless you luck out, you’re better off doing the writing yourself. Even if it’s mid, at least it’ll be mid in your voice. What are your options for PR agencies? Start with referrals from other founders. While people in the industry might want to advocate for friends or bash competitors, founders will usually give a frank assessment of their experience. Different kinds of agencies: 1) Large global agencies, eg Brunswick, Edelman, Sard 2) Boutique agencies specializing in corporate comms and special situations, eg Milltown or my former firm TrailRunner 3) Agencies specializing in tech startups, eg @thisisoutcast, @sixeastern, @bulleitgroup 4) Comms shops embedded with lobbying firms, eg @invariant or @TuskStrategies 5) Great freelancers like @CristinCulver, @cplangfo, many others How do you choose the best agency? Look at the people on the team. Sometimes the person pitching is great but it's a different person doing the work. Always meet the "real" team and account lead. Consider: 1) How quickly are they sending you a proposal? This is the fastest and most responsive they will ever be, so use this to evaluate their operational tempo and make sure it keeps up with yours. 2) Is the proposal good? And by good, I mean: is the writing clear and precise? Are they asking the right questions? Are their ideas and their assumptions sound? Do they have a sense of aesthetic? Is what you’ve told them reflected correctly; did they know what to do with the information? 3) How badly do they want the business? Is it excitement about your mission (good) or desperation to land business (bad)? 4) Who’s recommending them? Are their former clients the kinds of companies you want to emulate: Do you respect the taste and judgment of people who like their work? If they have a logo in their marketing materials and you call the founder, does the backchannel review match the company’s representation? A lot of people will agree to an endorsement just to be nice, but their private assessment might differ. 5) Do they “get it”? Can they instinctively pick up on problems or opportunities without you telling them? 6) Do they know the players in the space? Actually know them, not relying on Google or AI or databases to look them up and find their emails? You want people on a texting basis with at least some of the influential people you want to speak to.