10 Ways Big PR Agencies Rip Off Clients

Posted by on Aug 2, 2009 in Blog, Driving PR Performance | 0 comments

  1. Cookie Cutter PR Plans: 50-page stock plans that could as readily apply to florists and butcher shops as to a tech business – usually accompanied by high-cost, totally inappropriate (and often ridiculous) special events.
  2. Ramp-Up: Agency sets a long timeframe for learning your business & industry sector. If they don’t know already, why did you hire them?
  3. Whiskerless Account Reps: You’re won over by an agency principal, then get an account team with squeaky voices and no experience. Kids are clueless about reporters’ needs or working on deadline. Most think Twitter is “writing.”
  4. Tour de Chance: Media tours are a favorite of big firms. They’re expensive and usually don’t produce much, if any, coverage. But count on a big bill.
  5. Press Conference Boondoggles: Press conferences are fine for huge news. Otherwise don’t waste your money, and don’t annoy reporters by dragging them across town for a story they could as easily write at their desks.
  6. 100% Mark-Up on Expenses: If your monthly invoice for phone, wire distribution, fedex, etc. looks double what it should be, it probably is.
  7. Death by Line Item: Big PR agencies are like banks – they love fees. Many agencies charge separately for simple content like a press release.
  8. The CEO Book (Zzzzz): Like clockwork, after 90 days a big agency will propose ghost-writing a book that makes your CEO a “thought leader.” If your leader isn’t already well-known in your business, he/she may be a hopeless “thought follower.” Net net, nobody will read the book.
  9. Farming Out Content: The agency won’t write it, either. They typically outsource such projects to guys who can – like us – then they mark it up.
  10. “Agency Following Up (f/u)”: Self-explanatory. If the agency follows-up week after week with no results, chances are you’re the one getting “f/u’d.”

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