Would you work in-house with your clients?
April 10th, 2008 by Lloyd Gofton
Today’s question focuses on a nightmare scenario for many PRs; working in-house with your clients. Traditionally this hasn’t always been the most welcoming invitation, but at Liberate Media we’re trialling the idea of placing consultants with our clients.
Let me make it clear, we’re not outsourcing our consultants over a significant period, it’s more along the lines of a weekly secondment to assist both parties in communication, news gathering and simply being on the ground to action activity immediately.
We’ve found this practice to be extremely useful so far, and would welcome feedback from others that have tried similar ideas, either agency-side or in-house. Did it work? Is it a long term solution? What are the advantages and disadvantages?
Having done it myself, i think it certainly can and does work. However, i’m not sure it would work in every case. To make it workable, i think the client needs to have the volume and quality of news opportunities and/or opinion-focused response opportunities to justify having a member of the team in the office, and in our case that has been a defining factor.
We’ve also realised that in-house working has many other benefits, such as helping the client to understand PR processes and also to get to grips with the demands of the media. Beyond tactical issues, it also allows us as PRs to truly appreciate the client’s vision and react to breaking news in real-time, as well of course as cementing those all-important client relationships.
Let me paint a picture for you. You’ve set up a brilliant interview, but the client isn’t answering the phone - problem solved, you just walk over to them and tell them how important it is, they’re on the phone in five minutes. Need a document approving? No problem, forget email just carry your laptop to them and let them read it there and then - beautiful!
