PR Resolution podcast

How healthy does your agency feel? Are there uncertainties around budgets? Are some of your retainers switching to projects? Is your pipeline flowing or in need of some work? If your agency finances are feeling like a challenge right now you’re not alone. Research has confirmed that PR budgets are being reduced. Data gathered in June 2023 from the world’s 100 most powerful communicators (Provoke 100 research) found that there has been a drop in public relations investment in the past 12 months of more than $1bn, from $4.8bn to $3.7bn. Although agencies can’t control client budget decisions, there are efficiencies that can be made in how fees are managed and how agency finances are protected. To help guide you through this tricky time, Stella is joined by agency Chief Finance Officer Simon Collard. With over 30 years experience as an Agency CFO, Simon is an expert as safely guiding agencies to larger margins and consistent profitability, whatever the industry climate may be. Stella first met Simon at digital PR and marketing agency Propellernet. Alongside a talented management team, Simon lead the agency to triple margin, quadrupled the revenue and generated 10x more profit. All without pressure on staff; the agency won Best Place to work in the UK 8 years running during this period of growth. In this interview Simon shares his wisdom on; Pricing and fees; Should PR be time or value priced? Or should we charge by output and outcome bonuses? The importance to demonstrate the problems you are solving for your client, always. Resilience; how to build it and where conscious over-servicing fits in. ‘Profit vampires’ and how to deal with them. Why the profit and loss sheet is a lagging indicator to an agency’s health & noticing negativity in the P&L means it could be too late Numbers; The % of revenue you should spend on people, and cost per person And the golden key in all agency profitability; time and resourcing and the best ways to manage it. Special Guest: Simon Collard .

In this episode I’m joined by Martin McGlown who was once a crime journalist at the London Evening Standard newspaper and went on to head-up media relations at the world's leading cancer charity; Cancer Research UK. We talk about the moment Martin made his career-defining decision and why he and the charity have never looked back. We cover the changing media landscape and how Martin’s journalism background and skills have shaped the way his team operate as a newsroom. Martin shares the Cancer Research UK overall objective and how that flows into his team’s strategy and KPIs. He also talks about the importance of budget scrutiny in the charity sector and the work his team does in-house in order to make the most of the donations made to Cancer Research Martin also shares some of their memorable campaigns that PR delivers so well; educating and raising awareness of prevention and treatments to help people live longer and better lives. And ultimately Beat Cancer.Special Guest: Martin McGlown.

Due to its success ‘Secret Cinema’ isn’t so secret anymore. The London-based entertainment company that specialises in immersive film events now has fans throughout Europe and has recently launched in the US. The magic of the immersive performances has led to a cult following. But how much of the following is driven by PR and marketing and how do they retain and grow that audience? Stella Bayles interviews Simon le Grice the new VP of Marketing at Secret Cinema to find out! Having originally come from a performance marketing background Simon is very results driven and although he has been in the Secret Cinema role for just four months (at the time of interview) he is already making an impact. He is building a team and is on the search for strategic agency partners both in the UK and US. Simon shares his vision for a successful growth and retention marketing strategy. He tells me how he sees the best ways for owned, earned and paid to work together and the very important role for PR. Because of Simon’s focus on audience growth he shares how he doesn’t appreciate ‘meaningless data’ in reports from agencies such as ‘reach’. He discusses how highly he values PR, not just because of the brand awareness it delivers but because of huge the impact it can have on SEO traffic. He has a message for comms agencies not reporting on SEO and a more positive one for agencies that specialise in events in the US…;) This episode is full of insight from the client we all want! This one is not to be missed….here’s Simon! If you're inspired by Simon's marketing approach and would like to try adapting your PR reports to include meaningful data such as estimated views and SEO metrics try https://coveragebook.com/Special Guest: Simon le Grice.

In this episode I interview PR measurement experts, Richard Bagnall and Darryl Sparey on their latest joint research that explores the effects PR has on attracting investors and gain funding for tech start-ups. We delve into the research results including the types of business that see this success, the PR approach needed to gain these results and specifically how important a CEO or founder can be in the process. This conversation is fascinating, not just because of the correlation the research found between PR and financial funding but because both Darryl and Richard have so much experience in this area of PR work (b2b and reputation) and importantly how to measure it. Darryl is the MD and Co-Founder of performance-driven marketing and comms consultancy, Hard Numbers. Richard is the co-managing partner of evaluation firm CARMA. He’s been awarded CIPR President’s medal for his service to PR, he won the AMEC Don Bartholomew Award and of course was also the chair of AMEC between 2016-2022 too. Together they share wisdom and practical advice from their own experiences throughout the interview. We cover; How they researched 64 startup unicorn businesses & analysed over 65,000 pieces of coverage We look at the sectors that have the most potential for funding Darryl shares tips on how best to work with busy senior leaders & why a ‘Get to text’ approach is best I challenge correlation vs causation in the results and Richard shares brilliant wisdom in how we can all apply these lessons to our own measurement plans. Special Guests: Darryl Sparey and Richard Bagnall.

This episode lifts the lid on data literacy in one of there world’s most well-known agencies; H&K Strategies. I interview global head of data and analytics - Allison Spray alongside PR Agency One MD James Crawford. James and I co-wrote two chapters in a recent PRCA paper; ‘Data literacy in PR’. We looked at how to use tech to build confidence and improve data use as well as a chapter on how to build a ‘data culture’ in your team. It was the latter chapter that Allison Spray’s team at H&K was noted as a great example of hiring in data expertise alongside training PR practitioners. In this interview, we go behind the scenes and get into the detail. I find out how Allison has increased confidence in data across all H&K teams We reveal the data team’s interesting recruitment process and the mix of skills and sector-specific backgrounds Allison looks for. Allison and James share how they work with clients to gain the data and tech they need upfront Allison also shares tips on how to get started, whether you’re a small team looking to up-skill or planning to to build a data team within an agency Since the H&K data and analytics team has developed and established the agency has won the most amount of awards ever in a year. Coincidence? or does increasing PR confidence in data work? I’ll let you decide…Special Guest: Allison Spray.

AMEC Measurement Month is a time for everyone in Public Relations to level-up their knowledge in evaluation and measurement of comms. Held in November its the perfect time to learn and refresh your approach ready for new KPIs in a new year. There are just over 4 weeks of events and content releases from AMEC (Association of Measurement & Evaluation) members and most are available for free to all. In this special episode of the PR Resolution Podcast I interview the Global Managing Director of AMEC; Johna Burke. We share the best of the month and what not to miss! Johna explores common PR measurement challenges you might be facing and directs you to the best resource to fix it Johna shares the trends in measurement & highlights from AMEC award entries this year For the full calendar: https://amecorg.com/measurement-month/measurement-month-2022-events/ For further help on measurement go to: https://resolution.coveragebook.com/Special Guest: Johna Burke .

Stella Bayles interviews Dan Flanagan, founder of the growing community interest group 'Dad La Soul'. From humble beginnings of group of 14 dads getting together for a play date with their kids, ‘Dad La Soul’ is now a globally recognised Community Interest company that connects over 2.5k dads through art, tech and music events & in turn helps them beat loneliness, and live happy lives. Dad La Soul attributes a lot of its growth and success down to PR, and specifically their PR & social impact report that has become popular among funders, partner stakeholders and volunteers. In this podcast interview Dan shares; How PR has helped build their network, attract new funding and sign up volunteers Why Dad La Soul was recently namechecked in parliament How proving social change from PR coverage for non profits and charities is essential How a PR report can be adapted into a heavy-hitting social impact report This podcast is essential-listening for anyone working in-house at agencies specialising in charity, non-profit or community interest movements. Its has useful tips for anyone targeting parents, and its also definitely an episode for all the dads out there! Also see: The measurement webinar: 'How to prove social impact from PR results' Stella is joined by data analyst and communications measurement expert Kristian Foged to find out how to prove PR efforts contribute to overall charity objectives. Whether you are trying to increase donations, source funding or attract volunteers through PR, this webinar will give you the tools you need to tell your success story. Follow Stella on Twitter @stellabaylesSpecial Guest: Dan Flanagan .Links:The Dad La Soul social impact report

This episode explores the business success that occurs when two areas of marketing combine and work together really well. I interview Grace Keeling and James Beverage, co-founders of Made by Giants. Launching a B2B communications agency at the beginning of a pandemic may sound may sound like a tall order but for Made by Giants, it couldn’t of gone better. I find out how remote working restrictions and influences from James’ brand experience led to a very unique ‘investigative’ approach to insight and creative. Their indepth research and planning has resulted in comms strategies that are driving sales and growing their partners (not clients!) businesses. Whether you’re in B2B or B2C, there are ideation and hybrid-working lessons here for everyone.Special Guests: Grace Keeling and James Beveridge.