Partnerships: Clients Benefit When Agencies Team Up With Independent PR Pros

by Edward J. Barks

Consider this picture: You're the leader of an account team in a large PR agency. You're swamped with work on that big account you just landed. Where do you turn for the added burst of horsepower you need on a temporary basis?

Now shift the focus: You're an independent PR practitioner. You compete for clients with the big players. How can you work with the Fortune 100 companies while still maintaining your independent shop?

If you detect a meeting of the minds here, you already realize the value of partnerships between PR agencies and independent PR practitioners.

Media training is one area where partnerships are profitable for both agencies and independents, says Mary Tavon, senior vice president and managing director of Ketchum's Communications Training Center. "From an agency standpoint, to know that you have a cadre of talented, top-notch freelancers that you can draw upon to build your own bench strength is a smart way of doing business."

Karen Lam, president of California-based Compass International, echoes Tavon's notion that independents supply agencies with a high degree of knowledge. "There's a level of expertise that agencies get through the independent person that they might not have in-house." For example, many small-to medium-size agencies do not employ full-time media trainers, relying instead on relatively inexperienced account team members to conduct training.

One reason some independent operators pursue partnerships aggressively is because they put their know-how to use on Fortune 100 accounts instead of mom-and-pop shops.

Tavon put such expertise to good use recently. "We found times last year when we were dealing with some very large-scale projects. It didn't make sense for us to go out and bring on new people. It would have taken us time to train them and bring them up to speed on the client. It still made sense to stay with that tight network of Ketchum-trained faculty."

"We consider all our free-lancers part of a faculty," she emphasizes.

The mutual commitment is evidenced by what Lam refers to as a "code of honor." "If a client comes through an agency, the client belongs to that agency. It's very important for us, as independents, not to undercut [those relationships]."

Flexibility is a key to any partnering relationship. According to Lam, "Sometimes the smaller agencies don't have in-house people who do media training full time. It's great for them to be able to call on someone that they've worked with regularly, who knows the agency and knows their style."

Tavon concurs. "Flexibility and being easy to work with are obviously very critical, as is having an expertise that is in demand," such as a background in health care or financial services.

Another important factor for Tavon is culture. "The key to making this partnership work is to ensure that the free-lancer has a very similar corporate culture to your own. It's also important that whatever services they are providing are under your own brand."

Lam, who often partners with larger agencies, agrees with the branding notion. "It's really important to emphasize that this is something you can do as a very seamless process. It's not necessarily that you want to do your brand of training, but that you will forward their brand of training."

Partnership Limitations And Benefits

Even with all the benefits, there are some limitations to partnering arrangements, according to Lorelei Harloe, an independent marketing communications professional who has entered into partnerships with larger firms. As an independent, "You can't say yes to everything" while continuing to effectively "do your own marketing," she says.

Then there's the bottom line. The rates an independent practitioner can charge an agency "are lower than being in a direct client relationship," Harloe observes.

"It may not be the case that you make more money," Lam clarifies. "But you do get to a level of client it would be very difficult to get to on your own."

There is justification for the lower rates, however, since some independents expect agency account teams to perform most of the heavy lifting when it comes to preparation. The volume of steady work represents another positive.

Another benefit to operating independently is the ability to form virtual teams with other solo practitioners. Katherine Hutt, APR, president of Nautilus Communications and a former president of PRSA's National Capital Chapter, is the driving force behind PR Pros, an intrepid band of Washington, D.C., area practitioners. "Most of us have 20 years [of] experience," she explains. "Clients get very senior-level people for the same or a lot less money."

"We are very real competition, not for the large agencies, but certainly for the midsize ones," she notes. The bottom line when independents band together, says Hutt, is that "the client benefits most of all."

That is, in the final analysis, the benefit that matters most when it comes to partnerships between agencies and independent PR pros. As Tavon says of such partnerships, "it only helps strengthen what we can offer our clients."

Edward J. Barks, President of Barks Communications, is an expert in media, presentation skills, and testimony training. The firm also operates Barkscomm.com, the Internet's Communications Training Resource, at http://www.barkscomm.com/.

Ed invites you to subscribe to his free e-zine, Personal Trainer, at http://www.barkscomm.com/. He can be reached at (540) 955-0600 or by e-mail.

© Barks Communications 2002