FIRM VIEWS:
Perspectives From PR Agency Owners and Leaders
You've worked hard to build expertise and knowledge - now is the time to share it! The 2018 Counselors Academy Conference will take place from May 6-8 in the beautiful city of Toronto. We are actively building a new conference program that will help agency leaders grow and succeed. Here's where you come in: it's time to take what you know and share it with your colleagues. Our Call for Presentations is now open and will close on Friday, Oct. 20, 2017.
Please visit this link to apply.
By Greg Abel
If there’s a single message that’s been drilled into my head from attending the annual Counselors Academy conference the past five years, it’s this: all of your clients will eventually leave. That’s not a terribly uplifting thought, is it? But knowing that simple fact will do wonders to drive behavior in order to maintain a successful and profitable business. Anticipating client turnover can help agency leaders focus on important activities such as:
By Kate Snyder, APR
In the past year, team members at our eight-person PR agency welcomed two – count ‘em, two – babies to the world. Which means in the span of 12 months, the Piper & Gold family survived two maternity leaves, including my own.
I was convinced that, as an agency owner, it would be impossible to take more than two weeks off after having a baby. I thought, if I can just get the first two weeks, then I can start checking emails, maybe taking a phone call here or there. I wasn’t sure if I’d want more time out of the office or if I’d be ready to head back, but I didn’t believe I had options, so it didn’t really matter.
First, where do you lie on the risk continuum. Are you risk tolerant? Or risk averse? Either way, this doesn’t impact your ability to grow your agency, but the way you do it changes.
Kate Snyder is risk averse and Heather Whaling is very risk tolerant. See how two different scaling agency leaders approach the many challenges.
If we look at the diagram above, there is a cycle to scaling your business from the leadership perspective.
Firing employees is the hardest thing we, as PR professionals have to do. You've tried to make things work, you've coached them and shifted roles, but they simply aren't fitting in or working out. You want to let them go, but you need to be sure clients have been handled properly, and you are concerned about team morale.
How quickly should you move once you've made the decision? What kind of severance package do you offer and how do you communicate to the team and clients?
We asked 11 PR agency leaders what they recommend - what is their process?
By Rob Biesenbach
As leaders and business owners, many of us speak regularly at industry conferences and other events. If you’ve enjoyed some success as a speaker and want to do more of it, one of the most important things you can do is assemble a visual portfolio — photos and video of you in action.
After all, pictures are said to be worth a thousand words. (You heard it here first.) And video has become absolutely vital. I’ve done more than 50 speaking engagements in the past two years and have found more and more conferences are asking for video clips as evidence of a speaker’s skills.
One of the challenges we all face is humanizing our passions. During a Counselors Academy event I got to know CAPRSA Member Sheryl Barto, Principal of O Communications. After reviewing her Instagram feed, it was clear she was matching her passion for people with her love of horses. I asked Sheryl to share how she is involved in her community and raising awareness for our profession. Also, how appropriate that April is National Autism Month! - Tom Garrity
In 2012 I was handling pro bono PR for the local affiliate of Light It Up Blue, an international day which shines a spotlight on autism. I have a son, who is now an adult, on the autism spectrum. One initiative for our Aspen event was to feature celebrity autism parents. Holly Robinson Peete, star of 21 Jump Street, and Rupert Isaacson, author of The Horse Boy, were parents of young boys with autism. Wait – Horse Boy? I was a life-long, horse-obsessed girl AND I had a son on the autism spectrum. How could I have not heard of this guy? He had a book titled The Horse Boy, and an award- winning documentary by the same name, which was featured at the Sundance Film Festival. I should also add, I really wanted to be a horse trainer when I graduated high school – but my mom wouldn’t let me.
By George Rosenberg
“Can you help me be a real CEO?”
As an advisor and coach to agency owners for more than 13 years and a former agency CEO, this is a question I hear often. These ambitious and often young agency owners – many of whom typify Counselor’s Academy members -- want to grow significantly, hire and keep the best talent, manage their staffs with excellence, run a profitable firm and feel that they are indeed, successful CEOs. Who wouldn’t want to ? But it ain’t easy!
Building a successful agency is an incredibly tough job – and an even tougher one for owners who must wear multiple hats and try to do it all. But one job is more critical than all the rest – becoming a real CEO and too many owners are forced to learn on the fly and wonder “what does it take to become a real CEO?”
By LaTricia Woods, APR, Owner, Mahogany Xan Communications
Picture this:
When situations like this develop, companies may instinctually turn to a public relations firm for guidance through difficult waters. But what happens if that firm is not fully equipped to grasp the situation at hand due to a lack of cultural fluency?
Jon Goldberg, this year's conference chair, has announced our final keynote slot for the upcoming Spring Conference in Seattle with Kady Dundas, Senior Product Marketing Manager for Microsoft Corporation:
Are you collaborating more but getting less done? If so, you’re not alone. The time that managers and employees spend collaborating has increased by at least 50 percent over the past two decades and up to 80 percent of workers’ time is spent on collaborative activities like meetings, calls, and responding to emails. Get practical tips and advice on how to set your team up for success and learn about the latest apps that can help.
