Performance PR is a term used for one of the most innovative and new fields of PR marketing that is taking hold. In a nutshell, if you are not already familiar with this concept, performance PR is a contracting method that only pays out upon satisfactory completion, i.e., performance. This business method with a public relations agency is tricky for a few different reasons, but while it is a high risk, it can also be a high reward.
If you have never heard of performance PR and you want to know if it’s right for you, this is everything you need to know and the top benefits it can bring you.
What Is the Performance PR Model
The performance PR model is nothing new in marketing and has been around for decades. That being said, it has been growing in popularity, and there are some good reasons why more agencies are operating in this model and why more clients are looking for it.
Performance PR allows an agency to be employed for a measurable goal, and that agency will only be paid upon completion of that goal. This can provide many benefits for both the agency and the business employing the agency in that it promotes a team-based mind with high rewards.
Why Have Performance PR Models Become So Popular?
The concept of a performance PR model has been around for a long time. While it is nothing new, it’s been in popularity due to some of the long-time problems in the marketing world. Working with a PR agency is not easy. Media campaigns are nuanced, dynamic, and challenging.
Getting the right results for your hard-earned money can be a scary concept when it comes to marketing. There are so many competing voices in the world constantly vying for the attention of potential customers. Figuring out to make your brand rise above the noise and stick out in today’s market has never been more challenging.
Not only that, but with communication being more accessible than it ever has been, it’s not enough that your brand is visible. It’s essential that your brand matters. Nowadays, people have access to goods and services like no other point in human history. In addition, the world is more connected than it ever has been, so developing strategies that not only promote your business’s visibility but convince potential customers of your worth is a complex task.
All of this goes into a successful marketing campaign. Understanding the product, understanding the audience, and then working with notable sources to promote your brand and elevate it. This means integrating your business creatively into trusted mediums that bring your PR to a reputable level. This takes time skill and represents a large risk for potential companies looking to invest in a PR agency.
The performance PR model was essentially developed to respond to PR agencies dropping the ball and not delivering on a promised outcome. This could have happened for many reasons, but the long and short of it is that it did and even still does happen. A PR agency’s sole aim is to accomplish definable goals, so employing a performance model helps to give potential investors peace of mind and doesn’t just work to benefit them. A performance PR model has several benefits for both the agency and the businesses that employ them.
Here are some of the top benefits that a performance PR model has and why this model might be right for you.
Unifies the Goal
Successful media campaigns take hard work. Using a performance PR model makes the client and the agency have one goal – success. Doing pay-by-performance models puts the agency in the same boat as the business. This helps to make both parties team.
With the unified goal being a success, it puts everyone on the same page and helps to motivate teamwork. When the PR campaign is successful, the PR agency get’s paid, and the business gets to accomplish the goals it set out to accomplish. Everyone wins.
Are PR Performance Models Safe for the Client?
Another top benefit for potential clients looking to employ a Performance PR agency is protecting the client. One of the greatest dangers of employing an agency is that they may be a little more optimistic than they should be with their current workload. Signing on a PR agency to run a media campaign for you can have unfortunate results when the agency simply doesn’t perform the way they said they were going to.
With a performance model, the peace of mind belongs to the client because it ensures that their hard-earned money will only but used to pay for the results they agreed upon.
It Motivates the PR Agency
One of the most significant advantages of this model for the PR agency is that it encourages and motivates the agency to work smarter, faster, and better. When performance is rewarded, then performance becomes the key. Therefore, this model can positively affect a PR agency, promoting good employee culture, clear communication, and structure that will help the agency be successful. After all, their paycheck depends on their work performance.
This also plays into how transparent a PR company will be. When an agency uses a performance-based model, they take the biggest risk. This means they will have to show complete transparency to their clients to win them over.
Conclusion
Their process, employee culture, and communication are all tied to their success in getting the results needed. This is possibly one of the most compelling reasons for employing the performance model. When done correctly, it creates an agency that earns its client’s trust and delivers on their expectations. This also pushes successful performance PR models to continue growing and acquiring more satisfied clients at a sustainable and scalable rate.
