What can I do for you or your business?

It has become evident, maybe a little obvious that your company or event needs assistance from a public relations professional. Someone who can consult with you, organize your media communications, and help the overall success of your organization.

You start the search for a PR professional, but what are the most important things you have to consider when making your decision? There are many questions you may want to consider asking when meeting your selected prospects.

First and foremost, their work history. As a PR professional, we should be able to present this in a portfolio, designed to represent your individuality. PR professionals are creative, a portfolio from a PR person and a portfolio by a banker will not be designed alike. And they shouldn't.

Have you worked on a campaign in my industry? If the answer is no to this question, there may be other impending questions. Such as, what do you know about my industry? PR people are effective researchers, we will read everything we need to in order to get all the facts. We may be creative but we are also fact finders and information gatekeepers.

You may also want to verify measurement strategies. How do they track campaign success? This stretches far beyond social media followers gained during a campaign.

Who will be working on my account? If you're seeking a firm's assistance, this may be a good question to ask, however, there are quite a few PR Freelancers who work independently on every account that they agree to take on.

At this point, the better question to ask would be; how often will I be able to communicate with you? As a professional, this answer is simple. We will make ourselves available, at least by telephone or email, if not in person, whenever it is required. Our primary job is to ensure our client's happiness. Any questions or concerns must be addressed immediately. As well, we will also require open communication with you. If we have questions about your business, quotes needed for the press release, and fact checking, we need to be able to verify those in a moment's notice.

Media interviews aren't always done by the PR professional, but we can provide media coaching. From simple things such as your attire and hand placement to correct and concise wording. You know your business or event better than anyone else, but we can fill in if we have to and we'll be sure to do it well too.

This is important to know because traditional media is still highly sought to get buzz around your business or event. People generally trust the media to deliver the news to them, daily. Earned media is also known to be trusted more than paid media.

A PR professional's job is to find what will speak to that media the most, by finding the angle of the story that may appeal to that particular media outlet more than the next.

Then you have the fast evolving social media platforms, PR professionals must be savvy in everyone of these platforms. Right down to the contest rules and regulations for every individual one. They aren't all the same. Twitter isn't as strict as Facebook, and with Pinterest making an interesting appearance as the fastest growing social media platform of all time, you never know what could be next. Your PR pro must know the ins and outs of this part of the business.

Have they worked on many social media campaigns? How did they track the results? Are they familiar with various contests and engagement tactics they can do with your customers.

When you have narrowed down your decision to a select few public relations professionals, the deciding factor may be the method and amount charged for the required services. You'll have a budget, but PR professionals have a rate that they charge for the services that they offer. Typically, someone out of school won't charge the same as a veteran PR, so don't be afraid to ask the question.

After all is said and talked about it all comes down to one more thing: Chemistry. This applies to both parties. As the PR professional, if I don't have chemistry with the client, it is difficult to plan and execute strategies and tactics for that business or event. Same goes for you, if the chemistry isn't there between the both of you, you may want to keep looking.

Their portfolio may be impressive, but working closely with someone requires a lot of time, energy, and a whole lot of communication. They must be the right fit.

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