WHAT SENIOR KIWI EXECUTIVES SAY THEY WANT FROM A PUBLIC R RELATION AGENCY

1 Senior PR practitioners, who have a wide view across disciplines within a business, need to lead the co-ordination of communications and how to deliver the corporate ‘‘story’’.

2 Agencies should get to know a company’s strategy and goals. Clients want an agency to have insight and connections with government, industry, competitors and international players to help deliver on business goals. Relationships matter more than process. The agency should help clients identify the next big thing in their industry.

3 As media organisations seek new ways to make money from stories, companies want cost effective opportunities in this environment such as ‘‘branded journalism’’.

4 Social media and online communities are driving highly personalised media consumption. Clients want agencies to help them communicate with the

communities that matter most to them.

5 Internal culture in an organisation impacts on external reputation. Senior PR practitioners can help audit how effectively senior executives communicate internally and coach people to improve.

6 If you want to be a serious agency supporting New Zealand businesses you need a good understanding of Asia. 7 PR agencies need to stay ahead of new technology to work out how clients can best use it. 8 A great leader within an agency but poor backup frustrates clients. Account service people behind the principals also need to be good at what they do. 9 Clients want to feel loved and invested in by their agency but don’t want to pay a fortune for this. Get the right partners so you can offer the full gamut of services.