What some PR firms aren’t telling their clients

Last August, Lucy Siegel, CEO of Bridge Global Strategies, wrote an insightful post, “6 Things many PR firms won’t tell you.” Her post contains some excellent red flags to look for when considering a PR firm or consultant, including my personal favorite: PR people who fail to clue in clients with absurdly high expectations until after they’ve signed on.

But, as they say in the infomercial, there’s more! With a nod to Lucy, I’d like to share a longer list of those tricky matters that probably won’t be volunteered by the PR team, to the detriment of the relationship.

You’ll be passed on to junior staffers

Sad to say, because I’m convinced it’s a tactic among a minority of firms, but the old “pitch and switch” isn’t dead yet. Some firms are so layered that they can only make a profit by pushing the work down to the most junior level.

You’ll do well to get a commitment that the pitch team actually is the account team.

Their most relevant experience left six months ago