| Lucie Curtis 
Every company faces a unique set of communications challenges. B2Cs and B2Bs, nonprofits and members of the Fortune 100, healthcare providers and green tech developers – they all have different goals to meet and different audiences to target with different types of content. This fact of PR life is something that public relations and marketing agencies understand better than most. Whereas in-house corporate communicators only have to focus on monitoring trends and pitching influencers within one sector (maybe a few), agencies have to accomplish this on behalf of multiple brands across many different industries. "Agencies have to wear a lot of hats and work in many spaces simultaneously," says Brian Lubocki, an account director at PR Newswire who specializes in agency consulting. "That's why they're always looking to streamline their workflow and find more efficient tools that save them time and allow them to focus on their clients' campaigns." If your agency doesn't have the proper processes in place, it can be incredibly challenging and time-consuming to thoroughly research media lists, tailor pitches, and provide other vital services for every client. Here are three best practices to delight your clients in a consistent and efficient manner. Institute a thorough onboarding process. The first step you must complete before starting to work on a new client's communications strategy is fully understanding that client's needs. Because some clients may not be aware of the full extent of their communications goals, smart agencies have an onboarding guide and specific questions they use to get to the core of what their clients need. "As most agencies know, all clients want 'greater exposure and pick-up,'" says Brian. "However, it's difficult to demonstrate success without first identifying specific goals and defining success in qualitative and quantitative terms." According to Brian, important questions to ask at the beginning are: - What kind of impression numbers are you expecting?
- What are key publications and blogs to your business?
- Who are the influencers in your industry?
- What other industries are you hoping to reach and affect?
"Of course, agencies will help their clients answer these questions," adds Brian. Agencies should supplement the information they glean from a client's answers with their own independent research of the organization's industry and relevant niche markets. In our latest case study, strategic relations firm Feintuch Communications shares how they were recently called on to support a U.S.-based manufacturer's expansion into international markets. Their client had an explicit goal of targeting earned media in Europe to generate leads and brand awareness. Feintuch researched the client’s target markets and partnered with PR Newswire to scour multiple sources and build media lists for manufacturing, aerospace, automotive and medical verticals, as well as business writers covering this space across all of Europe. Providing a high level of service like this to your clients during and after onboarding will help you build better-informed and healthier relationships that solidify your agency's reputation. Establishing a great first impression is essential for bringing in future referrals. 
Centralize client, industry, and influencer research into one tool. The intel your agency gathers is only useful if you have access to a multifunctional research tool that makes it easy to maintain and build upon your information gathering. "Agencies understand that it's not enough to have a tool. It must be a great tool,” says Brian. "One with easy-to-use functionality for the entire team and more importantly, good information. Otherwise, they waste more time chasing bad data or figuring out how to get that data, than the time they were supposed to save. And with monitoring, that can make or break the story of whether a client's campaign was successful. " With the right platform, agencies can accomplish a multitude of tasks that would otherwise require more time and be less accurate. An effective multifunctional tool makes it easy for you to: - Continuously monitor topics for multiple brands across various media and markets.
- Create, save and update targeted lists of journalists and influencers for each client.
- Combine your targeted media lists with the more comprehensive reach of a wire service to distribute clients' communications.
Customize your reporting to the client’s needs. Delivering tangible results to clients in an easy-to-understand way is crucial. Most monitoring and targeting platforms have the capability to compile comprehensive reports or clipbooks that are easily shareable with clients. And just as each client has different communications needs, they also have different reporting preferences. Speak with your client ahead of time to find out what works best for them and their stakeholders. This will allow you to customize your report so that it includes as much or as little information as needed; takes into consideration your client's preferences for text, charts and graphs; and is presented in the file format of their choice. If your monitoring platform offers the option, you should also set recurring alerts to help you and your client stay current on the progress of a specific campaign or several campaigns at once. Providing clients access to this information between reporting periods helps them see exactly where they're at in their marketing communications strategy and determine where improvements can be made. It also opens up opportunities for your agency to offer guidance and prove value. "Today's audiences are diverse, multichannel, moving targets that never rest," says Brian. "PR professionals have a very tough job of reaching those audiences. Never has it been more imperative to streamline processes and to grab information quickly and effectively. Good tools – great tools – are tantamount." Want to learn more about how Feintuch Communications streamlined the way they listen for newsworthy topics, share messages through the industry's largest content distribution network, and report on the effectiveness of their clients' programs – all within a single interface? Check out our case study Feintuch Communications Provides Customized PR Programs to Diverse Client Base or request a demo to see PR Newswire's monitoring and targeting tools in action yourself. Lucie Vietti-Curtis is the program manager for channel and advocacy marketing at PR Newswire. As head of the advocacy program, she enjoys collaborating with advocates on creating thought-leadership content. | 
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