Common Client Questions and How To Be Prepared

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Clients ask questions. And when times are rough, they often ask a lot more. If you’re an internal marketer, your client is your boss, and of course they ask questions too. What are some common ones, and how can you be prepared?

We asked a few PR pros for their take. Phil Gomes, SVP with Edelman Digital said one that he hears often is, “How do we measure success?” According to Gomes there are three ways to be prepared for this one:

1) RESEARCH: Be sure you set the quantitative *and* qualitative needles *before* you even start communicating. Otherwise, you won’t know if you’ve changed minds and/or inspired action. Six months later, that baseline data might rot out from under you… and you might never get it back when the client asks.

2) LISTEN: If the temperature reading you took in item #1 isn’t updated frequently, you’ll find your message going one way and your audience going another. Giving a well-reasoned argument for a course correction, based on disciplined listening, doesn’t mean that you “failed”. The only real failure is intellectual dishonesty.

3) EXCLUSIVE FEEDBACK LOOP: I see PR people fall into this trap all the time. If, say, inspiring product trial is a big part of how you measure success, make sure that the feedback loop (e.g., coupon code, email address, toll-free number) that PR gives out is *different* from the one that sales/marketing/advertising gives out. Otherwise you’ll find that others will all-too-happily take credit for your efforts.

Laura Beck, Executive Vice President and General Manager for the Porter Novelli Austin office told PRNewser a question she often receives is, “What will this PR effort specifically bring to our company?”

Beck says when answering this question it is always always set expectations. “It is best to have an honest conversation, both client and agency partner, so each side knows what mutual success looks like. It is important one isn’t expecting 20 press meetings, for example, when realistically 5 is a great success. Take the time and have the tough conversations ahead of time to set expectations clearly. To make sure the conversation is set in stone, write down the expectations in an email so you both have it and can refer back to it if needed,” she said.

And of course, things don’t end with managing expectations. Said Beck, “…once a program is complete, make sure there is a feedback loop set up between the client and the agency so it’s not just results measured and tracked from an agency perspective such as number of press meetings, secured articles and/or impressions, but also from a client’s perspective such as website traffic, sales inquiries, leads and actual sales. Make sure there is a tight line between the internal client marketing team and the sales/leads folks who can specifically report back as to how the program moved the needle.”

What questions have you been hearing a lot of lately? Let us know.

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