As a service provider to financial companies, we are frequently grilled by prospective clients. The intensity of the Q&A varies, and we’ve received almost every conceivable question. A guy once asked me if I would just speak to the media as if I were him (no). Questions about measurement and ROI are standard (that’s a separate post). Inquiring about our media contacts is common (spoiler alert: we have the same ones as every other agency in finance, but we’re more fun to work with).
We are tested on our industry knowledge. We are asked nebulous questions like, “What will success look like in 6 months?” Of course, we get AI questions. On and on go the inquisitions. Candidly, we love it. When a prospective client puts the screws to us and digs deep under the hood, it reminds us why we do this and presents an opportunity to reinforce all the ways we’re different.
But there is a particular question that we are rarely asked, and it’s one that I wish we were asked in every one of these discussions: “What’s your agency’s culture like?” I believe this is the most important thing you can ask us. After all, PR is a people business. A PR agency’s culture is often overlooked by clients, as long as they are getting the ink. I think that is a mistake.
PR people work very hard. The best of the best are relentless, and they are the biggest champion of their clients’ endeavors. They will answer your calls at hours that they are not reasonably expected to. They think about you every day, and they don’t punch a clock. Committed PR practitioners voraciously read the publications they work with, looking for every edge, every trend, every seed of an idea they can harvest in support of their clients. They respect journalists, but they do not fear them. They work most effectively as a team, where everyone knows their role and functions cohesively, calling in additional support across the agency as needed, and knowing they’ll get it, no questions asked.
You cannot do any of this if you don’t love what you do, who you do it for and most importantly, who you do it with. The best agencies are environments where the team shares reporter intel, brainstorms pitches together, celebrates each other’s wins and steps in when a teammate is underwater. Where senior leadership still practices the craft, mentors junior colleagues and works alongside them in the trenches. Where people are trusted to be adults, encouraged to think independently, and expected to help make everyone around them better. Clients may never see those interactions, but they benefit from them every single day.
So do yourself a favor: instead of asking your agency if they are deploying AI, ask them how they take care of their PR practitioners. Ask to meet them. Ask how senior leadership will be involved in day-to-day account activities. In the age of AI, we will all become faster, and more efficient. But in this business, our true power is in our ability to connect with actual people.
There’s a famous line about how culture eats strategy for lunch, or maybe breakfast – or maybe just anytime it gets hungry. In a twist of irony, AI cannot pinpoint the original source with certainty, because the cultural overuse of the phrase has obscured its origins. No matter who said it first, they were right – and it eats everything else too.