media update’s Aisling McCarthy delves into why a PR’s advice is often overlooked and why it shouldn’t be.

Why ignoring PR advice is a bad idea

PR is all about building relationships between people in order to promote and benefit a client’s reputation with the public. In an article for entrepreneur.com, Al Lautenslager says that what the public wants to hear is a good story.

“Good PR is the telling of a good story. The better the story, the better the acceptance by the public and the better the public relations … If the story is especially appealing to those that could be your clients, then you have a PR homerun.”

This makes it a vital part of any brand wanting to build relationships with the people who make use of their product. Rachel Irvine, CEO of Irvine Partners PR, says that it is far easier to place trust in a professional when you trust their judgement and know that they want you to succeed.

“Clients need to ensure that the PR agency or professional they have hired is heavily invested in their business and understands their needs and desired outcomes intrinsically.”

World Wide Learn simplifies it and says that “PR revolves around this universal truth: people act based upon their perception of facts.”

Therefore, if clients want to achieve certain business-objectives, they need the help of a good PR professional. In order to succeed, they cannot afford to ignore the advice given to them by a knowledgeable PR who understands their business and objectives.

Account director at Tribeca PR Roxanne Marais tells media update that a good PR-client relationship is paramount for clients to achieve their business objectives and, thus, businesses cannot afford to ignore solid advice from a PR. However, she stresses the importance of having the right PR.

“PR proactively enhances the perception of a brand or business and reactively maintains a positive perception. Above all, clients cannot afford to stay in a bad PR relationship – and must find the agency that best reflects their culture.”

Why do clients ignore PR advice?

In most cases, clients do not intentionally try to work against their hired PR professional. However, for various reasons, the client can stand in the way of their own PR, leading their campaigns to go awry.

Disagreements are to be expected, as when a client approaches a PR, they have their own strategy or end goal in mind. In a blog post, freelance PR specialist Marie Berbick says that you cannot force clients to listen.

“As a PR professional, you will have disagreements with clients from time to time. The fact is, you cannot force a client to take your advice. You can point them in the best direction that you know based on your experience as the expert but, at the end of the day, the choice is theirs.”

Generally, clients do not ignore advice, but when they do, it is because they do not understand how it fits into the bigger picture of the business, says Marais.

“PR professionals should be able to explain their activity’s impact on the bottom line – and there is no one-size fits all solution … When consultants effectively explain their work’s impression on the bottom-line as well as stakeholder groups, clients value [your] advice and partner with [you] as trusted consultants.”

Irvine says that clients disregard advice that they do not trust or understand, and that addressing that issue is the key to building trust with clients.

“If the agency fails to communicate the value of the advice they’re giving, I’d argue the client has every right to disregard that advice.”

However, she continues, telling media update that a good relationship between client and PR comes from trust, which is built up over time.

“Clients who perceive value and know that their agency is meaningfully invested in and understands their business seldom ignore sound advice.”

PRs need to speak the client’s language

The solution to the problem, then, is that clients need to understand what PRs are saying. Marais says that it is a PR industry problem, rather than a client issue.

“Clients don’t want to pay for a service, only to dismiss the advice. If they are, you are not a trusted advisor and should adjust the way you are delivering your advice. I find that chemistry plays such a vital role in PR.” Marais says.

“Establishing your clients preferred language and measure of success is the best way to tailor your consultation.”

When dealing with clients, or potential clients, PRs need to ensure they are speaking the client’s language and not PR language – in order to avoid any kind of misunderstanding. However, this does not mean that clients will always follow the advice of a PR professional.

Marais says that it is not necessarily a bad thing for your ideas and advice to be turned down by clients.

“Along with effective communication, there is a need for us to become less precious about our ideas. There will be times our advice is considered and not implemented – and that’s okay, it’s part of our learning.”

Giving clients options is essential, says Berbick, even if they decide to go their own way.

“You can tell them it’s best to do it this way and if they decide to do it their way, and things don’t work out, at least you did tell them. They can’t say you haven’t done your job.”

Want to stay up to date with the latest public relations news? Subscribe to our newsletter.

Clients can often inadvertently make things much harder for PR professionals to do their jobs. Read more in our article, Seven ways clients unintentionally inhibit their PR.