10 Rules to European PR success

Top 10 Rules to European PR success:

1. Appointing a strong PR agency with a pan-European brief is a highly effective way of organising your communications at a European level. The agency should be appointed in a strategic rather than an administrative role and charged with delivering consistent PR campaigns and materials that leverage corporate messages into a form that can be adopted by each country for its own needs.
2. Local representation is essential if PR messages are to be delivered in a form appropriate to each country's requirements. The choice of good local PR agencies is therefore an essential part of your pan-European strategy, which can only be successful if it is coupled with effective PR at the local level.
3. Appoint an independent co-ordinator with a pan-European brief to assign all your European work to one PR agency or to a group of agencies. An informal network gives you the flexibility to choose the appropriate combination of agencies to support local operations at different stages of development. Your overall strategy can take into account the fact that different countries need different levels of PR support.
4. Media in different European countries are covering stories outside their own territories creating a need for local PR agencies in different countries to work together, and you need to create an environment that encourages this.
5. PR is about people. In a close working relationship, personalities matter. It is not enough just to meet the PR agency's sales team, you need to meet the people who will be working on your account.
6. Remember that your local operations are the ones who will be working with the local PR agencies in each country. People and personalities are all-important. To ensure that your local operations buy into the new relationships, involve them in the selection process.
7. Make sure that none of the agencies you appoint are also working for your competitors. Don't take the agency's word for it - check it out thoroughly and carry out your own independent investigations.
8. The working relationship with your PR agency should be a partnership. If you regard the agency as just another supplier, you will not enjoy the full benefits of PR. The PR agency needs to be part of your team and needs to understand all the dynamics of the company, both positive and negative.
9. The ongoing involvement of your top management is crucial for the success of your pan-European PR strategy. You need to ensure that your pan-European agency has access to your European head office at the highest level. Similarly, local PR agencies need to be in communication with top managers in each country.
10. PR and marketing go together. You should therefore involve your pan-European agency in your European marketing planning process and ensure that it remains integrated into your marketing communications programmes. PR consultants can offer invaluable objective advice about your representation in the marketplace.

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