PR agency scorecard
If you are a medium to large organisation then there is a strong chance that you are using a Public Relations (PR) agency for some or all of your media work. It is important that you monitor their activities to ensure that they are giving you value for money.
The scorecard laid out below should help you with your evaluation.(1) You can go for another version which is the traffic light system, explained below.
When marking your scorecard you should remember that many of the items are subjective and therefore require you to be consistent in your marking.
Marking system
The marking system is important in any scorecard – here are two versions for you to choose.
Traffic lights:
- Green – the project is on target or performance is satisfactory or better
- Amber – the project is suffering some delays, has fallen behind or there is some underperformance
- Red – the project has stalled or performance is below the standard required.
- Blue – is sometimes used to provide an additional rating above green to show highly satisfactory performance.
Please note that on some scorecards two colours may be used:
- Amber/Green – means there are some concerns but broadly the performance is moving towards satisfactory
- Amber/Red – means that performance is not improving and may be falling into red.
Satisfaction rating:
Satisfaction is usually marked on a one to five scale.
- 1 – Not satisfactory
- 2 – Marginal
- 3 – On par with expectations or satisfactory
- 4 – Satisfactory
- 5 – Exceeding expectations or very satisfactory.
The scorecard marking will depend upon your personal preference as well as the nature of the contract you hold with the agency. Below we have chosen a 1-5 scoring for this simple template. This shows some of the areas you might evaluate. You might wish to add others depending upon the scope of the contract held as well as your own reporting procedures.
The scorecard is broken into a series of sections:
| PR Agency scorecard: 1.0 Account management | Satisfaction rating | |||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 1.1 | Account Executive(s) professional skills level | |||||
| 1.2 | Agency has provided enough staff to manage account | |||||
| 1.3 | Ability to manage account | |||||
| 1.4 | Account Executive(s) demonstrate knowledge of our (company/product/services) | |||||
| 1.5 | Account Executive(s) act promptly on instructions | |||||
| 1.6 | Account Executive(s) demonstrate flexibility | |||||
| 1.7 | Account Executive(s) take constructive criticism | |||||
| 1.8 | Account Executive(s) anticipate our needs in advance of instructions | |||||
| 1.9 | Account Executive(s) are cost conscious | |||||
| 1.10 | Account Executive(s) do what they say they will do | |||||
| 1.11 | Account Executive(s) are proactive in calling meetings when necessary | |||||
| 1.12 | Meetings are productive and worthwhile | |||||
| 1.13 | Account Executive(s) give recommendations based upon research, facts and sound reasoning | |||||
| 1.14 | Account Executive(s) get things done & meet deadlines | |||||
| 1.15 | Account Executive(s) are working to established processes and use them consistently | |||||
| 1.16 | Agency drives annual planning process | |||||
| Total score | ||||||
| Areas of excellence: | ||||||
| Areas requiring improvement: | ||||||
| PR Agency scorecard: 2.0 Handling the media | Satisfaction rating | |||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 2.1 | Account Executive(s) act quickly and accurately | |||||
| 2.2 | Account Executive(s) demonstrate good relationships and contacts with media | |||||
| 2.3 | Account Executive(s) handle requests/instructions with precision and flexibly | |||||
| 2.4 | Account Executive(s) demonstrate good knowledge of the media, especially in our industry sector | |||||
| 2.5 | Account Executive(s) keep us well informed of any developments | |||||
| 2.6 | Account Executive(s) follow up stories | |||||
| 2.7 | Monthly reports are comprehensive, factual and contain accurate and relevant post-analyses | |||||
| 2.8 | Press releases, photographs, background materials and newsletters are sent out as requested and followed up effectively | |||||
| 2.9 | Other media opportunities (press conferences, stunts, photo ops, tours etc) are proposed & delivered effectively | |||||
| 2.10 | VIP interviews with media are well organised and effectively executed | |||||
| Total score | ||||||
| Areas of excellence: | ||||||
| Areas requiring improvement: | ||||||
| PR Agency scorecard: 3.0 Developing strategies, tactics and planning | Satisfaction rating | |||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 3.1 | Agency comes forward with well developed ideas | |||||
| 3.2 | Agency applies creative ideas to achieve our goals | |||||
| 3.3 | Agency works with us to develop an annual integrated communications plan covering all stakeholders | |||||
| 3.4 | Agency maintains a strategic list of key media (including profiling of the top 12) | |||||
| 3.5 | Agency seeks out opportunities to promote us | |||||
| 3.6 | Agency seeks ways to maximise non-traditional media | |||||
| 3.7 | Agency provides support as requested for briefings, fam tours, exhibitions, conferences and other events | |||||
| 3.8 | Agency helps to identify speaker opportunities | |||||
| 3.9 | Agency provides advice on sponsorship opportunities | |||||
| 3.10 | Agency provides timely advice and clear strategic thinking when issues are emerging or in times of crisis | |||||
| Total score | ||||||
| Areas of excellence: | ||||||
| Areas requiring improvement: | ||||||
| PR Agency scorecard: 4.0 Financial & administrative services | Satisfaction rating | |||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | ||
| 4.1 | Agency provides timely information about the account | |||||
| 4.2 | Agency provides continuity with account executive(s) | |||||
| 4.3 | Agency provides account executive(s) with the right professional knowledge and skills | |||||
| 4.4 | Agency billing procedures are clear and unambiguous | |||||
| 4.5 | Agency billing is carried out consistently and in line with a well run accounting operation | |||||
| 4.6 | Agency doesn’t ‘weight’ account executives time for billing purposes | |||||
| Total score | ||||||
| Areas of excellence: | ||||||
| Areas requiring improvement: | ||||||
This list is not exhaustive. There may be other areas you wish to monitor within these scorecards. You may wish to add further sections to cover areas such as public affairs, online PR and any additional services requested by your organisation.
There is a big difference between knowing the theory and making it happen. For help in implementing your communications practices email us now.
(1) Although this is in table format, you could turn this into an Excel table making your scorecard easier to keep up to date.
