Working with a PR agency - what payment method is best for you?
Retainer fee vs Payment-by-work-completed vs Project fee
When choosing to work with a PR agency, you need to find the right methods and relationships that work with you to complement your company’s aims. Part of this is finding a payment method that works best for you.
Different payment options will deliver different outcomes - but this doesn’t mean they will deliver objectively better or worse outcomes. After all, your view on this is dependent on what you’re striving to achieve with your PR agency as well as your working style. Because of this, it’s worth understanding the elements of different payment options so you know how to achieve your best results with a PR agency.
So what are your options?
Retainer fee
A retainer fee is a fixed fee (usually paid monthly) that guarantees a certain level of work within that period. Usually retainer fees are longer-term contracts and can include a variety of services depending on the needs of your company over time.
Things to consider with retainer fees:
It is a higher commitment for both sides - with a retainer fee, your company must commit to longer periods of PR work, but this also means your PR agency has enough time to commit themselves to your long-term goals. Accordingly, your PR agency won’t just hit short-term targets but can help with broader achievements too, raising your company profile, reputation and increasing your audience’s trust levels over time.
It can offer wider media opportunities - if a higher level of work is agreed upon, this gives more room for a PR agency to seek further media opportunities, respond to journalist enquiries and continue building stronger relationships with publications for you. Also, because of the long-term commitment, they’re looking for future opportunities as well as current ones.
It allows your PR agency to become part of your team - long-term work and increased commitment allows your PR agency to better connect with your team. This inevitably helps to increase their understanding of your company goals, values and ways of working so your PR efforts are perfectly suited to your needs.
It allows help at a moment’s notice - because of the level of PR work you’re entitled to within a retainer fee, you can ask for help and advice on sudden or unexpected matters without incurring an extra cost.
Retainers can still be flexible - although there is a set amount of time and work to be spent on PR each month, retainer fees can still be flexible. For instance, extra work or reducing hours can be temporarily negotiated if necessary - at PR in HR, our view is to keep working with our clients long-term, so we work with clients’ needs.
Payment-by-work-completed
This method means you will be billed by your PR agency depending on the level of work completed for you each month. Because of this, both your payments and PR workload can vary in size.
Things to consider with a payment-by-work-completed option:
It provides increased flexibility - because there is no set fee, it gives you the opportunity to increase or decrease your PR efforts until you find a level that is suitable for you and your finances each month.
It offers potential for long-term commitment in the future - though this method requires no contract to make long-term PR commitments, it provides you with the potential to rev up your PR work and commit to a retainer fee in the future should you see the great outcomes of your current PR.
It can impact dedication incentives - for PR to achieve any desired outcome, it requires a good level of dedication on both sides. The agency must be dedicated to providing great results and clients must also be dedicated to providing company insights that can be delivered to the media.
However, our advice is that because this payment method has no set fee and subsequently doesn’t drive the feeling of needing to ‘get your money’s worth’, it can reduce the incentives and motivation for clients to provide these insights. Yet without this information, it’s harder for a PR agency to create great content and get good results. To see excellent outcomes with this method, clients must be incentivised by the value their PR can bring and not the money they are paying.
Project fees
Project fees are those paid for specific PR projects that often have a set time frame with time-specific goals. Often, this payment method is chosen for PR work that aims to promote product/company launches or company events.
Things to consider with project fees:
It allows a set budget - with PR projects, a set budget will be worked out in advance so you will know exactly how much you will spend to achieve your goals. This is great for financial planning - especially for product and company launches when budgets may be tighter in the initial startup phase.
Successful projects still take time - though projects are often short-term, they still require a decent length of time to produce strong results. The HR market is all about educating audiences - yet education takes time. Because of this, PR agencies may need a bit longer to get your messages heard in order to highlight your launch or event. Therefore, a few weeks of PR won’t be enough - a few months of work will still be necessary to get strong results.
Short-term work can provide big results - short term projects often require a larger amount of work to be done so you can hit targets as fast as possible and boost awareness of your product, event or messages quickly. Because of this, not only can short-term projects deliver on targets, they will often provide you with a lot of content that you can repurpose and reuse in the future.
It sets up a good relationship for future work - although projects are shorter, they are beneficial in letting you see whether PR may be useful for you in the long run. If you see great results from your project-based PR, you may see potential in the value of long-term work. As well as this, you know that should you ask for more work in the future, you have a PR agency who already understands your aims and can work with you straight away.
With whatever payment method you choose, it’s possible to see great results and form excellent relationships with your PR people.
Having a team that truly understands your needs, values and priorities will enable you to pick the best option for you. After all, if they understand your goals, they can guide you on which method will most realistically and efficiently help you to achieve them. From then on, as long as both client and agency are committed, you can see some incredible outcomes for your business.
If you want to find out how PR in HR can work with your business, get in touch - we’re happy to help. Or, get your free PR audit with us and we’ll let you know just how strong your company is in the HR market right now.