While evaluating my firm's performance over the last few weeks as it relates to the relationships we have with our clients, I made some observations about the critical elements that define the success or failure of those relationships for us. I have come up with this list of commandments to act as a clear directive about how we behave when it comes to our relationships. Some of these come from defining challenges I personally have when dealing with clients, some address the approach I take with online public relations, and others just make sense from a "best practices" point-of-view. We will refer to it daily and will make changes as appropriate.
Understanding that this list is specific to my team, these bullets may be a good starting point for you to develop for your team. Adopting any of these can only improve your relationship with your clients.
- Each client shall be presented with intelligent and aggressive options for their social media pr campaign.
- Each client shall be presented with pre-defined goals and metrics by which the social media pr campaign’s success or failure can be easily measured.
- Each client shall be presented with all online and offline pr options providing the best chance of success. Each client is entitled to use whatever pr methods they feel are best for their campaign and should never be pressured into using social media pr channels that don’t make sense to them.
- Each client shall receive prompt responses to questions.
- Each client shall be informed of the status of his/her campaign on a bi-weekly basis.
- Each client shall be kept informed of the status of the social media landscape and changes in the primary social media platforms as it relates to his/her campaign strategy.
- Each client shall receive access to the analytics applications and reports used to measure the results of his/her social media campaign.
- Each client is entitled to have his/her telephone call/email returned on the same day.
- We shall operate in a way that is completely transparent to the client. Keeping the client informed about what we are doing and why we are taking one approach over another is critical to the client’s learning.
- We shall not be stingy with our knowledge and experience. We will teach the client our tactics and strategies as we work together to create and execute a successful social media public relations campaign.
