What Does a Good PR Firm Look Like?
I’ve worked at small, medium and large PR firms. I’ve not only seen it all, but between the candidates that I talk to and the companies that hire us, I’ve heard it all too.
Based on the number of PR pros that have reached out in January, I can tell that people are burned out. Some are thinking about giving up on PR. Others are asking themselves, “Is this just how it is?”
Answer: Yes, this is how most PR firms operate but not Ditto.
Senior-heavy — Clients expect us to provide smart strategy and counsel, which is why the majority of employees at Ditto are senior level. Oh, and senior employees only do senior-level work.
Account limits — No one is on more than 5 accounts at Ditto, unlike other (most?) PR firms where employees are on 10+ accounts. How can you do your job if you are on that many accounts??
No meetings — We do not have meetings all day that prevent us from doing our job. We use Thursday for client meetings and have a fun office stand-up on Friday, but that’s it!
Prioritize work — Using timeboxing, we actually schedule work, not meetings. And we don’t like distractions, so we don’t Slack in the mornings.
Happiness over everything else — We have an employee-first culture that revolves around happiness and wellness, and the majority of my time is dedicated to maintaining and growing a positive and uplifting work environment.
Rewarded for your work — Employees should be recognized and rewarded when they do amazing work. We give out around $5,000 a month in performance bonuses.
And as a result, turnover has been almost zero, and clients stick around for a long time — which means we don’t chase a ton of new business either.
