Do As You Say And As You Do: Protecting A PR Agency's Reputation

In "An Ideal Husband," Oscar Wilde wrote: The only good thing to do with good advice is pass it on; it is never of any use to oneself.

Sometimes in the world of PR, this would seem to be the mentality we adhere to the most. We spend all day talking with clients about what we believe is the best route for them to take, giving justification after justification for that choice. We look at the situation from every angle possible before making a recommendation. Pros and cons are weighed. Audiences are examined. Every plan is crafted carefully, strategically shaped and efficiently executed.

A penny for our thoughts? Well, a little more than a penny, but we're always happy to share with you what we believe the best course of action is for your business.

Sometimes it appears that we listen too closely to Wilde's words and do not seem to examine issues that face our agency each day in the same manner we do our clients. We are so intent on providing the best possible course of action for them that we will miss out on our own good advice when it comes to how we shape the public's perception of the agency.

Edelman, the world's largest public relations agency in the world (disclosure: Edelman is a big competitor with my own agency, Burson-Marsteller), found itself in a bit of hot water this past week when it circulated a blog on how clients could capitalize on media coverage around Robin Williams' death. As a PR practitioner, I understand what their thought process was, but the quick posting, the sensitivity of the topic and the clearly universal respect the public had for Williams should have been red flags at every turn. Edelman ultimately apologized for the blog post, but the damage was already done. Media outlets and the public soundly condemned the post and Edelman took a beating in the press for a few days.

Couple that with a recent gaffe on the agency's refusal to pledge that it would not work with climate change deniers and Edelman needed a little bit of crisis communications work for itself. Its executives did not adhere to the same advice they provide clients on a daily basis. The internal processes that we urge clients to put in place fell by the wayside and Edelman ultimately took two black eyes in as many weeks.

And while any PR expert wants to catch these issues before they get out of hand, Edelman took the appropriate response and has formed a team to examine reputation management for the agency itself. Executives recognized the missteps they made and are working to correct the issues. Swallowing pride like this and admitting mistakes is a critical step when it comes to crisis management and likely one of the first that Edelman recommends to its own clients. 

I can attest that as an individual who works in an agency, we can easily to lose sight of what is best for it. Following the advice that you give to clients can seem like a no-brainer, but when work is moving a million miles an hour, it can be the first mentality to disappear. Most people probably would think of a PR agency as the last company that would need to work on its external communications strategy, but we are human, too, and make mistakes. 

At the end of the day, agencies must remember that just like we handle for our clients, our reputation management must be considered at all times too. We must employ the same process of of decision-making that we're paid to give to our clients. Otherwise, we lose the credibility we work so hard to develop in their eyes.