Managing a Public Relations Firm for Growth and Profit

A complete guide, Managing a Public Relations Firm for Growth and Profit describes in detail how to manage and market a public relations firm successfully. The only book of its kind on the market, this volume is bursting with tips, instructions, philosophies, theories, and guidance, all to help you steer your firms to success. It demonstrates how to market, promote, and sell a firm to attract, win, and hold the right clientele. You will learn how to manage a new or existing firm so it is productive and profitable and has a long-range future. Information in the book is based on Author A. C. Croft's extensive experience in the field, including ten years as a consultant to PR firm principals and more than 25 years as employee or principal of three medium-sized, successful PR agencies.Croft begins each chapter with a brief profile of a seasoned and successful PR firm principal from a mid-sized firm. These professionals tell of their successes and also relate early mistakes that you would do well to avoid. Chapters are grouped into two main sections, “Marketing Your Firm for Growth” and “Managing Your Firm for Profit,” and discuss pertinent topics such as: keys to new business success management strategies for success communicating to prospects installing efficient systems and procedures managing staff productivity managing profitability client budgeting recruiting, training, and retaining staff crisis planningCovering everything from billing practices and self-promotion to the use of computers and student interns, Managing a Public Relations Firm for Growth and Profit is one guide you are sure to refer to again and again for practical advice. It is must-reading for owners of small and medium-sized PR firms; senior managers of small, medium, and national firms who wish to expand their management knowledge and ability or who are considering starting their own firm; lower-level staff members who want to increase their knowledge of agency management; and university public relations professors who would like to include a primer on PR firm management in their classes.

Table of Contents:
Contents Foreword Preface Part I: Introduction: The PR Agency Business PROFILE 1: Cathy Ackermann, President, Ackermann Public Relations and Marketing Chapter 1. What Is a Public Relations Firm? PROFILE 2: Sheri Benjamin, Principal, The Benjamin Group Chapter 2. What Is an Agency Principal? Part II: Marketing Your Firm for Growth PROFILE 3: Richard Blewitt, President, Rowan & Blewitt Chapter 3. Anatomy of an Agency Search: How the Game Is Played PROFILE 4: Howard Bragman, President, Bragman Nyman Cafarelli Chapter 4. Developing a Marketing Plan PROFILE 5: Herbert Corbin, Managing Partner, KCSA Public Relations Chapter 5. Communicating to Prospects PROFILE 6: Roger Fischer, President, Fischer & Partners Chapter 6. New Business Rules PROFILE 7: Tom Gable, Chairman/CEO, The Gable Group Chapter 7. New Business Secrets PROFILE 8: Jack Guthrie, Chairman, Jack Guthrie & Associates Chapter 8. New Business Singular Truths Part III: Managing Your Firm for Profit PROFILE 9: Elizabeth Hays, CEO, Davis, Hays & Company Chapter 9. Management Strategies for Success PROFILE 10: Carole Kerbel, President, Kerbel Communications Inc. Chapter 10. Managing Time and People PROFILE 11: Anne Klein, President, Anne Klein & Associates Chapter 11. Systems and Procedures PROFILE 12: Donna Brooks Lucas, President, BR&R Communications Chapter 12. Forecasting Income and Managing Profitability PROFILE 13: David Paine, President, Paine & Associates Chapter 13. Client Budgeting PROFILE 14: Steven Parker, President, Corporate Communications Ltd. Chapter 14. Recruiting, Training, and Retaining Employees PROFILE 15: Robert Schenkein, President, Schenkein/Sherman PR Chapter 15. Managing Expansion Problems and Priorities PROFILE 16: Winnie Shows, President, Smith & Shows PR Chapter 16. Crisis Planning for PR Firms PROFILE 17: Mike Walker, President, The Walker Agency Chatper 17. Fiscal Year and Physical Check-Ups PROFILE 18: Julie Wang, CEO, Wang Health Care Communcations Chapter 18. And In Conclusion: New Year's Resolutions Appendixes Index