There will always be instances in business where timelines are short.
It might be that regulatory approval has moved more quickly than expected. Or perhaps some political development has catapulted your product or issue into the immediate spotlight. Perhaps a new source of funding or a fixed grant is tied to a short-term communications deliverable.
These scenarios are most acutely felt by small to mid-sized health companies and not-for-profit organisations. Actions are managed by smaller teams in mid-sized organisations, and long lead times can sometimes seem like a luxury.
So how do you move quickly to secure the kind of boutique PR agency support that will help you make the most of that newly emerged opportunity?
Before we come to that question, let’s look at why a boutique agency is most likely to deliver the best results for your where time is short.
Why is a smaller, boutique agency a better option for a fast turnaround launch?
If you’ve got a tight deadline and you need a fast turnaround, then a smaller boutique agency is the one that is most likely to be able to help you.
Independent boutique PR agencies in Australia (say around 10-15 consultants) have the size to be able to take on substantial projects but are still sufficiently entrepreneurial and nimble to move quickly. In most cases, the founder is still active, the structure is flat, and the approval processes to be able to respond to a new brief are well honed. In fact, a recent industry report found that Agencies with three to 10 employees represented just 22.6% of the agency sector but almost half of all high-growth agencies, suggesting that lean teams can compete well beyond their size.
Boutique agencies are less likely to be encumbered by layers of bureaucracy and constraints of separate internal teams. They tend to be made up of consultants who can make quick calls, move quickly and direct teams to respond to new opportunities.
So they are smaller than multinational communications agencies, nimble, independent and entrepreneurial. So they understand the need to move quickly to seize opportunities
Plus if you are dealing with a health specialist agency, then they are already up to speed about the relevant regulations, laws and compliance challenges. You won’t waste time educating your boutique agency to get them up the regulatory learning curve.
The reality of communications budgets is that your budget is likely to mean more to them than it does to a multinational agency. You’re likely to be a bigger priority.
These are all good reasons to focus on a boutique PR agency for your fast turnaround launch.
Writing a tight, pragmatic brief for your boutique PR agency
The key to a fast turnaround with your PR agency is a tight and clear brief. This allows agencies to understand your needs quickly without the need for prolonged Q&A cycles.
A good brief is one that explains the context in which the organisation finds itself, the objectives it has set itself in leveraging an opportunity and the resources (in time, contacts, talent, third-party support and money) it can commit to help achieve those objectives.
The Palin Communications team has a briefing template which we use to help clients frame their challenges, and it poses questions under several sub-headings:
Background: Set the context. What is triggering the opportunity? Why does the organisation want to commission a PR agency? What are the variables that have led the organisation to this point?
Target audience: Be specific. Is it a consumer-focused activity? Does it have a political dimension? If healthcare professionals are a target audience, then specify what kind of healthcare professionals.
Objectives: Develop specific, measurable, time-limited objectives. What needs to change in order for the campaign to be regarded as successful?
Timeframe: Be clear about deadlines and the variables driving the milestones. Include upcoming time-sensitive opportunities (health awareness days, publication of data, regulatory announcement, presentation of latest results etc) so they can be built into the strategy.
External parties, case studies and talent: Describe the key external players and your relationships with them. Which groups and opinion leaders share an interest in your issue or launch? Who might oppose or criticise what is being proposed?
Regulatory considerations: Which industry code or legislation covers the nature of the launch being proposed? Is there a precedent from previous launches that indicates how compliance is handled?
Metrics for success: Are there specific metrics that the team wants to see that will define success? Media coverage? Social media engagement? Reviews of regulatory decisions? Future funding success? User acquisition? Increased community awareness of a disease? What are we intending to measure?
Budget: Be clear, committed and realistic on budget. Upfront transparency on budget intentions and limits saves weeks of back-and-forth negotiation with your agency. Leaving the budget with the agency to develop will inevitably lead to a round of negotiations at the strategy development phase and run the risk of you being “overpitched to”.
Sometimes we advise our clients to simply “download what is in their head”, at the briefing stage, even it if doesn’t fit neatly into a format or sub-headings. Often the most important things will come out when clients follow this advice.
Working with your boutique PR agency to turn your brief into an actionable plan
Once a clear, tight brief is developed and approved, the next step is to work with your agency to develop a scope of work. Typically, this scope of work will make allowance for a phase of strategy development, depending on how detailed the project is.
The scope of work will reflect the variables set out in the brief. It will specify the deliverables that the agency needs to focus on to make a success of the campaign.
Typically it starts with something of a “reverse brief” to confirm that your agency has understood the “ask”. Then the scope of work outlines the deliverables, describing:
The process of strategy development: Will it be desk research, collaborative workshops or a combination?
The required resources and quantifiable media materials: What are we intending to produce as part of the campaign? Media releases, media alerts, social posts – and how many of them?
The stakeholder, case study and third party management strategy: If good PR campaigns are driven by what OTHER people say, what is our strategy for
The compliance provisions: What steps will be taken to ensure compliance.
The evaluation strategy: What commitments does the agency make in regard to measurement, KPI’s and monitoring of outcomes?
A specific budget: A total amount agreed, exclusive of government tax like GST and a timeframe over which it is approved to be spent.
This then gives you the document that guides your future work with your agency on the campaign. It keeps activity focused, gets you to the next step of strategy development and keeps your agency accountable to the activities on which you have signed off.
At Palin Communications, we have agreements with existing clients that specify we complete these “scopes of work” documents within a few days once there is a written brief. It might take slightly longer for new clients.
But this process streamlines the steps between “client need” and “agency delivery” of the communications program.
Palin Communications: An agency that can turn things around, quickly.
Palin Communications is an agency energised by deadlines. We understand there are circumstances where tight turnarounds are a fact of life. Sometimes external factors drive communications opportunities. Smart PR teams move quickly with their clients to take advantage of those.
Whether it is a not-for-profit leveraging an upcoming awareness day (like Heart Valve Awareness Week for Hearts4heart) or an innovative health app filling a gap in the Australian aged care space (like PainChek), we’ve helped dozens of health organisations to move quickly to leverage opportunities.
Indeed, it’s the fact that we’ve done it so many times in the past that allows us to move quickly to help our clients make it happen in the future. It’s our experience and structure that help us turn things around quickly.
Our agency has a flat structure with a team of independent senior decision-makers at the top. This reduces bureaucratic barriers and allows an innovative, solutions-focused process to turn tight briefs into great campaigns. The senior team at Palin Communications is engaged early in the process to find solutions that match your PR brief.
Having the right tools also helps the Palin Communications team turn things around quickly.
We can quickly translate detailed, clinical data into compelling stories by using our preferred storytelling structure. This is built around the “Once, then, so, now” format, which starts with a personal dimension and historical context to underpin a story about what is possible now and for the future. The Palin Communications team has run industry webinars on this format of efficient “Sensitive storytelling”
The Palin Communications team has honed our message rehearsal and feedback sessions to help external experts and internal executives nail their key messages as the campaign rolls out. A key part of delivering great outcomes is making sure your “talent” can deliver compelling messages. Our message rehearsal sessions are uniquely framed to make that happen.
There’s no point in turning things around quickly unless we can keep our activities compliant. Healthcare is a highly regulated environment. The Palin Communications team can move quickly because we understand the Australian regulatory frameworks (like the TGA advertising codes, AHPRA guidelines, and Medicines Australia codes). This means that our vetting of messages in the early stages of their development avoids launch delays and costly legal re-works.
Ready to brief a boutique agency on your fast turn around campaign launch?
Say a bit more about the situation and most likely scenario
We’ve helped a lot of health-focused companies to move “at speed” to take advantage of emerging opportunities.
The key is a tight brief, a clear scope of work, an evidence-based strategy and a proven process for implementing great campaigns. At Palin Communications, our senior team and proven processes ensure we can help you with all of that.
If you email hello@palin.com.au one of our Senior Management Team will be in touch with you to discuss your needs.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it usually take to brief, appoint, and launch a campaign with a boutique healthcare PR agency?
It all depends on the scale of the project and individual approval processes. Everyone likes to have as much notice as possible from the time of the briefing to the launch. Sometimes that is difficult because of external factors. Which is why keeping the brief and scope of work tight is the key to quicker turnarounds.
What key information must be included in a PR brief for a health startup or NFP on a tight budget?
There is a detailed list in the article above. But the main things are the context, the measurable objectives of the campaign, the timeframe and the budget. These four things will allow your boutique PR agency to make a quick call on what is possible and what needs prioritising.
What is the difference between hiring a specialist boutique healthcare PR agency and a large multinational agency?
Typically with a specialist health-focused boutique agency you’ll get the benefit of specialisation (reducing time required to brief the agency on external variables and compliance issues) and a relatively flat structure (reducing bureaucratic turnaround time internally). Boutique agencies are often born out of an entrepreneurial mindset which helps underpin responsiveness, ‘straight talking’ and commercial sensitivity. All of these features assist in prompt responses and timely strategy development
How can a health organisation ensure a PR agency understands TGA, AHPRA, and Medicines Australia compliance rules before hiring them?
The key is to be working with an agency that specialises exclusively in the health sector and has been doing so (successfully) for decades. Specialist agencies can only survive in the long term if they have a detailed understanding of the various regulatory codes.
