How to Prepare for Your First Meeting With an Agency
Come with a clear objective, background, audiences, constraints, a budget range and timeline, and your own questions. The first meeting is a chance to judge how the agency thinks, not only what it offers.
To prepare for a first meeting with a PR, marketing or event agency, come with a clear objective, the background to your situation, the audiences that matter, known constraints, a budget range, your timeline and your own questions. Use the meeting to judge how the agency thinks: the questions it asks often tell you more than its presentation.
For organisations in Ghana meeting agencies for the first time, a little preparation makes the conversation far more useful for both sides.
Clarify your objective
Write down, in one or two sentences, what you need to achieve and why now. "Increase registrations for our March conference among young professionals in Accra" is more useful than "raise our profile".
Gather the background
Prepare a short summary of the organisation, past campaigns or events, what worked and what did not, and any sensitive issues the agency should know about.
Describe your audiences
Who needs to understand, attend, buy or support? What do you know about them? See how to research your audience before spending on promotion.
Know your constraints
Fixed dates, approval processes, partner requirements, regulations and budget limits all shape what is possible.
Bring a budget range
Even an approximate range helps the agency suggest realistic options.
Bring your questions
Useful questions include:
- How would you approach our objective?
- Who would work on our account?
- What similar work have you done, and what were the results?
- What would you advise us not to do?
- How would you measure success?
- How do you charge, and what is included?
See red flags when hiring a PR or marketing agency in Ghana.
Bring the right people
Include the person who will manage the relationship and, if possible, someone with authority to make decisions.
After the meeting
Write down your impressions while they are fresh: did the agency understand your objective, ask good questions and explain its thinking clearly? If you proceed, send a written brief. See how to brief a communications agency in Ghana.
At PR369, the first meeting is a strategy conversation. See what happens in a PR369 strategy conversation.
PR369's Strategic Communications and PR service begins every engagement with a strategy conversation. Email info@pr369.com with your objective, timeline and current challenge.
