We provide global technology-focused companies with the in-market services they need to create and capture European opportunities. We are bound by the CIPR Code of Conduct and these, our guiding principles and values.
What we will do
We will represent you professionally and in a way that befits and benefits your organisation.
Deliver advice and opinion based on evidence and our experience.
We have been doing this stuff for a while, and we’ve picked-up a few pearls of wisdom and war stories on the way.
We also keep a careful eye on best practice developments within international, B2B and technology PR and communications.
Tell you what you need to hear, even if you don’t want to hear it.
We’ve sat where you sit and been frustrated by some of the people who sat where we do now. So we’ll tell you what we really think, because that’s surely why you hired us.
Provide an audience focus.
Our plans will always be designed to meet the needs of your audience and the channels to reach them.
Sometimes that might mean changing timings or allocating additional internal resource, because while the Autobahn looks the easiest route it can sometimes clog with traffic during rush hour.
Agree metrics that deliver outcomes and impacts, not just outputs.
There should always be a point to a PR campaign. If you can identify that point, the purpose behind your activity and investment, then you can measure it.
However, we know that the purpose probably isn’t to get extra Facebook likes, because you can buy those on the internet. Metrics should always be meaningful.
Advise on the most cost effective way to communicate with different geographic audiences.
For example, UK journalists are keen that you use the Oxford English Dictionary, since it saves them considerable time when editing material sent on your behalf. So the simple act of creating a UK version of your press release or report immediately makes it more interesting to them.
Likewise, French, German, Spanish and Italian journalists prefer text in their own language for the same reason, and even more so if quotes are attributed to a local spokesperson and examples feature local projects and customers.
Everyone knows that it’s more effective to also translate marketing collateral to the main European languages – with 24 official languages in the EU we’ll recommend the right ones for you.
Use experts to complement our in-house skills.
We will use trusted associates with solid track-records to enhance and extend our own design, photography and copy writing skills.
Where translations are needed we will always use professional translators for localising communication assets – because you’re just as capable as us in using ‘Google Translate’ to make French journalists laugh.
We will always recommend the tactics that we believe will create the biggest impact with your target audience.
However, we will always be mindful of impacts on activities that you have in your home market, and of the rules that govern exchanges (such as NASDAQ) and other regulators.
We’ve got real in-house and agency experience of working for US companies, and UK companies selling in the US, so we know that working closely with your investor relations and legal team is vital.
We will focus on your success and the outcomes you wish to achieve.
Precision by name, precision by nature. PR for PR’s sake is yesterday’s game.
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What we won’t do
Try out the latest trendy idea on you.
You have to ask yourself, “Does this really work? Will it generate enough momentum to move itself? Or is this some sort of wobbly jelly that you’ll have to push all the way up the hill?”
If you can’t see how it might work it probably won’t. And if we can’t see how it will work we won’t recommend it.
Tell you what you want to hear just because that’s what you want us to do.
If we don’t think something will work we’ll tell you why and together we can come up with a better idea. We’re consultants, not a mail-order catalogue.
Design plans that are self-serving and worthless to your audiences – because that makes them worthless to you too.
For example, surveys can be a very persuasive tool. Except everybody does them, and journalists only ever use the very best – the ones that tell them something more interesting than ‘8 out of 10 people prefer YOU’.
Press clipping services.
We will recommend them, and will provide reports and analysis, but we believe that if we are measured by our results, that measurement should be independent and based on outcomes.
Why? Because you won’t ask a car dealer to do a condition report on the used car he’s trying selling you. An impartial 3rd-party report provides unbiased evidence that we have delivered your goals.
Write in US English.
Well, we might in certain circumstances – writing materials for countries that use US English as a standard for example.
European publications often have an editorial policy specifying UK English as a language preference. UK and European journalists therefore prefer UK English – important if you intend to reach European audiences.
It’s even more effective to also translate to the main European languages, but we won’t treat translations as a way to boost our budget.
Hide our mark-up and management fees for external services.
We will not make money on materials or services for your campaign unless you agree we are adding value to those purchases.
We’re not a restaurant – there should be no hidden service charges and we won’t get grumpy if you don’t tip us.
Rely solely on press releases to generate coverage, nor press conferences.
Press releases and conferences have their place, but few worthwhile European journalists (especially in the UK) use press releases as the root of their story – they like one-to-one communications, not mass mail-outs.
There is massive competition between European and UK publications (online, broadcast and traditional), and they like their own angle on a story. Even better, they’d like you to evidence their own story, so think about interviews and one-to-one communications to get the best out of your campaign.
We will never focus on outputs or ways to increase our profits at your expense.
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We set-up Precision PR to be one of the best, not one of the biggest. If you share our values and want to hear how we deliver on our promises, call us.Cary Cray-Webb & Chris Webb – Precision PR Ltd