Well, I have to say that I have had a hard time tending to "my blog" for a few months. Thus I promise to talk about something at least 1x a week --as it pertains to ECMG that is!
To re-cap WHAT ECMG IS: ECMG is a hybrid of a personal public relations and agent-based representation service. We handle senior executives, consultants, entrepreneurs and a combination of the three. Our JOB is to help our clients increase their exposure in their market in order to find new job, business or consulting (including board seat) opportunities. Sometimes we have one mission and there is an end to the project and in other cases, we continue on indefinitely for our clients to represent them and publicize their services or products as an outsourced PR/Marketing arm. We have also created ETMG this year (entrepreneurial talent management group) which is a continuation of ECMG but with a focus on solo or entrepreneurial talent vs. traditional business/corporate talent. For now each brand is a part of the ECMG bundle of services since some of our clients are interested in tapping into each arena.
We work on retainer and commission.
The retainer of our fee is applied to the PR and campaigning part of our job (this includes helping the client tap into new social networking and new media channels as well as providing direct introduction/endorsement and traditional press), while the commission part pertains to the agent "hooking it up" part. This means that when and if the client's agent is responsible for directly hooking them up with a job or deal (including new business, new sales), then the client is also charged a percentage (ranges from 15 to 3%) of the total deal. If it's a full time job, we charge against the total first annual base salary accepted. If it's a new piece of business or sale of any kind, we charge 10 - 20% of that total amount of a contract/deal or invoice.
Okay, here's the thing that everyone wants to KNOW (at least 90% of the time!): What is your process? How do you do what you do for me? In other words: "How do you do your job?" First of all, we communicate with our clients on a regular basis so they know we are working for them at all times. This is imperative since we have to get to know clients (personally!) in order to work for them in this manner right? I mean doesn't every publicist and agent in Hollywood KNOW their clients personally -- they have to! So do we and that is not an understatement either.
Obviously a client needs to realize that we are not going to do anything that is false or misleading and they realize this just by getting to know us and working with us --sounds simple, but it's true. I think the biggest thing is that clients are wanting to see results in days and not months! Obviously we want that too (for our clients) because if we don't deliver, well they can fire us right? HOWEVER... People need to realize that any sort of advertising takes time to work! Turn on the TV. How many times do you see the same Pepsi Ad or the same ad for a new Movie or TV show? It takes time for the message to sink and reach the right number of people right? The other thing I think that people have a hard time with is that YES, there name will be pushed out there --in a good way mind you. If we don't put out messages about our clients (whether that is via a direct email, a press release, a social media channel or a phone call), we DON'T GET THEM NOTICED. We need to create recognition, exposure and visibility to help our clients get the results they are looking for. Again, results happen in no exact time frame, but as long as the campaign and representation is consistent and connected, results can and will happen. So clients need to be patient and trust in OUR PROCESS. If they find that there is any reason not to trust what we are doing for them, then they need to point that out as soon as possible.
The biggest thing that people need to realize is that they are also hiring us for our connections and relationships! Connections and relationships that will hook them up with the job, deal or person they want to know and work with or for! HOWEVER, we are not going to give away the cart before the horse. The relationships we have forged in the marketplace are our relationships and only our relationships! When we introduce a client to a particular person or company we have a relationship with or have forged a new recent relationship with, that person or company usually wants to know about and/or meet our client because of us and our endorsement of that client!
