We’re a consultancy, not an agency.

I’m a PR professional, not just a PR guy.

I’m a consultant, not just a do-er.

We’re strategic, we rise way above mere tactics.

All things PR firms and people have been saying for years. So why is it, then, that each year when we should be reviewing our rates with confidence and determining increases ‘because we’re worth it’ that we frequently chicken out?

There are some notable exceptions: agencies (alright, consultancies) that put a rate review as a fixed item on the board meeting agenda and have a common-sense, systemic approach to introducing changes. But from conversations I’ve had recently and over the years with people at a pretty broad spectrum of agencies, this is certainly not the norm.

The more usual scenario is a hasty review based largely on guesswork and assumption, then a pretty hamfisted communique to clients in hushed tones.

Costs go up. That’s a basic economic factor. Inflation may not be flavour of the month, but rarely are PR rates index-linked anyway. When I get a letter or email to tell me that my TV package, my utilities or my insurance is going up, there’s typically a sensible (albeit not always completely credible) explanation to accompany it. No-one likes paying more, but if it’s a service you value, you understand. It can also remind you what you’re actually getting for your money and why you need or like it.

Yet PR seems to have adopted a similar stigma to council tax or prices at the pump – there’s a ground-in fear that customers will just shake their heads and view it as having to pay more, yet get nothing more in return.

It’s daft. PR’s modernisation is, steadily and on many fronts, making its costs easier to justify. It remains, and probably will always remain, something that seems opaque to those who do not bathe regularly in the editorial world. But as media diversifies and consumption increases, its influence continues to be better understood.

There should be an expectation set that rates are reviewed at least annually, and that frank and constructive conversations will be had with clients at those times so that they can explain the rationale to their colleagues. If not, we’re pursuing a slow road to waning profitability and eventual death. Dramatic maybe, but the only way to interject would be less frequent but more stark price hikes, which are invariably more difficult to justify.

Rather than pussyfooting around about price changes, we should use them as an opportunity to underline our value (even if rates are staying static) and have conversations with clients about how PR is helping their businesses.