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Sigmund Freud’s nephew Edward Bernays, known as ‘the father of public relations’, gave birth to the industry a century ago. In that time, the business model hasn’t significantly changed: Clients pay monthly retainers for strategy, planning, and consultancy, with the results impossible to predict.
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The traditional, century-old model often limits the potential for both clients and agencies. Recognizing this market limitation, Pathos Communications has created a demand-driven PR model where the UK-headquartered public relations agency reviews possible news sources and only approaches potential clients that are genuinely newsworthy. The agency then reviews their offering to the media, before deciding whether to engage.
Their ‘pay on results’ PR is particularly valued by startups and small companies typically excluded by the conventional long-term retainer model, as well as more established brands who can bring in house the strategy and planning aspects of PR, only needing an outside agency for execution.
It is this bundling of strategic services (that many clients simply don’t need) with the tangible deliverables (that many clients are focused on exclusively) that leads too many clients of too many PR agencies to experience PR as a ‘scam’: From the agency’s perspective, a communications strategy has been developed, talking points have been drawn up, and maybe even media training has been delivered.
But from the client’s point of view, when it reviews six or twelve months of PR activity, they conclude that ‘nothing has been delivered’ because they don’t have top tier media coverage to share with investors, partners, prospects and employees.
Pathos Communications takes PR a step further than traditional agencies which have historically focused on simply getting their clients published, regardless of the actual value and return on investment (ROI) provided to clients.
The Pathos approach sees media coverage being published as only the half-way point in the process. The second half is putting those media assets to work in order to optimize the client’s valuation, lead generation, marketing, sales process and even retention and repeat business.
This allows every company to profit from its engagement with the media, if it has a newsworthy story to tell – regardless of how old, or big, the company is.
By focusing on actual results, Pathos Communications has successfully attracted a diverse range of clients, including startups, small businesses, and prominent business figures. Some of their high-profile clients include Publicis Groupe, the largest communications group in the world; Jane Lu, a “Shark” on Shark Tank Australia; James Caan, a “Dragon” from the UK’s Shark Tank-equivalent, Dragon’s Den; and Oscar-nominated Hollywood producer Frederick Marx.
With a head office in London, UK, and teams in the US, Canada, and Dubai, Pathos Communications boasts a truly global reach, enabling the firm to work across various time zones and cater to an international client roster.
The success of Pathos Communications’ results-driven model has opened the door for significant growth potential. By continuing to penetrate the global PR market and carrying out regular reviews of their clients’ needs, Pathos aims to capitalize on the demand for more effective and value-driven PR solutions. The company also plans to expand its “pay on results” offering to encompass other B2B marketing and communications services in future, such as lead generation, social media management and website content.
In 1971, Bernays wrote that ‘Public relations helps validate competition in the marketplace of ideas’. Results-driven PR campaigns are proving effective in expanding that marketplace and increasing competition – both in the media, and the industry that surrounds it.
This article is a paid partnersnhip with Pathos Communications.