To make the dollars in an organization's PR budget work harder, Blaze PR president Matt Kovacs says that the key is "to be more creative."

Kovacs says that comms pros need to move beyond just "coverage for coverage sake" to focus on "thinking more of what's going to affect sales, what's going to affect the brand positioning versus just thinking, oh, we'll put out a press release, we'll get coverage, we'll get product reviews."

He tells Simon that "you have to have other people invested in the process, especially on the client side, because then there's more buy in."

The result is that "your team gets more motivated because you can be more creative, you can have more opportunities, you can look at partnerships, you can look at co-branded elements."

Kovacs also says that this expanding scope of work makes keeping close track of how communications dollars are spent essential. "Internally we have open and honest discussions with the team on the dollars that are coming in so they understand the importance and the elements of being as efficient as they can."

He also stresses the need for open communications with clients on budgetary issues, so that "there's an awareness in the discussion very early on so they don't feel like 'Okay I'm paying you this fee and I can throw everything at you.'"

The effect of rapid staff turnaround at client companies is also discussed. One must is to have "a lot of touchpoints within organizations, because our PR can affect and help the sales teams. You know, we can put together decks, they can go and then take to buyers and retailers. You know, there's opportunities of how we can merchandise ourselves so that they see the value."

With a new CCO, for example, agencies need to "showcase what we've done and that we understand their brand. And so, they understand that we're there to help them and assist them in the role. And not that they're needing to educate or teach us about what's going on."

Kovacs also emphasizes the importance of maintaining ties with client after a campaign winds up. "We make sure that as we have other events or other opportunities, we invite those people to them so they feel part of the family. So, they look at it as, Blaze was able to do this campaign for us. They're including me. They're giving me insights I may not see. And we talk a lot about that especially as new people come on board, that knowledge is power. And the more you can be that resource, that's really invaluable for again a client or a potential client."

View all of the interviews in the “PR's Top Pros Talk” series. Subscribe to get notified when new episodes are available.

Interested in taking part? Contact Doug Simon at [email protected]

D S Simon Media helps clients get their stories on television through satellite media tours and by producing and distributing content to the media. The company also produces live social media events.