We’re finally living in a time when teams are based across the country or globe and have the powerful technologies needed to collaborate, produce great work, and deliver measurable results. The remote work trend has accelerated rather quickly: a recent report from Gartner estimates that 52% of US workers will be remote in 2022, with 53% remote in Europe and the UK.
PR agency owners and in-house PR teams haven’t been left out of this exciting shift in remote teams, and PR workflow is being quickly revolutionized for improved efficiency and collaboration.
While you may have transitioned quickly and successfully into leading a remote team (go, you!), the realization that remote teams are here to stay may have you looking for ways to optimize your team’s workflow even further.
The landscape of solutions is very promising for you! With just a few tools in place, you can manage an entire system of PR teamwork and provide your team with the structure they need to do their job well.
And let’s face it, for the sake of retention, many of our team members want to see us make commitments to tech-savvy solutions that consistently improve their daily PR tasks and processes.
On top of that, it never hurts to show your clients how your agency’s PR workflow constantly evolves with the changing needs of the industry. They’ll inevitably witness your agency’s digital implementation in your team’s presentations, discussions, and reporting.
Now, there’s no doubt it takes some research and commitment to stay on top of the ever-evolving PR workflow solutions out there. Ultimately, however, implementing a solution results in overwhelmingly positive outcomes like employee job satisfaction, client retention, agency time savings, and the ability to take on more clients at once.
Special note: as an agency or team leader, you may feel the need to take the lead and research, demo, and select PR workflow process improvements that you find best for your team. However, it would be a huge misstep to overlook the ideas, challenges, and opinions of your team along the way.
PR team work optimizations and improvements should include feedback from the entire team, in a 3-step process that makes sure everyone is heard and that solutions emerge from their real-life experiences. This is especially true for those remote team members working furthest away from an agency’s home location.
The 3-steps are:
- Document the team’s current PR workflow processes
- Assign leads or teams to tackle each process
- Test, evaluate, and repeat
How to improve your PR workflow
Step one: Document PR workflow processes
When you step back to consider your team’s workflow, you’ll immediately notice there are completely different workflow processes for different types of work. For example, you probably have one process for client onboarding, a separate process for media pitching, and another process for monthly reporting.
You’ll want to tackle each process individually, as there may be radically different solutions for each.
So, gather your team (in-person or virtually), pick one process to focus on, and document the process together. Assign a note-taker, preferably someone outside your PR team, so everyone can participate fully.
Let them know that the goal of this exercise is to improve the process in one of three ways: saved time, less work friction (frustration), and better output for clients. This will help you keep the conversation focused and on task.
For example, if a discussion point turns into a series of side complaints, quickly redirect the discussion back to one of these three goals: “So what I hear you saying is that adjusting this part of the process will save us a lot of time.”
For simplicity, use a physical or virtual whiteboard to visually map out the current process steps and assign a notetaker. Then, start asking questions like:
- Which part of the process is the most time-consuming?
- Which part is the most frustrating?
- Which part consistently works well?
- How many approvals does this part of the process get through? Can we reduce that number?
- Which part of the process excites clients the most and provides them the most value?
Next, come to a group consensus on the time needed to complete each part of the process. If the team is unsure or can’t reach a consensus, that’s okay. Table that part of the discussion for the day and ask everyone to record their time for the next week and bring that data back for a follow-up discussion (an online time-tracking tool like Toggl makes this task easy for everyone).
Pay careful attention to individual responses, too. Tasks that are frustrating to some may be challenging and enjoyable for others. The task may not need to change—it may just need to be run by another person on the team instead!
And make ask your most recent hires to speak about their experience with the team’s processes. They often have the most insights.
People who’ve been on the team longer may do things a certain way because that’s how we’ve always done it. New hires, however, may have noticed in their training that there were clunky process steps that seemed unnecessary or confusing. Encourage them to speak up and share these experiences.
Complete these steps for every process you want to improve.
Step two: Assign leads to tackle each process
Since you were smart to look at each process individually, you can now assign a lead to explore solutions for each one. This will allow each lead to put all of their focus on just one smaller piece of the team’s puzzle.
If you’re lucky enough to be a part of a large team, you can actually assign teams to each process!
Have the lead start by documenting the existing process that was just identified. They can take the whiteboard visual created by the team and enter it into an online workflow tool like Creately. In the next step, you’ll be making changes and testing individual tasks in the process, so you’ll need to record the original process as your baseline reference.
Give each lead the autonomy to conduct their own research and come back to the group with proposed solutions. Provide clear guidelines on the budget range early on, so they can quickly narrow in on the most viable options.
Make it clear that you are open to change so that leads to look at solutions from the team’s perspective, not just yours.
Set a deadline for when they’ll present their proposed solutions. If possible, set a longer deadline for implementing the new process, even if it’s as general as by the end of the year.
When you reconvene to learn what your leads discovered, two types of PR teamwork solutions are most likely to emerge:
1. Project management tools
Outside of recurring PR tasks, there are dozens of other daily tasks for teams to stay on top of, like client calls, monthly reporting, strategy sessions, and photoshoots.
Web-based project management tools like Monday.com and Trello allow employees to create task boards, set deadlines, and share updates.
These project tools prove especially invaluable when an employee is on vacation, leave, or leaves the agency. Project status, documents, and notes are saved neatly in one place for the next employee who takes over their work.
2. PR automation software
Currently, one of the soundest investments you can make for PR workflow is a PR automation software like Prowly or Muck Rack. This is true whether your team is sitting in the same office or working remotely.
Easy to set up and web-based, these SaaS solutions allow your team to log into one shared PR system for media contact research, list building, press release writing, media pitching, and reporting.
Wherever they’re based, they can partner on client work, leave notes for each other on campaign progress, and create client reports.
Most PR automation software also includes media monitoring and allows your team to follow industry news, specific journalists, and alerts about your clients and their competitors.
Step three: Test, evaluate, and repeat
Here’s where things get fun: testing out new process changes and PR tools.
Once the team has selected the most promising process change, give your lead or team the go-ahead to move on to the testing phase.
If you’ve decided to try a software solution, you should focus on ones that have free trial periods, so you test them for at least two weeks. You’ll want the entire team to sit in on any product demos and support trainings. You may get lucky and find that just one or two tools solve all of your team’s problems.
If you’ve decided against a software solution, have the lead update the process workflow document, create a guide for the new process, and hold a training session to make sure everyone understands the changes.
If possible, you may want to test a new product or process with a new client or project. That way, you can test it from start to finish and judge it against the existing process.
The path forward: Adopt a culture of change
Just because you’ve found the best solution for today doesn’t mean your work is done. As a leader, you will always be on the lookout for agency and team improvements.
However, by adopting new technologies and processes today, you’re signaling to your team that updates and improvements are positive and always welcome. Invite them to bring new ideas to you, and you’ll remain at the forefront of PR workflow solutions.
If you take the route of introducing new software to your team, you’ll need to encourage and provide time for everyone to continually train on its latest features. Software solutions are improved upon regularly, and new features should be tested and discussed. They’ll all lead to smoother processes for your team.
Cover photo by Brooke Cagle
