With the spate of agency acquisitions in recent years, you might think making a deal is easy. Far from it. As someone who has worked closely with more than a hundred public relations agencies during the past 10 years, I am privy to one of the best-kept secrets in the…
Ever since a farsighted PR or ad agency determined that an additional way to grow its business was to acquire other PR agencies, the manner in which most transactions are completed today hasn’t changed much since the ink dried on those precedent-setting M&A deals of yesteryear. Is that a good…
As published in PRSA Public Relations Tactics By Art Stevens, APR, Fellow PRSA The most successful acquisition transactions that I’ve been involved with put a spring in the step of the principals of the PR agencies who have sold to larger buyers. It has less to do with extra money…
As published in PRSA Public Relations Tactics By Art Stevens, APR, Fellow PRSA Mergers and acquisitions are a constant fact of life for PR agencies. Have you thought about starting your own firm, and wondered about an exit strategy? Or do you manage your own agency and wonder what it…
As published in O’Dwyer’s Daily By Art Stevens, APR, Fellow PRSA To parallel the famous Rolling Stones song, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” PR firms may also not be able to sell when they want. During my ten years’ experience in consulting with PR agencies of various sizes…
As published in PRSA Public Relations Tactics By Art Stevens, APR, Fellow PRSA Mergers and acquisitions are a constant fact of life for PR agencies. Have you thought about starting your own firm, and wondered about an exit strategy? Or do you manage your own agency and wonder what it…
As published in PRSA Public Relations Tactics In this third installment of my yearlong series on selling your PR agency, I’m going to share a number of common mistakes that could cause a prospective buyer to walk away. We already covered the need to run your agency like the true…
As published in PRSA Public Relations Tactics In my first post on the subject “So You Own a PR Agency? Where Do You Go from There?” from Jan. 8, we covered the necessity of running a PR agency like a business, we focused on growth and profitability, and we raised…
As published in PRSA Public Relations Tactics Mergers and acquisitions are a constant fact of life for PR agencies. Have you thought about starting your own firm, and wondered about an exit strategy? Or do you manage your own agency and wonder what it would take to sell it? PRSA…