Neil Mortine CEO, Fahlgren Mortine Public Relations and Fahlgren Advertising

What's more, continues Mortine, "With the rise of social media, mobile marketing and more, there is often little delineation between public relations and advertising—and there's no universal rulebook that declares which discipline owns what turf," he says.

The upshot: The future of our industry lies in working together better—that true "integration" is what clients expect now. So how do you do that? What best practices can you learn from other council members who are making it work? Read on for the answers and tips into being a better team player:

1. Adopt a discipline-neutral approach. "In today's media-saturated world, there are dozens of strategic ways to reach the same consumer, so we have to challenge ourselves—and our clients—to be open minded and flexible in determining the truly best solution," says Mortine. "Agency account leads can exhibit a bias toward their own discipline. So, it's important to have an open forum among the client and our partners to openly discuss discipline-neutral solutions. Nobody wants to be considered an add-on to a program once the strategy has been set," he stresses.

The solution: "Take a discipline-neutral approach to solving our clients' problems. We have to start by asking, 'What is the client problem we're really trying to solve?' At the day-to-day program management level, we have to push for regular all-agency meetings when all partners sit together at the table to discuss plans, poke holes in strategy, challenge tactics and share information. These could be regular weekly conference calls or quarterly 'Agency Summits.' Whatever the format, it's important to be all together on a regular basis."

Lisa Sepulveda Weber Shandwick

Bob Pearson Chief Technology and Media Officer WeissComm Group

2. Know the client's business better than other partners. "Agencies often know their area of expertise—but not the client's business," says Bob Pearson, chief technology and media officer at WeissComm Group. As the former communities and conversations director at Dell, he has seen it from both the agency and client side.

His advice: "There can often be disconnects from agency partners, including advertising, about the company's business model. You can stand out by avoiding the usual agency politics and instead zeroing in on one key area of the client's business that nobody else will have cornered. For example, know more than anybody else at the table about your client's customers' online behaviors. Bring data and research to the table around that—pegged to the opportunities for the business that come out of it.

His point: "Know more than is expected about that brand. Show that you're already 'living the business.' That positions you as a partner and not just a vendor."

Pearson offers these additional tips:

• Avoid agency politics—don't complain about other partners. "As a client, if an agency complains about other agencies—I see an agency with problem. I don't see their story as being true. They're just a pain in the ass."
• Share materials without fear. "I have seen agencies scared to send materials and client slides to each other," says Pearson. "If a CMO sees you being reluctant to share 'proprietary' material with their other agencies, that's a chink in the armor that will mean the executive won't have a problem letting you go when it comes time to renew."

Doug Spong President Carmichael Lynch Spong

Do that by thinking of the best neighbors, he advises: "They are separated by a low hedge row. A hedge row defines property lines, but it's a low one separating your area of expertise from theirs. It's low because you can look into their yard, see what's going on, introduce yourself across it, climb or go around the hedge row with respect, ask for help or even offer help. The metaphor works so well in integration for clients. Everybody brings certain gifts and talents. For PR, it's usually overall reputation management, media relations and social media skills."

4. Follow the money—and the new "Golden Rule." "The real 'Golden Rule' is that 'He who has the gold, rules,'" says Spong. "Most advertising budgets are 10-20 times the size of a typical PR budget. As such, ad agencies often view themselves as the brand steward, and clients tend to defer to ad agencies first—from perspectives of consumer insight, positioning, core strategies, media strategies and even timing of programs and campaigns. So the big challenge for PR firms is to assert their voice at the table to follow that money and be a part of the program."

Ways to do that:

• Speak the same language. "Get out of your PR speak," advises Spong. "Instead of saying 'reputation management' with the client, talk about 'brand strategy.' Instead of just talking about 'key messages,' understand based on consumer insight, the core brand position and brand idea that will come out of that and how it will be executed."
• Think strategy, not tactics. "Instead of thinking tactically about things like, 'Hey, let's have a Tweetup,' or 'Let's host a special event,' or 'Let's get a big hit in The Wall Street Journal'—think broader. Focus on strategy and holistic program goals, not PR outputs."
• Keep friends close and enemies closer. "If ad agencies control budget and strategy—then pull them in as close as you can by asking for insight and research, all consumer data and so on. Have a download of the big brand idea from their research and planning teams. Ask to sit with their media and consumer engagement people to look at media segmentation and targeting information and research. Pull them close and leverage their assets. Out of that will come the ultimate benefit to the client—synergy in terms of strategy, having one brand position and ideas executed across multiple platforms. If you are part of that synergy, you will be in great shape with the client."

5. Push for open access. Mortine elaborates on that point: "Communication with other agency partners doesn't always need to funnel through the client (or an ad or PR account lead) as a clearinghouse," he says. "At Fahlgren, we function as one team so we share ideas, feedback and input in all directions. This way, meetings are reserved for active planning and we show up ready to work together, not just report. But collaborative reporting among inside and outside teams is also helpful. In some cases, we have created an open status report housed on a secure website that can be accessed by all agency partners."

Spong adds these quick tips:

• Offer the first olive branch. "Open the door to mutual access by taking the first step," he advises. "Set up a principal to principal meeting as soon as you're working on the account. Pick up the phone and offer the first olive branch."
• Get onsite soon. "Go to their facility and make it easy for them to share and download," he suggests. "And do it on your dime if it requires travel. Set up a day-long download with their account planning staff. Meet with the creative director and have them show how they're executing against research tied to the company's positioning. That's also a good time to ask about the unique requirements or challenges of working with that client."

Sepulveda adds this: "Build a relationship," she counsels. "Do that by getting to know people face to face—email and texting doesn't do this. Get out from behind your desk and spend real time with the client's agency partners. You develop a trust that way."

• Align metrics. "Meet with their analytics people to talk about how you're going to measure success together and what you need to build into your program to align with their metrics," advises Spong.

6. Work from one strategic plan. "Often, respective disciplines develop their own plans, and then start implementing without putting the pieces back together strategically to look for synergies," relates Mortine.

Here's an example of how having one plan makes a collective campaign stronger: "One of our clients is a state tourism division, and our campaign is all about attracting visitors from key feeder markets in contiguous states. Each year, when various plans are completed for PR, advertising, digital/mobile and publications (all separate agencies), we put our timelines back together and look for gaps. If our budget can't support print and online advertising in one of those markets during the peak travel-planning season, we'll plan a media relations blitz, grassroots event or targeted social media program there to drive awareness and/or message frequency."

7. Forget about turf and focus on good ideas. "We actually like the healthy competition that comes from working alongside other agency disciplines. But you have to forget about 'turf' and 'ownership' and just focus on good ideas," advises Mortine. "Experience has shown us that no client will shoot down an idea because it's out of bounds. If it's a smart, on-strategy approach that's doable within budget, you just find a way to make it work and the whole team gets to celebrate in the end."

8. Be interested in what the other partners are doing. "Ask to see the creative they produce," Mortine suggests. "Great PR ideas can result from advertising campaigns. For example, Fahlgren Advertising launched a campaign focused on communicating the medical innovations of a regional healthcare system. When Fahlgren Mortine was tasked with rolling out the program internally to hospital associates, we took the idea of innovation to a different level, showcasing how any associate—medical or administrative—can be innovative. Both the external and internal campaigns were a huge success due largely in part to the strong collaboration between the two disciplines."

9. Educate partners about what PR brings to the table. "We never want to assume roles based upon discipline. The disciplines are definitely blurring at the edges, but remain pure at their core. For example, walking through the mystery of what goes into an excellent thought leadership program can help advertising partners as well as clients see the value of third party credibility and strategic messaging that support larger brand positioning efforts," says Mortine.

His point: "As PR pros, we need to help our peers in other communications disciplines overcome the perception that all we do is media relations or publicity. We need to effectively demonstrate what our discipline is all about, bring forth new ideas, share results and help other partners understand the full scope of what PR brings to the table."

10. Tap client partners' resources. "Each discipline can learn much from each other. PR can apply the multitude of strategic consumer insights that can be gained from advertising's media resources, for example, in order to provide better counsel and programs," Mortine says. "And advertising professionals are seeing that as the ad industry re-invents itself in a self-selecting, consumer-controlled media world, public relations strategies play an even more important role in shaping brand perceptions and experience. You can wear yourself out trying to find the philosophical right answers, but at the end of the day, it's about making it work."

Spong reiterates his earlier point: "Advertising agencies bring a level of consumer insight that most PR principals aren't even aware of, let alone understand. It's in your best interests to tap that, research it, study it and incorporate it into your own efforts." But that can't happen, he warns, if you've "burned bridges or come at the client work from a silo mindset."