Ultimate Guide Before Hiring a PR Agency

When buying any product or service, the image of a company matters the most to the customers! If you don’t have a good public image, then your business will not sustain itself in the long run. Most of the value for every company is created with the help of public image only. Whenever the company’s reputation is impacted, due to some mishappening, it affects the overall company and its performance. It takes time for a company to overcome its negative standing. Thus, it becomes necessary for every company to invest their time and money in creating good public relations strategies with public relations agencies to preserve a healthy relationship with the public.

What is Public Relations (PR)?

Public Relations is a broad term that comprises strategies for communicating and creating brand awareness, publicity, reputation management, media relations, corporate communications, crisis communication, and more for the companies, individuals, or organizations to maintain a valuable relationship with the public as well as the media.

What is a Public Relations (PR) Agency? What does a PR agency do?

A public relations agency is a firm that tries to create a positive image of the companies or individuals in the eyes of the public through owned, earned, and paid media.

Traditionally, PR agencies work hard to get their clients the earned media coverage from both online and offline sources which includes guest posting opportunities, link building (backlinks), brand visibility, magazine coverage, local news, and more.

Apart from the traditional services, some PR agencies also offer advertising services like – paid advertising (PPC ads), sponsored advertising, paid social media, and more.

PR agency also plays a variety of roles while performing their tasks, which are as follows:

• Perform market research,
• Maintain a record of the targeted press lists,
• Create compelling pitches,
• Conduct outreach,
• Manage influencer relations, also
• Coordinate trade show opportunities if required.

While a PR agency aims to promote, create brand awareness, as well as maintain a positive reputation for their clients in their good as well as hard times with the help of media coverage and even with advertising services. But, as a client, it becomes important to make sure that you hire the right PR agency for you that meets your needs and requirements without including any additional services to pay for.

Multi-national companies (MNCs) try to hire an in-house public relations team that can even work with other external PR agencies if required, while small and mid-sized businesses try to opt for a PR agency for their PR needs as and when required.

Services Offered by a PR Agency

A PR agency offers a wide range of services from writing press releases & speeches to conducting market research. It also maintains the brand’s reputation and makes sure that the brand reaches its audiences. A combination of creative thinking, problem-solving, and the ability to analyze & interpret data is needed to provide the best of its services.

Some of the services offered by a PR agency are stated below.

• Strategy Development
• Media Relations
• Content Marketing
• Social Media Marketing
• Event Coordinating
• Experiential Marketing
• Influencer Relations

Benefits of Hiring a PR Agency

Business success is always dependent on the way a business communicates with its stakeholders. That’s where the PR agencies come into the picture and help businesses in various ways.

Some of the benefits offered by a PR agency are as follows:

• Expertise – An experienced agency which have expertise working within various industry will help the client to save their time, money, and efforts.
• Building Contacts – Working with an agency that can help the client’s business to build more valuable contacts as the agency is well-connected with various leaders in the industry.
• Manpower – Outsourcing PR activities help to delegate the job to a bunch of talented professionals. This allows the company to explore new ways of connecting through PR without hiring new employees.
• Access to Tools – Hiring an agency offers access to various PR tools which the agency is using to monitor the media services.
• Cost-Effective – It is cost-effective for a company rather recruit an in-home PR Manager and the team to work for the company.
• Increases Productivity – As the company can focus on more important matters to achieve better results, rather than focusing on strategizing PR strategies and spending more time in meetings.
• Provides a non-biased opinion – Working with a PR agency can help in getting a genuine opinion about the new products or events that the company is planning to take in the future. The PR professional will share the truth about the new ideas which might not have a positive impact.
• Crisis Management – The agency offers their service and experience to drive the best response and also helps in handling crisis communication effectively as well as monitoring them and getting online sentiments.

Points to consider before Hiring a PR Agency

The shape & size don’t matter when opting for a skilled PR agency which can do wonders for any business.

Since public relations perform a variety of functions, it can still be confusing as a client to understand exactly which PR agencies to select as per the requirements. To find the right match that fits your business culture, providing services that help in achieving the PR objectives and assist in moving the business forward, can be tricky.

While selecting the best agency that suits your business, you should keep the following points in mind.

• Set Goals: Before deciding for hiring a PR agency, define your goals and list them from the most to the least important. This will help you to keep your focus on important goals and to narrow down the list of agencies as well.
• Set your PR Budget: Hiring a PR agency can be expensive. So, setting up an adequate budget is important before conveying it to any PR agencies.
• Gather relevant information: While choosing a PR agency, ask them for some past samples like case studies and other media relations support, speaking and award opportunities list, and social media assistance as per your requirements. You can ask for some references from the agency as well with whom you can talk to.
• Look for experience and specialization: Find a PR agency that specialized in your industry and has adequate experience to work with.
• Clear Communication: The agency should have clear communication about their services, the plan of action, reporting, contract, and other matters with the clients so that they can have a clear picture of how their money will be spent to provide better results.
• Transparency: Look for an agency that is completely transparent, honest, and trustworthy while discussing the matters which are essential to achieve the goals from both ends.

If you want your business to get more visibility in the eyes of the customers, then connect now with a well-experienced PR Agency in Philadelphia to get some extraordinary results for your business.