13 January 2021|Business Growth, Latest Posts, Launching a business, Marketing, PR, Promotion, Resources
By Charlotte Nichols. There are lots of benefits to working with a PR agency, but where your company’s reputation is concerned, it has to be for the right reasons.
Whether it’s a one-off helping hand or continued support, public relations companies can help to highlight a brand’s identity in what can sometimes be a saturated market.
Through a variety of communication tools like social media, paid advertising, or press releases, public relations teams work closely with clients to create effective strategies that generate exposure.
Especially in times of lockdown and recession, you may feel the need to shy away from the extra expense of having an agency working alongside you, although PR is perceived as a luxury service, it’s now more important than ever for companies to stand out from the crowd.
So here are the five key reasons you should allow a team of experts to take hold of your brand…
Experience
People in PR really know what they are doing. Having tried and tested different methods to know what works for different types of businesses.
Whether you’re looking to create a great marketing strategy or some help to create an event for a new product launch, a PR team will always have a keen eye for what makes a brand appealing and potentially spark interest from your target market.
Agencies can save you time and money on trial and error and give you quick results. Most PR companies will have worked closely with a variety of brands, big or small, so they can pick out what’s been effective previously and apply it to a new client, working around budget, time, and facilities.
As all businesses are unique it’s important that the agency and client work closely to create an effective strategy that works best for each party.
Working with an agency also results in high-quality work, with a team of experienced people dedicated to making your brand’s reputation shine, which means there’s lots of proof reading, fewer mistakes, and great innovative ideas generated.
In times of emergency, they are on hand to give advice, media training or creating crisis PR strategies. If you have found yourself in a situation where your reputation has been damaged, it can be potentially dangerous not to ask for help as the issue could be made worse – it’s always best to get in touch to get experienced guidance on what to do next.
Contacts
Agencies know who to get in touch with, some PR and marketing executives are often former journalists, and they know the industry very well having spent years building up relationships, which on occasion may mean there’s a higher chance of securing coverage.
These contacts can also lead to further opportunities for the brand. Agencies can highlight events or empty editorial spaces, which is always great for brand exposure. Journalists will often find themselves getting in touch with media agencies if they require a quote from a spokesperson within a particular industry.
Data analysis
Who doesn’t love to see results? Agencies are always analysing data to see how efficient our work is. How many media outlets have covered a story? How many retweets has a post received? Are animations getting good feedback?
It’s always important to keep checking if techniques are working… And if they aren’t it’s time to change the strategy.
Increase your productivity
Workplaces may struggle to juggle the workload of trying to promote the company’s brand, it takes lots of time and effort to create an efficient strategy. Handing this responsibility over to a professional team will mean the workforce can focus on what they do best.
PR firms are there to give you a one-off helping hand too. If a member of your marketing team is sick or on holiday, they could be there to help fill in the gaps and take away any pressure of handing the responsibility to what may be a busy team, who aren’t qualified in the area.
Transparency
This is something that you don’t often find when having an in-house team, as they can be biased towards the company they work for. Whereas with an agency, they are free from all prejudice – if an in-house team or agency doesn’t challenge you, you should start to be worried.
For example, agencies should know a good story when they see one and what content will catch a journalist’s eye. If a story just isn’t going to work, they should be able to challenge it and tweak the angle or make suggestions about what to do to make the press release newsworthy. They want to see results too.
About the author:
Charlotte Nichols has over 15 years’ experience in the PR and marketing sector and established her company Harvey & Hugo during that time. Charlotte’s mission is to use PR, social media and marketing techniques to make brands lovable and memorable. The flexible offering of Harvey & Hugo makes PR and marketing accessible to all.
Twitter:harveyandhugo
Instagram:harveyandhugopr
Facebook: Harvey & Hugo
LinkedIn: Harvey & Hugo
Website: https://www.harveyandhugo.com/
