Go Big or Go Boutique? Does location matter? What can I get for my budget? What are my expectations?
These are just some of the questions you may be considering when you decide to hire a PR agency to promote your products or services.
Know Your Needs
Before you even meet with an agency, there are several important questions to ask yourself:
· Decide on a budget. This will determine in part what type of agency you can hire, and most important, the kind that will be interested in your business
· Manage your expectations. First, understand what PR is not: it is not promotion, it is not advertising. The power of PR comes from third-party endorsement, which carries far more credibility with the consumer and has a direct impact on consumer buying decisions.
· Also understand that by getting media to write about your product, you do not control the message. There is some truth to the cliché: “It doesn’t matter what they say about you as long as they spell your name right.” A top PR professional will manage your message, and put the best spin on controversy, but ultimately the media control the final product.
Once you decide what you can afford you need also to decide what kind of servicing you require. Are you someone who wants to have a lot of meetings? Or are you looking for results?
If you are the later, a boutique PR agency might be right for you.
Five Top Tips:
· Size doesn’t matter. Results do. Ask to see results, meaning regular, recent placements in top-tier media. Even the smallest boutique agencies can produce the highest quality results if they have top account people with media savvy.
· Case studies – Ask to see case studies that are recent, preferably of companies you would consider competitors. This give you a good look at the agency’s creative thinking and how they get results.
· Who will service your account? Don’t be swayed when the agency president and several VPs are at your first meeting. At a large agency, a modest budget is going to get you a junior AE who lacks the expertise to deliver the results you are looking for.
· Social Media – Any PR agency, regardless of size, needs to have an active social media component. For AbelowPR, a luxury lifestyle PR firm, that means engaging in effective blogger relations. We know the top bloggers who are best at exploiting the most social media platforms.
· Ask for media references. If a PR agency is truly effective, they have cultivated lasting, loyal, meaningful relationships with key media. What you want to hear from the media is that this agency provides newsworthy, on-message, credible stories, delivered in a timely professional manner.