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Public Relations (PR) Agencies

Public relations (PR) is all about cultivating others’ perception of your business and its offering - be it the general public, employees, potential customers, investors and any other stakeholders.

By establishing an authentic and credible brand image, consumers will feel invested in you and will be more likely to choose you over your competitors.

Creating a public image for your business with various media, finding the right channels and media management is no small feat. 

That’s where a PR agency can step in to help.

Why do businesses need PR?

PR provides you with a platform to engage the public positively, which can significantly raise the public perception of your brand while giving you exposure. 

If your business can find significant value in strong PR, you should consider hiring a PR firm or agency, as they are the experts in creating a compelling story and getting it into the right hands.

What is a PR agency?

The role of a PR agency is to craft communications and present the ‘face’ of a business in the public domain via the media.

For this reason, PR is an essential part of branding and brand strategy because it defines the way a brand is perceived by the public at large.

PR specialists are typically experts in communication and rhetoric, with strong writing spoken communication skills. 

In some sense, PR is about spinning news events in the company’s favour. To do this, PR firms work to fully understand your business and work towards a long-term branding and PR strategy.

What are the different types of PR agencies?

There are various types of PR agencies that may offer general or more specialised services:

• General PR
• Crisis management
• Internal communication
• Press communication
• Community management 
• Public affairs
• Non-profit PR

What services do PR agencies offer?

PR agencies offer a vast range of services including:

• Crisis management
• Press releases
• Reputation management 
• Social media/community management 
• Media relations
• Organising speaking events
• Media training
• Outreach
• Copywriting
• Creating press kits

One of the biggest benefits of hiring a PR agency is its ability to handle challenges and navigate your business through them.

What challenges are faced by public relations practitioners?

Public relations can be a tricky field to navigate and there is often a lot at stake. Some of the common challenges PR professionals regularly deal with include:

• Managing a crisis effectively
• Dark social media, e.g. trolling
• Engaging audiences among a sea of new content every day
• Impressing journalists and editors with your story/campaign
• Utilising data and analytics 

PR agencies are experts in knowing they have to wade through these challenges.

What is a press kit?

A press kit, or a media kit, is a customised package or promotional and communication materials that PR firms create for businesses.

It contains information about your business, services or products and company events.

Press kits are mostly used at launches and events to help journalists and other media professionals create press material.

How do I measure the effectiveness of PR?

There are five industry-standard steps to measure the effectiveness of online public relations(as per the Public Relations Society of America  which has been developing PR strategies since 1947):

• Engagement: Measure the number of people who engaged with an item (social shares, likes and comments).
• Impressions: Measure the number of people who may have viewed an item.
• Items: Measure any content (blog posts, articles, etc.) that originally appeared as digital media.
• Mentions: Measure how many online items mention the brand, organization, or product.
• Reach: Measure how far the PR campaign managed to penetrate overall and in terms of a particular audience.

When utilising digital marketing, such as social media, you can collect this information and use it to get a sense of how the public is responding to your messaging. 

On platforms like Facebook, mentions are particularly important, because they allow you to see what the audience is saying about you in return. If your mentions are consistent with your messaging, that's a strong sign that your PR is doing well. 

If there is significant dissonance between what you say about yourself and what others say, however, your credibility may be undermined and your PR strategy needs to reposition you back on brand.

How do I hire a PR agency?

There’s a lot of trust involved when it comes to choosing a firm to manage your brand’s reputation.

Here are some key things to look out for to choose the right firm:

• Decide on your objectives: Get clear on what it is you’re looking to achieve. E.g. Do you want to raise the profile of a new product or service or your overall brand?
• Set your budget: How much can you realistically set aside for PR?
• Research your options: What services and value props are different PR firms and professionals offering?
• Be prepared for their pitch: A PR firm will pitch their offering to you, so be prepared with key questions to ask.

You can also ask the following questions to help you decide if a PR agency is the right one for you:

• Have you worked with similar businesses?
• What kinds of work have you done for businesses in my industry?
• What are your capabilities?
• What will you need from me for a good working relationship?
• What is your fee structure?
• How will you communicate with me?

How much does it cost to hire a PR agency?

There is no concrete answer as to how much public relations costs - it all depends on your objectives, the services you require and the budget you’re working with.

Fees may be task or retainer-based or calculated on an hourly basis.

For example, a PR agency may have a set fee for media kits, press releases and publicity events.

To give you an idea, a monthly retainer fee typically start from around $2,000 per month. 

For hourly-based PR services, you can expect to pay between $45 and $120 per hour.

Where can I find a PR agency?

Are you ready to hire a PR firm for your business?

Simply answer a few questions and we’ll introduce you to the best PR firms who can help.