How do I know if I'm ready to hire a PR agency
Here are 5 Ways to Know You're Ready to Hire a PR Agency for Your Design Business
If you've been wondering whether it's time to hire a PR agency, these five metrics will help you understand the different factors that play into your decision.
If you have a large audience or an established online presence.
If you have a large audience and an established online presence, hiring a PR agency can help you expand your reach. For example, if your company is already well-known in its industry or within its local community, hiring a PR agency can help you get the word out to national outlets and new audiences.
Especially if you have an engaged but small community on social media you're a perfect candidate for PR. Turning a small group of raving fans into a large audience can be done through careful press placement and a PR agencies ability to create opportunities where your work will connect with more people and help you build authority.
Agency relationships with journalists and influencers are valuable for companies whose products are specialized and specific; for example, if you are an interior textiles designer (as opposed to being a furniture showroom owner), it would be beneficial to work with an agency that has connections with editors at Architectural Digest vs. Entrepreneur magazine.
If you have goals for your business.
If you have goals beyond yours and your current team's capabilities for your business, then you may be ready to hire a PR agency.
It’s important to know what your goals are. Goals are specific outcomes that guide your actions and decisions over time. For example: “I want to expand my business by hiring at least one new employee next year,” or “I want to grow our email list by 10% each month through organic growth channels and testing different strategies.”
Knowing exactly what you want is essential because it helps you focus on the right things—and this goes for anything in life! If you aren't clear on what exactly it is that will make or break your business as far as growth or success goes, how can anyone else help?
Make sure that every decision aligns with these goals so they can be achieved more quickly (and more easily). You'll also need to set realistic expectations about how much time and effort it takes in order not just achieve but sustain these improvements over time; otherwise those gains might not stick around long enough if there isn't an ongoing commitment from all parties involved.
If you are just too time poor to do it all yourself.
This might be a somewhat obvious reason, but if you are just too busy with other things and need someone else to help you with your marketing efforts, then a PR agency may be the right choice for you. The workload of running a business can be very time consuming, especially when there is so much more to do than just one task. As business owners we wear a lot of hats and have many different responsibilities on our plate. Inevitably this means that we can end up doing things that don’t really bring us value or help us achieve our goals as quickly as possible because they aren’t aligned directly with what makes our businesses tick (i.e., selling our existing products or services or spending time making new products or refining them). You should also ask yourself whether you have the skillset required to carry out effective marketing strategies successfully? Maybe it is not something that comes naturally to you and instead requires additional training and support? If this sounds like your situation, then hiring an experienced PR firm could be the answer!
If you feel like your message is getting lost in the noise of the internet.
You need to be sending a clear, consistent message.
You have a strong brand identity or need to strengthen that brand identity.
You have a strong voice, or need to get more clear on your brand voice.
Your visual identity is consistent but maybe you need it to be more compelling.
Your social media presence is strong but maybe it lacks strategy.
If you’re looking to expand your reach and see if someone else could do it better than you (even if you are pretty sure they can’t!)
As a small business owner, you may be thinking:
“I can do this!”
“I need to learn how to do this!”
But the reality is that in order to build an effective PR strategy and execute on it well, you need experience and expertise. PR involves a lot of moving parts—and while you might be able to handle some aspects better than a professional agency, they will likely be able to help you not only create but execute, scale and grow a proven strategy. For example, they could provide counsel on topics like media relations and outreach that are outside your expertise or scope of knowledge, as well as complete the execution of the project so you can focus on more valuable things that only YOU can do for your business.
Each business is different and has different needs, so it's important to find the right fit for you
To decide if you are ready to hire a PR agency, you need to know your business goals and what you want to achieve with PR. You also need to know how much time and resources you have for PR. Finally, it's important that you can afford the cost of hiring a PR agency.
There are two different types of agencies: full service and consultant. Full service agencies provide all aspects of the public relations process from strategy development through execution. Consultants offer guidance on specific issues or campaigns but do not take ownership over the entire program like a full service agency does.
When it comes down to it, you need to be able to answer these questions for yourself: How much are you willing to invest in your business? Do you have a clear vision of what your goals are and how PR can help achieve them? Are you the best person for this role? If not, then maybe now is the time for some outside help!
CLICK HERE to book a free DISCOVERY call with an experienced PR agency that specializes in YOUR INDUSTRY to find out if PR is a perfect fit for YOUR business!
Like this article? Pin it for later! 📌
