It might seem like an easy concept, go online find a PR Agency their ratings and reviews and hire them to do the job. With PR it is a lot more complicated than this. You need to ensure that the business is successful in your line of work, without this they won’t have the right contacts knowledge or ability to successfully promote your company or its products. So here are the top ten tips that we have come up with in hiring a PR firm.
Just as with hiring anyone you need to know what you want, expect and need from them. You therefore need to design your business goals. Any good plan starts with a well thought out strategy and this should be based on your company’s aims and objectives.
When you hire a firm make sure you have carried out an extensive search and make your budget and stick to it.
Ensure that you can measure the effectiveness of the PR Company you can look at their stats and metrics but you need to have some of your own.
Make sure the people who you choose suit you. You will have to be open and honest with them about your business and trust will be an extremely important factor.
Make sure you have the right type of firm for your needs, their size and success could both improve or hamper their success with your company. Large firms will be able to promote you across the globe and the network of contacts that they have will be massive. They will have had phenomenal successes and lots of experience, but will this be the right Network for your needs? Smaller companies will have close knit teams, who may actually may more dedicated to you, especially if you are also a smaller company. They may also have expertise in your market niche and might just know the right contacts in town for your business.
When you are going through the process of deciding on a PR firm they will deliver a presentation to you. It is always wise to ask them to deliver this with certain criteria in mind. These criteria should be relevant to your business. You should also have as many of your team as possible there to see the presentation, ask questions and it is also good to have a little social event afterwards. At this event your team can determine whether they feel happy working with this group.
The next day it is good to have a meeting where any questions or concerns are expressed by the team so that a final decision can be made. You want your PR firm to feel like an extension of your team, not as a standalone company. You need to be able to trust them as much as you would trust any other employee.
Before you hire the team make sure they have presented to you, at least one concept or idea that you really believe in and are sure could work for your company. Finally make sure that you fully understand what they are giving you, what you are paying for it and how you will know whether their firm is adding value to your company.
