Deciding to work with a PR Agency. Are you asking the tough questions?

When it comes to choosing a PR agency to work with, it isn’t always black and white.

Sure, we are biased when it comes to helping you choose the right PR agency. However, working with a variety of companies ranging in all realms of maturity, industry, and market readiness, we’ve decided to assemble some conversations that have led to our most successful collaborations.

Why should we use an agency versus hiring internally?

Well, for starters, let’s talk numbers. It’s often perceived that hiring internally saves money. Let’s think about all the functions of an agency: traditional public relations (writer, editor), social media (managing platforms, content creation), videos (media coaching, filming, editing) and event support (press contact, social media). Consider the true cost of hiring and retaining an employee. All those roles will be divided over multiple positions – Senior Marketing Manager, Graphic Designer, Marketing Coordinator – to name a few, then salaries and benefits for all those people. With an agency, you’re paying for specific deliverables at either a monthly retainer or project basis.

Many startups are also immersed in a Do-It-Yourself (DIY) mentality and while admirable there is time and money spent on those initiatives not always available to spare. There’s a learning curve that comes with media relations or organic traffic, for example. As a startup, you’re also developing messaging. Having an agency involved from the beginning can save you a lot of time in the long run.

What is your agency differentiator?

We’d like to think of ourselves as different from other PR agencies in that we don’t have cookie-cutter plans. Working with a diverse group of clients, we recognize that everyone is looking for something different and the plan may change as your company changes. Just because something worked in the past doesn’t mean it’s working now. We understand the growing pains of a new company and the fluctuations of a long-standing company. The strategy should be reflective of the transformation and likewise evolve.

Specific to the industries we work with, we also consider ourselves deep tech experts. To be an effective communicator in technology, you have to understand it and have a passion for it [insert hand raising emoji here]. We have decades of team expertise in technology and know the right questions to ask our clients. With all of this tech experience, we don’t fear the new, innovative, out there or cutting-edge.

What do you value most in a client/agency relationship?

As a PR company, it only makes sense that our number one priority is always communication. It should come as no surprise that communication is key to the entire process. It’s a symbiotic relationship and should be exciting to work with each other. Think of us as an extension of your team. It’s important to share goals and expectations early on, but also communicate upcoming product announcements, event or speaking opportunities, or partnerships on the horizon. We value accessibility to our clients and the news they have to share. We’ll also keep the lines of communication open on our end too. We promise that we won’t always tell you what you want to hear, but always what you need to hear. It is a two-way street in that we want there to be a fit in working with each other. Provide feedback. We are pretty adaptable but need to know if the strategy works for you too.

How do you market your own company?

Clients are the number one focus. Always. Admittedly, marketing our own company isn’t the first priority. We believe that our long-standing relationships and reputation in the industry provide some of the more primitive marketing tactics, such as word of mouth. Primitive, yet oh so valuable. We also love events and believe that showing up for clients and supporting them in person is important. When so much of our work these days relies on virtual meetings, we enjoy putting a friendly face to the company name. Next week we’ll be out in force at SEMICON West, the premier tradeshow for the microelectronics supply chain being held in San Francisco. There we’ll be helping our clients connect with media, analysts and potential customers to share information on the latest developments for semiconductor, MEMS, photonic and power device manufacturing. Of course, we evolved with the changing times too and embrace our blogs and social media as a way to market ourselves and create brand awareness. Even we can’t ignore that content is king.

It’s your turn, now. Give us a call and let us tell your story. The sky is the limit.