What Is The Purpose Of Public Relations?
Public relations companies essentially ensure that brands have a positive public image across all channels.
In general, the types of services you can expect to be on offer from top public relations companies include:
- Media relations- Cultivating and maintaining contacts at target media outlet. Pitching story ideas and sources to these contacts in order to achieve press mentions and coverage.
- Event marketing- Designing and hosting special events to delight consumers and media targets and attain event coverage in desirable outlets.
- Social media marketing- Engaging with a community of fans and advocates through active social media participation and community management.
- Influencer marketing- Partnering with social media influencers in order to introduce brands to new and engaged audiences. Service usually includes influencer sourcing, content development, and relationship management.
- Crisis management and communications- Minimizing damage to a brand’s reputation in the fallout of a crisis or scandal, and working to restore brand goodwill in the long term.
What Does Someone In Public Relations Do?
Improve Media Relations
Top public relations companies can secure interviews, manage media coverage, facilitate content sharing collaborations and more to grow your company’s brand awareness and increase search engine optimization rankings -- and they are able to do this through strong media relations.
The best communications associates have a large rolodex of journalists and media contacts that they can call upon to build your brand through publicity.
Streamline Communications
Public relations experts have access to organized platforms and databases that enable them to track how a message is being communicated, what the result was, and how they should proceed to secure the results their clients’ desire.
Because 80 percent of business decision-makers like to consume information throughout many articles over a single ad, investing in a public relations agency can drastically improve your ROI.
Boost Social Media
In the digital age, many great public relations agencies are now offering social media management services.
With the help of their many media contacts, public relations consultants can secure placements on various feeds, negotiate terms, set goals and track results, leaving your internal team free to focus on other important business growth goals.
Compete With Other Companies
Great public relations experts will have a new take on your business and brand identity due to their different perspective of the industry and your public image.
That information becomes the power for your business, enabling you to truly compete with similar companies to the best of your ability and improving your chances of snagging new customers and engaging existing followers.
Increase Brand Awareness
At the end of the day, top public relations companies exist to increase your brand awareness across several channels. They utilize a mix of networking contacts and strategy to foster positive emotions and connotations about your company, which, studies show, keep customers returning to your products and services.
What Are The Types Of Public Relations?
Public relations isn’t a one-size-fits-all market -- there are several types of agencies that cater to various companies, industries, and even offer different levels of personal attention.
- Boutique- Boutique public relations agencies have smaller, more intimate teams handling more work -- much like a startup. Although some boutique firms don’t always have the vast resources that big agencies have, they often offer more personal attention.
- Big- A big PR firm is exactly what you think it would be -- a large, global company with far-reaching contacts and big tools to help clients. Big companies typically see great results with big public relations companies, but smaller businesses often fare better with smaller agencies due to smaller budgets and the need for more personalization.
- Specialized- These agencies are dedicated to either a specific industry, such as beauty or sports, or a particular aspect of PR, such as media relations, crisis management, or social media.
- Traditional- Traditional PR typically refers to a general focus on media contacts in newspaper, TV and radio. The agencies often focus on securing placements on these platforms and rarely offer additional digital services.
How Much Do PR Agencies Charge?
A PR firm's costs depend entirely on what tasks you need them to complete.
However, brands can expect to pay around $100-$175 per person per hour for North American public relations agencies, and $35-$75 per person per hour for PR companies in International locations like Eastern Europe.
27 Questions To Ask A PR Firm Before You Hire Them
- What services do you offer? Are there tiers to them?
- Do you have any plans to expand and offer additional services in the future?
- Do you have any partnerships with other individuals or firms to help with similar digital initiatives?
- If we would like a one-time service that you offer but we don’t typically need, what would the cost be?
- Who will be working with our business? Is it a team of people or just one PR manager?
- How often can we expect updates?
- How often will we have phone-calls and in-person meetings?
- What PR-specific experience does each team member have?
- What experience does each team member have in regards to our industry?
- How will you determine our demographic?
- What experience do you have about this industry and how did you get it?
- What similar clients do you work with?
- What success stories related to our goals and/or industry do you have to share?
- Tell us about a campaign that didn’t achieve the results you had hoped for. What did you learn and how have you applied those lessons to other projects and clients?
- Who would you say are experts in our industry?
- What publications are relevant to our industry?
- What system do you have in place for setting and tracking goals?
- Do you have a go-to platform for virtual meetings?
- How do you send important news releases?
- How do you plan to manage our outbound communication?
- How will you manage our partnerships with influencers and other brands?
- How will you track our secured media placements, links to website, social media mentions, etc.?
- How do you plan to determine goals?
- Do you have a plan in place to execute campaigns?
- How will you personalize campaigns and processes for my brand?
- How often do you measure results? What metrics do you use?
- How do you define a successful campaign?
How To Choose The Best Public Relations Firm For Your Brand
Contacts
One of the most important tasks a great PR agency can complete is securing media placements and digital partnerships. Therefore, if they don’t have a comprehensive network, they likely won’t be worth your while.
You can determine the type of reach a public relations company has by both doing research and asking direct questions.
Industry Experience
Unlike other industries such as marketing, which relies on numbers and data to achieve business growth, so much of successful public relations is based on industry experience.
The top agencies have a team of experts that know key industry players, top competitors, and publications that will expand your reach.
Your Role
Although great public relations companies can handle a lot of intricate tasks and imperative networking, learn exactly what your role will be in the relationship before you sign a contract.
Some clients will want to be heavily involved in every decision, while others will feel comfortable with letting their chosen PR company call the media-related shots. Whatever your choice, you’ll need to provide some guidance and information to your PR experts to guarantee success.
Client References
A great and reputable public relations agency will work hard to prove their expertise and success. And just like potential employers ask individuals for references, you can ask possible PR firms for clients who will speak on their behalf.
These client references are imperative to giving you a stronger, inside look at what working with a specific agency on a day-to-day basis will really look like and how much growth they can really generate for your business.
Who Are The Best PR Firms In The World?
With so many PR agencies in the business, it takes a lot of skill and experience to stand out.
Top public relations agencies seek to differentiate themselves from the competition by emphasizing a set of key strengths.
The best PR firm for your brand will be one that has the experience and communication skills to collaborate with your brand and present a positive public image across every channel.
Explore the table above for more examples of top public relations firms.
