Eight benefits of outsourcing your PR

Unsure of whether PR is right for your business?  Deliberating whether you should attempt this area of marketing yourself or enlist the help of an external agency?

Amongst other reasons, outsourcing your PR activity to an outside consultancy is a great way to dip your toe into the water and see what can be achieved with a comprehensive PR strategy.  This can be done without the need for any major in-house investment or long-term commitment.  

Read on to find out eight more benefits of outsourcing PR.

Minimal investment

An external PR agency can be hired very quickly for as much or as little as you need (there’s usually a package to suit most budgets).  An external team can also respond very quickly to your business’ changing needs, either reducing or increasing activity in line with your requirements, meaning the investment risk is very low.

Recruitment

Having an in-house team brings with it the recruitment overheads of hiring and firing, redundancies, sickness, holidays, performance, pay, and everything else that comes with employing people. By outsourcing, you’ll have access to a team of experts instantly, without having to withstand any of the recruitment headaches.

Consult the experts

By outsourcing your PR activity you’re hiring a whole team of PR specialists with years of combined experience, and they're ready to hit the ground running. They will be able to advise you if digital PR is right for your business before you even pay a penny, and with many agencies out there doing great work, you can cherry pick a team that suits you and your business the best.  This could mean they have specific experience in your sector, specialist knowledge in what you are aiming to achieve or it might be that you’ve seen them achieve great results for another company in your industry and want a piece of the action.

Media relations

A good external agency will have spent years building up really excellent relationships with journalists and media outlets in all sectors.  They will know if a particular journalist or publication will be interested in your story, or if they have any upcoming features relevant to your business. They will know how and when they like to be approached, and most importantly what they dislike and is likely to turn them off.

Technology

An external agency will have invested in all the correct tools and databases needed to be to be efficient and effective, and will keep abreast of new technologies and tools so you don’t have to. That’s not to say this can’t be done internally, but it most likely won’t prove to be cost effective if purchased in-house.  

Expert communicators

Any agency worth their salt will know how to craft a great press release that is more likely to be opened, read and most importantly, used.  It can be very tempting for an in-house PR to send out a very ‘salesy’ press release, but it’s the job of an external consultancy to get the right tone and keep everybody happy, whilst maximizing your chance of exposure.

Objectivity

An external consultancy will be able to offer an objective view of your business and provide real consultancy. They won’t be afraid to say ‘no’ to something that won’t work. The bottom line is, if it doesn’t work and you don’t get the results, they won’t get your business for long.  

And finally….

An external agency knows it is under constant review.  If they don’t perform and you don’t get the results, they will lose your business along with the ‘word of mouth’ new business pipeline many agencies rely upon. This, and the huge amount of professional pride they get from happy clients, means they can never afford to become complacent.  

Ready to chat to us about how we can get people talking, clicking and sharing about your brand? Get in touch.

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