The Right San Diego PR Agency For You
No two PR agencies are alike. If you’ve done your fair share of research, this becomes apparent pretty quickly. The Forum Digital is a San Diego PR agency that also offers integrated marketing services. That’s not the only factor that sets us apart from the competition, however.
Below, we’ll go through the features you should expect to find in a PR agency, the questions to ask during your search, and the one factor we believe sets apart the best of the best (and yes, that includes us!)
What To Look For In a PR Agency
PR agencies, like any other business, come loaded with personality. Some are quiet — while others are loud and in your face. They also differ widely in the services they provide or outsource on your behalf. And finally, money is always a differentiating factor. The return on the client’s dollar should always be considered before signing a contract.
Costs
An immediate stereotype about PR agencies is that they cost a lot of money. The truth is, as with most stereotypes, that this is only the case some of the time.
The right San Diego PR agency will craft a package around your ideal budget. They won’t drive up the price or upsell you on services you don’t actually want or require. Some provide work on a retainer basis while others allocate services and hourly charges associated with each.
If budget is a concern for your business, it’s important to have your goals outlined before approaching the PR agency of your choice. By ranking those goals in order of importance you can get an accurate assessment of costs and tier appropriately. You can also scale up in partnership with the agency as your work together bears fruit; there’s no need to go all-in on day 1. This is a long-term relationship being built with two partners both seeking to prove themselves.
It’s worth adding; some experts will tell you not to pay for public relations. They will state that the progress and achievements earned by your company will get the work done without the need for outside help.
This is problematic for a number of reasons. It leaves you completely alone if trouble strikes. It also denies you the ability to increase your share of voice using the media — an invaluable opportunity. And finally, not bothering with PR means you won’t have a lot of clarity regarding how the outside world views your offering. This outside perspective is something every business needs so that they know how to best reach their target clientele.
Services Provided
In a nutshell, these are the core services most PR professionals provide, courtesy of HubSpot:
Reputation Management
Crisis Management
Media Relations
Social Media
Speech Writing
Press Releases
Event Planning
Outreach
Market Research
Media Training
Internal Copywriting
Full-service PR agencies like The Forum offer all of these options (and sometimes more.) In creating a new relationship with an agency, their leads will take the time to get to know you and your business model. They will take into consideration which services you are interested in and make recommendations based on experience.
You may have immediate needs, such as a budding relationship with a media partner or a crisis demanding quick coverage. This will also be taken into account. Be sure to allow time for the San Diego PR agency of your choice to build a strategy on your behalf. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and the same goes for your reputation.
Response Time
And speaking of the time it takes to build public relations strategies . . . we have one final recommendation. It’s important in seeking out the right public relations firm to see how long they take to respond to your inquiry, set up that first meeting, and outline a potential contract in a way that is compelling and attractive.
PR firms that make you wait can potentially be playing games. Or, perhaps, they’re overloaded and can’t take on a new client at the moment. Either way, be cautious. It should be clear from first contact that they have your best interests at heart.
Questions To Ask When Interviewing PR Agencies
Have we convinced you to give public relations a try? Now it’s time to begin reaching out and setting up introductions. Muck Rack created a list of 20 questions to ask at these meetings. We selected our favorites below:
Do my needs match the size of your agency? Is my company going to be a big fish in a small pond or is it the other way around?
Who will be the day-to-day contact for my account? What does the rest of the team look like?
How do you approach media relations?
How will you measure the success of your PR efforts?
Those are our big four! They will help to set the standard before you ever touch a pen to sign a contract. Question one assures that your company’s needs will be high on the list of an agency’s priorities. Question two ensures you’re getting to know the PR players personally.
Question three strikes at the philosophical heart of the San Diego PR firm you choose. What matters to them? How do they get the work done, day in and day out? And finally, question four sets up the importance of success metrics. A good PR firm always backs up its efforts with data.
The Number One Feature That Sets Apart The Forum
We promised to share the “differentiating factor” that sets us apart, and this is it: we take an omnichannel approach to your marketing and PR. In other words, our marketing and PR efforts are always combined. You can read all about it on our Services page.
We believe that for a San Diego business to be successful, it must combine content marketing and public relations services under one roof. Our integrated team takes every challenge to your brand and creates strategies to tackle them comprehensively.
Contact The Forum
San Diego’s premier marketing and public relations services can be found at The Forum Digital. We’re inviting you to reach out to us so that we can share our methodology and the omnichannel marketing approach that have led countless Southern California businesses to success.