3 signs its time to hire a PR agency – Info PR

A communicator on a small team can easily feel overwhelmed.

If you are the marketing lead at a growing tech business, you are juggling
multiple strategies on a tight budget—with increased pressure from the
leadership team to “move the needle” with your marketing investments. Your
PR has likely been ad hoc and handled in-house to help drive brand
awareness, but you’re wondering if it is time to invest in outside PR
expertise to support your next growth phase.

[FREE GUIDE:

The 7 questions you should be asking about brand journalism]

When is the right time for an organization to hire a public relations
agency? There are three key turning points a scaling business should
consider when investing in PR:

1. You are preparing for your next round of funding.

As you head into your next round of funding, you need investors to hear
about your company for there to be any impact. Venture capitalist Mark
Suster from Upfront Ventures supports PR’s role in raising visibility
leading into a round. “Great PR could add $10 million to your valuation
or increase your chances of closing a round 2x, and either case is a reason
to make sure you have good press,” he says. “It’s much harder to get funded
as a company nobody has heard of.”

Like any new relationship, you have to put yourself out there to meet the
right person—and a well-placed story can do just that. Whether it is a
industry insight piece raising the credibility of your CEO, a product
feature or a growth story, meaningful articles in targeted media can put
your company on investors’ radar and influence their opinions. In addition,
good coverage can be included in investor roadshow presentations to
demonstrate third-party validation and bolster company credibility.

2. You are constantly being asked to produce more content.

Content might be king, but you are struggling to keep up with the content
demands from the sales, marketing and executive teams. You are being asked
to create blog posts, longform pieces like eBooks and whitepapers, and
social media content—all designed to engage potential customers and draw
them into the sales funnel.

PR can help extend the life of your content with these two tactics:

• 
  Repurposing existing content for targeted media outlets.
  
  You likely have a content library with stacks of blog posts, eBooks,
  whitepapers, case studies and data reports. A seasoned PR team with
  good writers can refresh, slice or combine pieces of content, pitching
  a new version to the media in the form of bylined articles or op-eds,
  giving that content new life in front of fresh eyes.
• 
  Using secured media coverage as sales and marketing assets.
  
  Is your sales team constantly on you to develop new content tailored to
  a specific vertical? Look to PR. For example, if a sales goal for the
  year is to increase revenue in your healthcare vertical by 15 percent,
  your agency can execute a strategy that speaks directly to IT decision
  makers in the healthcare trade and vertical media. This secured media
  coverage—whether a market education piece from your CEO or standalone
  product feature—can then be used by the sales team as a touchpoint to
  move potential consumers.

3. You don’t have time to sharpen your competitive edge.

An experienced PR agency should act as an extension of your brand, being
your eyes and ears in the competitive industry landscape to help you answer
the following questions through research:

• On what key themes are your competitors hanging their hats in both the
  press and other marketing strategies?
• Are there gaps in competitor messaging that your brand can fill?
• Have competitors amped up their press and announcement strategy
  recently? Why and how can your brand enter the conversation?
• Is there an opportunity for your brand to take a contrarian stance and
  stand out from the noise competitors are creating?

By having a consistent pulse on the competitive landscape, you can create a
stronger content strategy and your PR team will uncover more opportunities
to secure meaningful press coverage.

Start by developing a list of possible agencies and asking trusted peers
for recommendations, or research which agencies head up the PR for leading
brands in your industry. Ultimately, you should choose a PR firm that not
only demonstrates results, but shares insights into your unique business
challenges.

Lindsey Groepper
is the president of B2B SaaS PR firm BLASTmedia.

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