Advice Against Hiring A PR Agency

However tempting it may be to toss some cash at a PR agency – lots and lots of new customers are worth a little money, right? – that’s perhaps not the best route to success. In fact, a principal at a marketing consultancy has written a new article titled "Startups: Don’t Hire a PR Agency."

Brant Cooper of Market By Numbers provided a somewhat lengthy list of reasons why startups (and many other types of companies) shouldn’t bother with PR agencies. The first couple are "[y]ou do not need press releases" and "[y]ou do not need a campaign blitz of articles and press mentions."

Then, Cooper also proclaimed that "[y]our PR firm does not know how to do your customer messaging or positioning for you," and "[y]our PR firm should be no where near your social media."

Small business owners who handle these matters for themselves are supposed to be able to build relationships with the media, better target potential customers, and make sure their brand’s image is respected at all times. The DIY approach can save businesses a bundle of money, as well.

This is something to think about the next time an overly slick marketer starts explaining all the ways in which he (or she) could turn your small business into a big deal, at least.

There are 3 Comments. Add Yours.

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June 10, 2010 at 2:43 am

While a professional PR firm can deliver huge bang for your marketing buck, this business isn’t rocket science. Truth be told, you could do a lot of it yourself–if you had the time and the connections, which you probably don’t.
Justin Bridges
May 16, 2010 at 7:25 am

This is true in some cases but not them all. I have clients that I have advised not to create an expensive marketing campaign, there are several factors involved in this.

1) If your service, product has very little searches and very little competition why spend money on marketing. i.e. I have a client that has a guest house that has only 7 rooms. The guest house would have on average 3 guests per night, after I created my clients site he was on the 1st page for several relevant terms and on local business ads. This was enough traffic to fill the vacant 4 spaces so why create a campaign.

2) Also there are cases where your service is not realy going to get new customers online its just there as an online broucher. Why waist money on expensive marketing campaigns if there will be know rewards.

Sometimes you will never get back what you pay out for a marketing campaign depending on many factors but its not just as simple as it’s not worth it. Spend time talking to consultants and ask them for testimonials from there clients if you decide to use a PR agency. I have several start up companies that would provide me with excellent testimonials down to my honesty and results.
Justin Bridges
May 16, 2010 at 7:24 am

This is true in some cases but not them all. I have clients that I have advised not to create an expensive marketing campaign, there are several factors involved in this.

1) If your service, product has very little searches and very little competition why spend money on marketing. i.e. I have a client that has a guest house that has only 7 rooms. The guest house would have on average 3 guests per night, after I created my clients site he was on the 1st page for several relevant terms and on local business ads. This was enough traffic to fill the vacant 4 spaces so why create a campaign.

2) Also there are cases where your service is not really going to get new customers online its just there as an online broucher. Why waist money on expensive marketing campaigns if there will be know rewards.

Sometimes you will never get back what you pay out for a marketing campaign depending on many factors but its not just as simple as it’s not worth it. Spend time talking to consultants and ask them for testimonials from there clients if you decide to use a PR agency. I have several start up companies that would provide me with excellent testimonials down to my honesty and results.



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Advice Against Hiring A PR Agency

Professional marketer thinks many companies should hold back

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