Hiring a PR firm could be the game-changing move you need as a startup owner looking to grow your brand. In a competitive market, the right PR firm can accelerate your startup’s success and give you a significant edge in business. But why should you invest in a PR firm?
In this article, we’ll explore seven compelling reasons why hiring a PR firm is a strategic investment that can yield tremendous results for your startup. So don’t wait – accelerate your success with the expertise of a professional PR firm today.
1. Professionals have what it takes to follow up
PR requires persistence to succeed. Journalists can be elusive and require a compelling reason to pay attention to your story. However great the idea, you’ll need to impress journalists so they can publish your story. Follow up with journalists after pitching your story. If they still don’t respond after a few follow-ups, look for others to pitch your story.
Solution: PR experts and PR firms like Pressfarm can connect and follow up with journalists so that you can focus on building your business. They continuously follow up, get new journalists, and keep pushing until they get your story out.
2. PR experts will be honest with you about the feasibility of your product/campaign
As a founder, you can be so obsessed with product or service development that you don’t make time for or consider PR and marketing advice. In public relations, do-it-yourself (DIY) PR strategies are more expensive than hiring a PR firm. Listen to advice from PR professionals to guide your PR efforts.
Solution: PR experts will be honest with you. They will tell you if a groundbreaking product pitch to journalists won’t work because it is dishonest and borderline egotistic. In addition, they will propose the best story angle to follow if you would like to make your PR spending useful.
3. Time is limited
Startups face a huge challenge when it comes to managing time. When it comes to PR, founders usually want to go at it alone telling their stories and attempting to push the PR machine.
However, PR requires consistency. Founders usually stretch themselves too thin with many responsibilities and run out of time for PR efforts.
Solution: Let a PR firm take this responsibility away from you. They do PR best and have all the time to fork out results and get your story published. Delegation is a tool that master entrepreneurs have used. They let go of things they are not good at, delegate, and focus on where they shine.
4. PR professionals are actually good at PR
Some entrepreneurs think they are good at PR and fail to execute their PR campaigns.
If you are new in the PR field whether as a PR firm or as a startup hoping to do their PR, it will take you several months to years to make mistakes, fail, unlearn, and relearn. Slowly develop media relations. If you intend to get your launch featured you might need to start working on the PR efforts way earlier.
Solution: To save time and money, hire PR specialists with proven experience and are ready with the contacts you need.
5. PR is not advertising
Most people cannot differentiate between public relations and advertising. Advertising is an effort to promote a product or service to sell it. PR on the other hand is an effort to build a brand’s credibility by sharing information within a story. PR raises awareness of the company’s visions and goals.
In summary, PR is focused on your brand while advertising is focused on the product. When combined, an advertising campaign should be used to complement what has been achieved by the PR team.
Solution: PR experts know that advertising strategies are different from PR strategies. No journalist will publish a story geared towards selling a product. Consult a PR expert to develop your brand story that journalists can publish.
6. PR is not an occasional event
Most entrepreneurs think PR is a one-time event done only when launching your company, or a new product. However, PR gurus will tell you to be consistent to realize brand awareness. Relationships with journalists are not built for a one-time event but for constant engagement to grow your brand.
Solution: Having a team of PR pros handling your PR campaigns will ensure you are a constant name in the news and online publications. The more your target market hears about you in credible publications, the more they get comfortable trusting you with their money. There are many occasions in a year that startups can leverage for media attention. These include sharing research to new milestones, higher revenues, securing funding, new executive hires, new product features, etc. A PR expert will help you develop that healthy PR calendar.
7. Hiring professionals is perfect for founders who don’t like the limelight
We are all different. While some founders like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg appear in the papers and everywhere in the media, other founders like Larry Page of Google and Larry Ellison of Oracle rarely speak to journalists or the media.
If you are the kind of founder who avoids the media but would still like your brand to be in the news, you will need a PR team to help you tell your brand story.
Solution: A PR team of experts ensures your startup gets the press attention it deserves, tailoring your company’s message to the media as you would like it told.
PR takes work, patience, persistence, and consistency to be successful. Luckily for startups, affordable PR firms like Pressfarm are there to help. We are a PR tool to help you contact and pitch stories to journalists to secure press coverage.