Why 2023 May Be the Right Time to Start Working with a PR & Marketing Agency

With many organizations slowing their spending and hiring, dealing with ongoing talent shortages, or struggling to fill skills gaps, 2023 may be an ideal time to start outsourcing some of your brand’s PR and marketing projects to an experienced agency. Agencies can provide skills and expertise to supplement your brands’ in-house marketing team, whether you need help with a specific project or ongoing support. In this post we’ll look at common hurdles that an experienced agency can help your marketing team overcome.

Filling skill gaps

Marketing teams can have skill gaps for lots of reasons: Employees go on leave or change jobs, new technologies arise that need new knowledge, and organizations compete for the same talent. One of the most widespread skills gaps now involves data analytics. For example, Capgemini Research Institute surveyed 1,600 marketers in early 2021 and?less than half said their teams were using data?to modify campaign strategies, and build brands with strong equity.

Data skills are important for effective campaigns that drive growth, according to?Forrester: “Advanced B2B and B2B2C insights-driven organizations estimate that their year-over-year revenue growth will reach double digits at a higher rate than their peers.” Partnering with an agency that has data skills and a well-developed?market research and analytics?practice can help marketing teams achieve their program goals.

Delivering expertise

Even if your marketing team has all the basic skills you need, it’s rare to have all the expertise you need in-house for successful PR and marketing, and many teams even at large companies already have plenty of other responsibilities on their plates. Partnering with a PR team can provide an outside perspective on your sales and marketing efforts, a wider view of your brand’s positioning in the marketplace, and insights into the topics and types of content that editors and journalists are looking for.

For example, your team may have the skills to write effective press releases and thought leadership articles, but they may not yet have the relationships and media industry knowledge to get the most possible leverage from that content, such as?high-profile media placements, podcast and blog appearances, and other coverage that can elevate your brand.

If your marketing plans include producing specialized or technical?marketing content?like white papers and eBooks, it may be more efficient to work with an experienced agency to create that content, rather than trying to do it all in-house. That can ensure that your longform content is top quality and ready to go at the cadence you need, while your in-house team is free to focus on core marketing tasks.

Scaling up operations

Often, brands seek agency support when they’re in growth mode because they need the extra hands to identify and book PR opportunities, create content, and manage data to refine their marketing plans. But agencies with experience helping brands grow—in new markets, with new customer bases, or in new channels—can help brands map the most effective paths to reaching their growth goals.

For example, a brand that’s well established in one market may have all the in-house expertise and skills they need to maintain their position in that country or region. When it’s time to expand into a new geography, though, there will be new PR connections to identify and leverage, new media outlets to build relationships with, and new customer behaviors and expectations to meet at each touchpoint. Working with an agency that has a track record of?helping brands establish themselves in your new target market?quickly can shorten the time to ROI on your expansion efforts.

Defining the support you need

Working with an agency delivers the best results if you’re clear and specific about what you need. For example, do you need a PR team that can help you get your org’s thought leaders cited in the media, or a backlog of technical white paper topics that you need researched, written, and designed? Maybe you need specialized expertise analyze your site traffic and social media data to improve messaging and CX.

Before you start your search for a partner agency:

Identify your internal stakeholders?for each area where you need support, ask them for details about what they need, and ask them how they work best. You’ll need an agency that aligns with their collaboration style.

Sketch out your project timelines?to help clarify your agency partner’s role. Do you need a team on standby for rush work, a long-term team to function as an extension of your internal team, or an agency that handles specialized projects a few times a year?

Finding agencies that align with your PR and marketing needs

Ask for referrals and check social media and the news to see who’s handling PR and creating content for brands whose messaging you admire. Check their portfolios, blogs, and social profiles to see what they’re doing for their clients.

When you’ve identified a few agencies that seem to offer what you need, reach out to each one to find out their availability and their approach to delivering what you need. In particular, find out how involved and available your key stakeholders need to be for activities ranging from media interviews to content reviews.

Once you have a top candidate, set up a tryout period. Even if you think you’ve found the perfect agency, it’s best to start with a relatively short contract, to make sure your teams work well together and get good results. Once you’re comfortable with your choice, it’s time to sign up for a longer commitment that can help your brand grow by supporting and supplementing your in-house marketing and PR team.

Get your free Brand Audit & Competitive Analysis to find out how you can grow your brand effectively in 2023 by?contacting us today.