A New Year, a new start, a time when businesses set out plans and goals for the year ahead whilst reviewing their relationships too.
If you’re considering engaging a different PR agency in 2021 or if you’re looking to work with an agency for the very first time, just where do you start?
Here are key questions to consider before embarking on your search:
- What are your core objectives and targets?
By providing a PR agency with a clear idea of ‘what’ you want to achieve, an agency can better advise you on ‘how’ they will help you achieve it! Be clear on the specific business challenges they can help you to solve and what audience you want to target and reach.
- Who do you need on the team?
What will be the division of responsibility between your in-house and agency teams? Asking yourself this question at the outset will help you decide on the variety of specialist skills you require a PR agency to bring to the table. It’ll also help define exactly who you need, be it content specialists, digital gurus, PR go getters or copywriting queens!
- What measures of success are most important to you?
There are many metrics of success but which are the most important to your business in the next 12 months and beyond? Is a significant increase in website traffic on your 2021 wish list? Do you see a boost to brand profile via targeted media mentions and article placement as a key driver for success? Or is maximising engagement with your brand via digital channels your core priority for the year ahead?
Taking your stakeholders on this planning and goal setting journey from the outset will ultimately help you prove the value of working with a PR agency.
It’s then up to the PR agency to set out a roadmap of how they will meet – and exceed! – your clearly defined expectations.
