With a business environment that’s more competitive and challenging than ever, it’s no time to dismiss the value that PR and marketing services can bring. For businesses large and small brand loyalty is being challenged, customers are becoming increasingly fickle and are after the best deal or the most innovative product.

Creating and honing a brand image that best reflects your business is vital to success. This combined with a PR strategy to package and show off your products and services in the best light and spread the message to your target market will help fuel your company’s success.

But it’s not simply a question of choosing any old agency to work with. Working with the right PR agency for your business is of upmost importance and will save you time and money further down the line. Before you take the plunge, make sure you’ve considered the following points when selecting an agency.

1. Knowledge

Industry knowledge is important when trying to market a product. Is the agency going to be able to talk about your business with finesse? Do they really know your market, how it works and how to make you stand out from the crowd? Do they have the industry and media contacts?

2. Backbone

Hiring a team that follow your every command is all well and good but do you really want to work with a bunch of yes-men? A good agency should not be afraid to challenge your ideas or practices. They should be in the driving seat in terms of PR and have confidence in their own ability while successfully addressing your ideas and business strategy.

3. Creativity

Make sure you pick a creative bunch. Media and marketing strategies can become stale if not questioned and new ideas experimented with. The team should be pitching new ways to promote your business to you not the other way round.

4. Strategy

Creativity is important but it needs to be focussed to achieve the best results. An ad-hoc PR and marketing strategy will never be truly effective. Proper planning and targets should be implemented to achieve the best results.

5. People

PR is about relationships and nurturing them. If you don’t feel that the people you are going to be working with are on the same level as you then walk away.

6. Size does matter

Is the size of the agency appropriate for your needs? The team needs to be able to handle your requirements. Will you get the attention the business needs? Do you know who’s dealing with your account when you can’t see them?

7. Commitment

How long has the agency been with its clients and how has it been working with them? High client turnover may not be an indicator of a good agency.

8. Location

Nothing beats a face to face conversation. So it can be useful to hire an agency that’s close in order to have regularly meetings so both sides can understand the direction of campaigns and think out new ideas.

9. Promises

Immediate and astounding results are probably not realistic. Openness and sensible expectations on what can be achieved are important. Campaigns take time to gain momentum and the agency should not be afraid to tell you this.

10. The Future

As well as traditional PR, can the agency offer more? A wider marketing knowledge is essential if the agency is to deliver real strategic value. Do they have a grasp of new and digital media and how the public are consuming news with new platforms?

If you want to find out more about Red Marlin and how our PR and marketing expertise could help your business call us on 01926 832395 or email us at hello@redmarlin.co.uk.