Starting a public relations firm may be tempting. It doesn’t require a high initial investment and the market has experienced 5% growth for the second year in a row. But you need to go about starting a public relations firm in the right way. It’s much harder than it looks as the market is so competitive.
Let’s take a look at how to get started, with the help of Nancy Behrman from Behrman PR.
Win the Right Type of Business
Nancy Behrman says new PR firms commonly focus on trying to pull in business. The problem is they don’t focus on bringing in the right business.
Develop a profile of an ideal client before you begin hunting for your first paying customers. Common considerations include: the size of the client, the market sector they operate in, and their budgets.
But the number one consideration must be whether they have a plan. It’s difficult to get results for a client when they have little idea what they actually want.
Focus on Developing Relationships
Every business has to prioritize their customers. But PR is a people business like no other. Approximately 90% of US customers use customer service as a primary factor when deciding whether to work with someone.
You must focus on developing relationships with a variety of people within the companies of your clients. Never just have a single point of contact. Have relationships with people at multiple executive levels and touch base with them regularly.
It’s anywhere from five times to 25 times more expensive to get a new client than it is to retain an existing one, so the time investment is worth it.
Build Up Your Infrastructure and Process
Assuming you know what you’re doing already, it’s easy to declare the opening of a new PR firm by building a website and a few social media feeds.
Beyond that, you must concentrate on building up a solid business model. Make sure you have a solid budget for the next couple of years and try to predict how much capital you can realistically generate.
You must also think about your process. Who deals with what? How can you keep your team organized? What are you going to do in order to improve productivity?
These are just some of the questions you must answer when developing the active operations side of your business.
Create a Core Team
Once you have all this in mind, it’s time to develop your team. Never try to handle everything yourself because you believe it’s cheaper. The quality of your services will suffer for it, according to Nancy.
Consider what you can handle personally, and which tasks should be outsourced to an employee or a remote worker.
Be honest with yourself. The investment you make now could pay dividends later.
Last Word – Treat Your PR Firm Right
Never assume starting a PR firm is a matter of setting up some random website and offering your services. You must treat it like any other business, which includes building a core team, creating a process, a business plan, and a philosophy towards your future customers.
Which part of starting a PR firm do you believe is most challenging for you?