Public Relations is easily one of the most effective ways for a business to build a solid online reputation. Organizations that have been keen to ride the growing demand for better PR strategies are starting to see a huge return on investments (ROI). To retract back really fast, public relations can be defined as the communication that happens between a company and the general public. It more or less deals with a company connecting, communicating, and promoting its reputation among customers through social media, traditional news outlets, and other content platforms.
For your company to cultivate a strong public relations strategy, however, you need to hire the right PR management team. But with the emergence of social media and the need to reach much larger audiences, the demand for public relations and fundraising managers has continued to grow over the years. And that’s where public relations professional remote workers come into play. Basically, outsourced PR release services entail hiring a third party to send your messages to the right people and in the right places, ultimately enhancing your brand reputation.
In this article, we are going to look at how to hire a public relations consultant, the benefits, and the factors to consider before hiring a PR team.
The Benefits of Outsourcing PR
As a business owner, choosing between an in-house public relations and communications manager and a public relations assistant remote worker or team can be a challenge. With that said, however, opting to outsource marketing and public relations manager as part of your long-term outreach strategy has multiple benefits.
Here are a few reasons why you should consider outsourcing your PR:
- Build connections
When you hire an external public relations contractor with experience in your industry, you gain all the hard-earned relationships and connections that the contractor has built over years with media personalities, analysts, and influencers within the community. This is a golden opportunity, especially if your company is looking to increase brand awareness and secure media coverage, considering most reporters pay special attention to releases from familiar contacts. Aside from these networks, a PR recruitment agency can also help connect you with top industry publications, reporters, and trendsetters within your industry, allowing you to position your company as a thought-leader.
- Flexibility
Regardless of the size of your organization’s marketing team, remote advertising marketing and public relations managers or teams come with several advantages. If you have a small marketing team, for example, they can help augment your services by providing extra manpower when needed, ultimately speeding up project completion. Large teams, on the other hand, can benefit from public relations offshore teams through added expertise, creativity, and insightful ideas. This outsider’s perspective is key in breaking up the groupthink pattern that tends to develop with in-house teams. Sometimes, the best ideas don’t necessarily come from a person who has been doing the same thing repeatedly. Just like having someone else proofread an essay before handing it in, outsourced marketing and PR services can do wonders in terms of introducing a new perspective to your marketing efforts and suggesting new ideas.
- A team of all-rounded professionals
PR and marketing is a multipronged monster with many facets. There’s SMM, media relations, content writing, web development, data analytics, and data reporting. And all that does not even scratch the surface. When running a business, it is not economically viable to hire a professional in all these respective spaces. And even if it happens to be economically viable, you may have to settle for a few generalists capable of delivering 80 percent of everything well. When it comes to public relations services, you need a professional who knows the ins and outs of the entire space and has the skills to elevate your game to the next level. When you partner with a digital PR services provider, you can rest easy knowing they can handle every PR task and subtask.
Skills to Look for in an Ideal PR Manager
If you are looking to hire public relations manager, they need traditional public relations skills, such as good media relations and compelling skills. With that said, however, advances in technology mean they need to possess additional skills like SEO, social media content creation, programming, and analytics.
Key skills to look out for in a public relations officer include:
- Excellent oral and writing skills
- Excellent interpersonal and relation-building skills
- Good IT skills
- Research and presentation skills
- Ability to prioritize and plan effectively
- Awareness of different media agendas
- Creativity
- International perspective
- Account management skills
Factors to Consider Before Partnering with PR Teams Provider
So you’ve recognized the true value of PR and decided to source for a public relations specialist for hire to take your business to the next level. But with many PR agencies out there, how do you settle for the right one?
When choosing a PR staffing agency, there are several factors to put into consideration.
1. Experience
The first consideration when looking to hire a public relations consultancy services provider is the experience. Does the agency have the experience to deliver the desired results? The agency should also be willing to provide evidence of their experience in terms of past projects. By doing so, you’ll be able to separate the real McCoys and the overrated wannabes.
2. Testimonials
One of the best ways to vet the credibility of an advertising and PR services provider is to talk to their past clients. Dig deep for testimonials from former and current clients to establish whether the PR agency helped them achieve good results and whether they would hesitate to recommend them.
3. Price
Key among the reasons why most firms choose to outsource PR is to save on costs. When looking to hire external PR distribution services, always ensure that you are getting the highest possible ROI. Generally, the salary rates are pegged on the seniority and expertise of the PR managers, which is why you need to ensure that you hire within your budget range. While at it, it is important to note that the cheapest outsourcing option doesn’t necessarily translate to better results. For this reason, always compare different agencies to establish which one offers the best market going rate.
4. Location
The location of a PR agency is also critical when it comes to outsourcing. Since PR services entail building rapport with regional and national press, you should hire a PR company that can effectively target your customers. And although outsourcing doesn’t require constant traveling or physical meetings, the firm should be conveniently located to offer the best coverage.
How Our Company Can Help You Build a Dedicated PR Management Team
Now that we have seen the factors to consider before outsourcing your PR, the next biggest question becomes… Where can I hire a PR manager? Over the past few years, Ukraine has emerged as one of the leading PR outsourcing destinations in Europe and the world at large. But with many PR outsourcing agencies in operation, it can be an intimidating experience to choose the right agency but our agency can help. For years, we have been helping companies hire qualified PR managers and SEO team from all over the world. Our expert PR teams are constantly striving to develop effective and high-impacting communications strategies to achieve specific goals for our clients.
Whether you are looking for outsourced PR services for small business or a multinational corporation, our professionals can help in the following areas:
- Reputation management. Our expert PR managers will help monitor and assess the reputation of your brand in the marketplace, as well as respond to situations before they get out of control.
- Crisis management. Our experienced public relations professionals will craft crisis management strategies in case a significant negative event rocks your business.
- Media outreach and relations. Your business cannot thrive if no one’s ever heard of it. Our PR services will help develop and implement strong media outreach and relations plans that boost your brand awareness, reinforce your credibility, and positively influence public perception.
- Speech writing. Struggling with speech writing? Or still, is it something you find awkward? Hire digital marketing expert with us and they will help compose error-free, custom speeches for you.
- Press releases. A press release is important in establishing credibility and improving visibility. Thanks to the connections that we have built over the years, our team of PR experts will get your press releases published on reputed news outlets and platforms.
- Market research. Our advertising and PR services also cover market research, and we will help you keep tabs on market trends and discover new insights to come up with new outreach strategies.
Our Process: How to Hire a PR Manager with Us
Whether you are looking for PR SEO services or any other PR services, our streamlined hiring process will ensure you fill the vacant position in a record time. Here is a step-by-step outline of our recruitment process for PR managers.
- Book an appointment with us. Our recruitment process begins with our hiring team meeting up with you virtually to establish your hiring needs, the desired language, and learn your business culture and core values.
- PR talent matching. Next, we will begin the sourcing process to find the right candidates by tapping into our huge pool of active and passive PR professional job seekers. After selecting and profiling the potential candidates, we will forward their resumes to you for consideration.
- Screening and interviewing. We will then make arrangements to conduct virtual interviews with the candidates via Skype, Zoom, or any other video conferencing platform.
- Contract signing. After the screening and interview process has wrapped up, we will discuss your PR management workflow, the salary, agree on a starting date, and sign the service level agreement.
- Induction. The newly-hired PR manager or team will be introduced to the rest of the team and they will start working right away.