Help Us Help You: Building a Successful PR Partnership

Help Us Help You: Building a Successful PR Partnership

by | Feb 19, 2025 | Blog

A strong partnership with a public relations (PR) agency offers numerous benefits to companies by generating attention and interest that draws in new employees, industry partners, and, most importantly, customers.  

More and more companies are realizing the value of PR, as globally the PR market is expected to grow to more than $133 billion by 2027. In the U.S., demand for PR specialists is predicted to grow by about 6% by 2032 (faster than average), according to BLS.gov.   

However, achieving stellar PR results requires some upfront efforts to ensure the alignment of goals and objectives between the client and the PR agency. The best PR agency–client relationships are characterized by collaboration, respect, unity, and a mutual understanding of the end goals and expectations.  

Following are some tips for successful PR partnerships: 

Establish a single source of contact: Designate a dedicated liaison who is accessible and responsive to requests for data and media interviews. The ideal partner shares information on company activities and news proactively and views the PR agency as a partner, not a vendor. 

Know your people: Draw up a list of spokespeople, including internal executives and customers who will sing your praises, who can participate in media opportunities, as well as the specific topics they prefer to focus on. When it comes to healthcare media relations, it’s always best to lead with a provider customer than a solution provider. 

Create the culture: The brands that realize the most value from PR have established a company culture that encourages adoption of new concepts and strategies. An essential component of this is a leadership team that sees the value of PR and its important role in the marketing mix to drive credibility, recognition, and brand awareness, as well as fueling ongoing online content marketing across integrated PESO (Paid, Earned, Shared and Owned) channels. 

Develop a social plan: Social platforms such as LinkedIn offer another avenue beyond traditional media for brands to establish thought leadership and contribute to relevant industry conversations. To get the most out of social media, develop a written social media strategy and guidelines (we can help!) about having an active presence on relevant platforms. It is also a big help to have an executive team and employees who are — or willing to become — social media apostles. 

See the big picture: Generating the media interest that will lead to valuable coverage and market attention doesn’t happen overnight. It’s important for clients to have a company-wide understanding that PR is not a “project,” but rather a process that should be integrated into every function of the organization from marketing and sales to product development and human resources.  

Other factors that set the stage for a productive PR partnership include having a clear brand voice and message strategy, an optimized website, and a customer relationship management tool with a solid process in place for managing leads. (If you don’t have any of these, we can help get you there!) Ultimately, like all relationships, the PR agency–client partnership is all about taking the time to clearly communicate and understand each other to establish productive and positive collaborations.  

Your Agency Partner Team Extension or Another Vendor?

Your Agency Partner Team Extension or Another Vendor?

by | Mar 6, 2019 | Blog

You went through the rigorous process to find a new agency partner. Whether it was for lobbying, communications, marketing or website development, this process took you and your team time. Now you have them onboard what next? How do you optimize your relationship to make sure you leverage the best of your partners and they don’t just become another vendor?

First, you have to decide what you want: a partner or a vendor. A partner is an extension of your team they know the ins and outs of your company, have a stake in seeing you succeed and are involved in the strategic planning for the department. Vendors on the other hand are order takers they do what you say and don’t offer that additional strategic layer that asks questions about why something is being done or if it aligns with the business goals.

While vendors are critical to an organizations’ success, is that what you want or need after you selected a new agency? In my experience, no that is not what you want. You want the group that pushes back and pushes your thinking to make sure you get the results you need.

Once you commit to making the agency a partner, it will take time and education to get them to be that additional strategic arm. It is just like a new hire they need to be brought up to speed. That can be done a number of ways:

  • Kickoff and intro meetings with key stakeholders Have short intro calls with your potential spokespeople, decision makers and anyone who will be working with the agency. Allow the agency to pick their brain, get to know them and understand the nuances of the organization.
  • Provide the agency with all relevant information If you think you gave your new partner everything, give them more every logo, plan, report, pitch or piece of marketing collateral. They want to see how your company talks and thinks so that they can align with that process.
  • Give them the inside scoop that will help them help you Hopefully your scope of work clearly aligns with what you are measured on, but it is helpful to tell the agency what types of reports or updates help you look good. If your boss likes marketing data and analysis, they can build their reports on those points and less on the anecdotal outcomes.
  • Collaborate with them In the first few weeks or months, the agency will provide thoughts or counsel on how your organization is working. They are trying to help and fresh eyes can often have good ideas or help processes improve. If they give you advice, work with them to understand their side and then educate them on the nuances of the organization.

If part of your job is to manage an agency, just know that we want to help you and make you look good too. If you bring the agency in as part of your team and make them a partner, we promise it will help you in the long run.