Everything PR News

RFP, Public Relations, Marketing, Social Media and more!

Using a PR Agency vs in House PR Team

by ·

It’s not always easy for companies to figure out whether they should rely solely on their in-house public relations professionals for all of their public relations needs, or if they should hire an outside agency to do some of the work, and the ideal choice largely depends on businesses themselves. There are benefits to both options that companies should know about before making that decision.

Agency

One of the reasons why companies should hire an outside PR agency when it comes to their public relations needs is because agencies tend to have better, and even more, relationships with journalists and media outlets. This is mainly because agencies tend to work with multiple clients, which means they’re constantly in contact with various outlets and are able to form those relationships quickly, which isn’t something that a company can always do on its own, which tends to result in companies’ pitches to outlets getting ignored, while if the pitch was sent by an agency that the outlet is familiar with, the pitch would get opened up in the email, and even published. Additionally, in-house PR teams will have to conduct research on which outlets they should be reaching out to on behalf of the company, whereas agencies will already have that information and get to skip that step, and immediately reach out to the right outlets. Another reason why companies tend to choose to hire an agency is that they have too much work they already do, and they don’t have the resources to invest in creating a PR team in-house from scratch, which includes interviewing, recruiting, and training new people, while hoping that they’ll be able to generate the right results after such an investment. On the other hand, companies can work with a team of professionals outside of the business, where the only step they’d need to take is getting those professionals up to speed on the business and its goals.

In-house team

Plenty of companies also decide to forgo hiring an outside agency and create their own in-house public relations teams filled with PR professionals. It can be because the company believes that the in-house team can do a better job at reaching the company’s goals, simply because all of their time will be focused on the business and its PR efforts, compared to an outside agency that has to juggle multiple clients and campaigns. Another common reason why some businesses decide to create their own in-house PR teams is that the agencies that are available to them are outside of their budget, and that’s the only option they have. Some of the benefits that companies can get from working with an in-house public relations team is being able to work with a team of people that know everything they need to know about the company, and more, which is not something that outside agencies are able to do, as most often, they assign one person to be in charge of multiple clients.

Ronn Torossian founded 5WPR.

Tags:

Ronn Torossian

Ronn Torossian is the Founder and Chairman of 5WPR, one of the largest independently-owned PR firms in the United States. With over 25 years of experience crafting and executing powerful narratives, Torossian is one of America’s most prolific and well-respected Public Relations professionals. Since founding 5WPR in 2003, he has led the company’s growth, overseeing more than 275 professionals. With clients spanning corporate, technology, consumer and crisis, in addition to digital marketing and public affairs capabilities, 5WPR is regularly recognized as an industry leader and has been named “PR Agency of the Year” by the American Business Awards on multiple occasions. Throughout his career, Torossian has worked with some of the world’s most visible companies, brands and organizations. His strategic, resourceful approach has been recognized with numerous awards including being named the Stevie American Business Awards 2020 Entrepreneur of the Year, the American Business Awards PR Executive of the Year, twice over, an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year semi-finalist, Metropolitan Magazine’s Most Influential New Yorker, a 2020 Top Crisis Communications Professional by Business Insider, and a recipient of Crain’s New York 2021 Most Notable in Marketing & PR. Torossian is known as one of the country’s foremost experts on crisis communications, and is called on to counsel blue chip companies, top business executives and entrepreneurs both in the United States and worldwide. Torossian has lectured on crisis PR at Harvard Business School, appears regularly on CNN & CNBC, is a contributing columnist for Forbes and the New York Observer, and has authored two editions of his book, “For Immediate Release: Shape Minds, Build Brands, and Deliver Results With Game-Changing Public Relations,” which is an industry best-seller. A NYC native, Torossian is a member of Young Presidents Organization (YPO), and active in numerous charities.

You may also like...