Should Your Small Business Hire a PR Firm?

Hiring a PR firm is a big investment. Most PR firms require a pricey retainer to be locked in for 3+ months, minimum. This can be really expensive and even cost prohibitive for a business that is bootstrapping its way to the next level. 

But there is so much to lose if you don’t invest in PR. Grabbing a little media attention can boost your brand, help you reach new audiences, and bring in new customers. The way I see it, small businesses have the most to gain from PR.

So, we find ourselves stuck between a rock and a hard place: shell out the cash to get the media attention we deserve or painfully wait until we can afford it.

Here to help you sort this out, let’s run through the questions that will lead you to your answer.

1. Do you need PR?

Do you need customers? Partners? Investments?

Do you need other people to know that your business exists?

If the answer is yes to any of these questions, then you need PR.

PR is valuable because it lends 3rd party credibility to your brand. It’s like the publication is vouching for you. So, when a future customer, employee, or whoever learns about your brand, they know you are doing something worth talking about.

Assuming you need PR, let’s move on to the next question.

2. Are you getting free PR?

Sometimes a business is so hip, the media finds out about it on their own and you get a pop of publicity. If your brand is showing up in magazines and newspapers (or at least their online versions) then you have a big leg up!

In this scenario, your decision is between letting your fifteen minutes of fame come and go, or using the talent of a PR firm to keep up the momentum.

Assuming you want to keep up the momentum, move on to question 3.

3. Can you afford to hire a PR firm?

This is the most important question. After sourcing a few quotes and taking a second look at your books, do the numbers add up? Can you make the investment?

If you can, then it’s probably a good idea to hire a PR firm. You’ll have people working every day to get your brand out there. Your brand will grow with more and more media exposure, and your business will grow with new customers and opportunities.

But if you can’t afford PR, don’t fret and let’s move on to question 4.

4. Can you be your own publicist?

I would like to give you a vote of confidence and say, “Yes! You can be your own publicist.”

PR isn’t as widely known as, say… setting up a Facebook page, but you can still successfully run your own PR campaign if you have a little bit of training. 

PR is not hard. There is a little finesse to it, but if you learn the key ins and outs, you can run a PR campaign by yourself in as little as an hour per week.

All it really comes down to is sending the right story idea, to the right person, at the right publication, at the right time. Finesse? Yes. But in practice, it’s no more difficult than sending an email.

By doing PR on your own, you won’t be able to go full force like a firm or agency would, but you can make meaningful headway early which will count for more down the road. 

PR builds up overtime, so anything you can do now (including DIY PR) to get that snowball rolling is worth it.