Discuss: Should you hire a PR agency?

PR & startups

There is no doubt that public relations is a vital part of operations within a company. It is essentially how the company is “externally” perceived by the public.

When the good happens, play the PR game right and you fan the flames of positivity and the company gets pushed into an even better light than it already is. On the flipside, when things goes awry, proper/adequate damage control can soften the blow, and in some cases, even turn a whole debacle into a passing cloud which the public will eventually forget (well.. hopefully).

Agency or DIY

It normally isn’t exactly cheap to hire a PR agency to manage communications for you. However, doing so gives you the best advice and support required on the external front. After all, it’s the professionals that can make the trickiest waters calm and give you the best direction forward.

The more cost-effective DIY route will see the company handling communications matters via an in-house team. Or if the team is small in size, a doubled up role, usually with a marketing or an outward facing position. This poses its own risks without the steady hands of a professional. Either way, handling PR brings a good learning experience to budding companies.

My thoughts

There isn’t a right or wrong method when it comes to PR and communication strategies for a company. After all, one can’t expect a bootstrapping startup to look at hiring a PR agency to wing its communications for them.

It really depends on the risk adversity of the company, as well as its ability to afford or handle such tasks themselves.

I’ve invited some of our awesome community members here with experiences in both hiring a PR agency, or doing the communications themselves. They will be here with the community to help you out if you have questions.

Feel free to ask them about PR agencies, or what/how they’re doing without one. Share your experiences too, chime in!

Alexandru Robu, Founder at Burmesehearts (Does not work with PR agency)

Daniel Walker, Founder at Dragon Law (Does not work with PR agency)

Dustin Jefferson Onghanseng, Co-founder at uHoo (Working with PR agency)

Erik Cornelius, Co-founder at G3 Partners (PR agency)

Jonathan Tse, Co-founder at Zookal (Does not work with PR agency)

Let’s discuss