Jo More, Partner, Little Chicken Marketing
In short, yes, and it’s a strategy I would encourage others to consider.
PR plays a pivotal role in professional services’ marketing; when fully integrated and strategically aligned with a firm’s marketing and business development activities then success should soon follow.
When instructing a PR agency, industry knowledge should be top of the ‘must have’ list. It also means that the agency is likely to have relationships with relevant titles and journalists in the sectors most relevant to the firm’s business. Maintaining and managing these relationships shouldn’t be underestimated; knowing what a journalist is looking for in an article or press comment can make all the difference to securing a commission.
Setting out your objectives from the start will enable you to measure the success of your PR programme and the impact it has had on your firm’s profile. Agree at the outset the number of articles and interviews required over the period of the programme and whether your audience is likely to be found in the nationals, trade or local press, TV, radio, online or a combination of media.
Finally, decide on a method for communicating with your agency. Will they be expected to speak directly to the solicitors or via the marketing team? Ideally the flow of ideas should become a two-way stream and the best way to achieve this is for the agency to have direct contact, making them truly an extension of the in¬-house team.
