This week’s Follow Friday guest post comes from my friend and Kellye Crane. Kellye created a successful online community for independent pros. In fact, when I was launching Geben, Kellye offered a wealth of guidance — always willing to answer my questions or provide advice. Fortunately, I’ve met Kellye in “real life” a few times and just think the world of her. If you’re contemplating starting your own PR consultancy — or want to learn ways to increase your existing business — connect with Kellye and the SoloPR community.
Psst… Have you heard? Many businesses and organizations have found their PR secret weapon: independent public relations agencies and consultants.
What are the biggest advantages of working with indies?
Expertise-for-Hire
As we all know, the media continues to fragment and niche influencers have increased in importance. In this environment, nimble, independent PR pros can offer a strategic advantage by providing specific expertise – from strategy and planning to execution – and can hit the ground running immediately. Why wait for internal staff to learn a new industry, market or specialized skill, when a qualified indie practitioner can deliver better results today?
While large PR agencies remain the best choice in many instances, both agencies and in-house PR teams are recognizing that the challenges of scaling up to build influencer relationships in new industries can often more efficiently – and effectively – be addressed by partnering with qualified independent PR consultants and boutique firms.
Managing Feast or Famine
Though many signs are (hopefully) pointing toward economic recovery, most organizations continue to be cautious in their spending, which often leads to budget limbo and “hurry up and wait” scenarios for PR and marketing programs. Trying to staff appropriately in these situations is nearly impossible – not to mention the additional burdens if a hiring freeze is in place.
Independent PR contractors can be the key to surviving the stop-and-go, feast or famine climate of a jump-starting economy. The U.S. Department of Labor confirms this, noting that “firms [will] hire contractors to provide public relations services, rather than support more full-time staff when additional work is needed.”
With expected response times shrinking and real-time public relations – both planned, or in the case of a crisis, unforeseen – becoming the norm, many have realized that partnering with independent contractors can be the most effective way to manage workflow without sacrificing quality.
What do you think – what have been your experiences working with solo and independent PR practitioners? And if you’re looking for an indie PR pro, you may want to check out Solo PR Pros’ free Find a PR Consultant feature.
Kellye Crane is the principal of Solo PR Pro, the leading resource for those interested in independent PR consulting. Solo PR Pro’s community features include a Premium membership site, a LinkedIn group, the flagship blog, a weekly Twitter chat, Facebook page, and more.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Very apt observation Heather. Many CEOs of SMEs fondly believe that their PR DIY practices are going to be as effective as going with indie PR. What they don’t realise that it takes years of hard work and reaching out to build impressive media contacts (and what’s the most important: to get their attention and trust!).
I’m currently developing PR & Media collaboration platform and I believe all those indie PR pros could benefit from using Evoque’s platform. What do you think?
I know this comment is coming a bit late, but I just stumbled upon it and had to mention that not too long ago I was talking to an in-house brand PR director who was telling me how they had recently transitioned from having one agency of record to just having multiple independent consultant that specialized in different pieces of their business. He said he found it was not only much more cost-effective based on the somewhat limited budget they had for outsourcing their PR efforts, but also dramatically helped improve their bottom line. It was an interesting conversation and I think really compliments what Kellye is talking about here.