How to Choose a Marine PR Agency in 2022
Public relations is the strand of marketing crucial to most businesses. But with the many different marine PR agencies out there, how do you know which one is best for your business?
Traditionally, PR focussed on gaining brand coverage for clients, in print, via newspapers, magazines, television and radio. However, Digital PR is now a vital component and as a result, PR agencies have had to evolve to encompass the full range of strategies. Making the job of finding the right marine agency – harder.
Whether you operate within the marine industry or another, there are some important factors to consider:
Clear Understanding
Firstly, ensure the agency fully understands your business and the marine industry. A specialist agency is a wise choice, as it will have broad and in-depth knowledge on how the marine industry works. The team should have excellent relationships with marine influencers and journalists and be aware of current issues affecting your business.
The people working at a good agency, will make it their job to ‘get under-the-skin’ of your business, to fully understand it and to do the best job possible.
The people working at a good agency, will make it their job to ‘get under-the-skin’ of your business in order to fully understand it and to do the best job possible.
Results
Another important factor to consider is the PR agency’s ability to produce measurable results and to have case study examples of achievements from other clients. They should also create a strategy to align with your business objectives.
Does Size Matter?
You’d be forgiven for thinking that the bigger the agency, the better the service. However, this isn’t always the case. Big agencies can charge big fees, and the attention you receive could depend on what you are willing to pay, and there’s likely to be a company higher up the priority list than yours.
10-15 employees are considered as a medium sized PR agency. And an agency of this size will result in senior, more experienced members of staff working for you. It will also be easier to form strong and long-term relationships with a close-knit team. They will always be there to offer support and advise throughout your PR and marketing journey.
Personality Match
Another key ingredient is the PR agency’s ability to understand and appreciate your business ethics, values and culture. Can they think on their feet and know the challenges your business may face and act accordingly?
What’s more, they should work as a seamless extension of your business or marketing team. Their clear understanding of where they fit into your business is also important.
Full-Service Marketing Strategy
Long gone are the days when a PR agency carried out a single form of PR for a client. Marketing is now much more intertwined, with activities shifting from offline PR (traditional, media campaigns) to online PR (digital, social and content driven) services. Therefore, the marine PR agency that you choose, should offer a range of activities across all channels and create a marketing strategy to match.
A specialist marine PR agency will be able to increase engagement with your audiences and build long term loyalty and trust in your brand. They should think beyond the realms of paid media and be able to drive social media and content and SEO driven campaigns successfully.
Global events form a huge part of the marine world and a specialist marine PR agency will advise you on how to utilise these as part of your PR and marketing strategy. They will know everything there is to consider, including communicating to the media and know what the speaker and exhibition opportunities are available.
Showing Results
Finally, a PR agency worth its salt, will be able to demonstrate the results that it achieves on your behalf. There are many ways of doing this, which will also highlight the effectiveness of the chosen channels.
Can they identify where a press release was distributed and know when coverage was achieved? What are the insights from social media and has SEO on your website been analysed? What else are the analytics suggesting about your website?
These are all key measurables, which, depending on the types of activities undertaken by your PR agency, will show what has been accomplished. And more importantly, show you the return on your investment.
