Debunking the Agency Myths

Working with a PR, marketing or digital agency can be a daunting idea for many businesses. Choosing to part with your hard-earned cash and handing over control to someone external to your company could feel like a risky strategy. Whether you’ve always taken on the task in-house, or you haven’t yet dared to dive deeper into the world of PR and marketing, we’re here to help ease your mind and debunk some of the most common myths about working with an agency.

It’s not worth the money

Using an agency is often a more cost-effective way of marketing your business: if you tried paying for a media monitoring service, access to a media contacts database and an in-house member of staff you could end up paying more than the cost of an monthly agency retainer.

The years of experience and contacts an agency brings are worth every penny. And remember that your success reflects on the agency’s reputation too, so a good agency will be highly motivated to help your company succeed.

An agency wants to spend all your money

The work an agency does for you is set out in a clear plan provided in advance, and it’s usually backed up by an activity report to ensure you always know what your agency is working on and where your money is going. Being flexible enough to adapt to the varying budgets of different clients large and small is a good sign that your agency is invested in a long-term partnership and is not just engaged in a fleeting love affair with your brand.

We won’t understand your business well enough

An outside perspective can be a huge advantage to your business. A good agency will offer an objective opinion that isn’t clouded by the long-held views of the company, allowing it to see exactly where improvements can be made. Most agencies will also have a range of experience of industry trends and will have worked with companies from a variety of sectors; they can therefore draw on relevant experience from each of these and apply it to your business.

We don’t need to talk to you

It’s important to remember that working with an agency is a two-way street. Your agency wants to build a lasting relationship with your business, and to do this your account manager needs to be kept in the loop as if we’re an internal employee. This requires some trust on your part, but if you’re not prepared to trust your agency implicitly then the relationship isn’t going to last long. By providing us with regular updates on what’s happening within the business, it allows us to flag up opportunities and areas where marketing push would be beneficial. Conversely, if there’s bad news on the horizon your PR agency needs to know about it sooner rather than later.

My business doesn’t need PR

Often businesses believe it’s easier to lay low and avoid shouting about what their business does in order to avoid attracting attention. However, increasing brand awareness through word of mouth, customer testimonials or editorial media coverage has become much more trustworthy than paid advertising. Consumers have developed a much stronger sense for when they are being sold to and have built a distrust for brands that push a sale too directly. PR content is a much more authentic way to get the message out about your company to your target market without being too sell, sell, sell! It is important to remember that results won’t happen overnight. 

Working with an agency will always require an initial stage of ‘knowledge transfer’ where the agency learns everything they need to know about your business and you can learn how an agency works. and what their people will need from you. The best foundations are built on a better understanding between client and agency, producing the best results and a higher likelihood of a positive and productive relationship long-term.

If you’re starting to think that working with an agency would work for your business, then we’d love to help! Please get in touch with a member of the team today or take a look at the range of services we offer. 

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