PR Consultancy or PR Consultant?

If you start asking this question then you probably have been aware that why you need a PR service. Continue reading might be of some assistance to you.

PR agency and freelance PR have their own features. Making the choice of going for which one really depends on the nature of your business and how you would like PR to help you. Basically, freelance consultants are independent consultants - one person who often works on various accounts and small projects, eg. press release/article writing, interview, activity evaluation,etc. at same time. They are flexible and able to offer short or long term support. On the contrary, agencies have the ability to provide more services to organizations and handle more massive campaigns such as a big show or a serious crisis. They can also build up either short or long term relationship with clients. Usually freelancer will cost you less than PR agency does, however it is not always.

In that case, when deciding going for an agency or a freelancer you need to be clear on the objective and deadline of your project, what and by when you want them do for you, what is the scale/time frame of the project, do you want them to be based in your office or from their own, etc.

When start using a PR service of course you will be looking to obtain maximum benefits from it. Choosing an appropriate person/agency to help you is important otherwise your project could be destroyed. Most people do not know how to measure if the service providers are really qualified or if they can fit in the job and work with. Some questions can be main factors for you to consider about you potential working partner: If they have professional background? Do they have experience in the relevant activities? Is there any likely conflict of interest with present clients? How do they charge? What is the fee? Are they individual members of any public relations institute? In according to my experience, some companies would requested PR agencies to do some small projects for them at beginning as trial campaigns in order to see if they are really able to handle the project and bring them the results as they wanted.