Unfortunately, getting clients isn’t as easy as launching a campaign and waiting for them to notice you. This hasn’t worked for many PR agencies and certainly won’t make clients flood your inbox or line overnight. For starters, sourcing for clients can be a challenge for your PR agency. You might cast a wide net, only to realize that you didn’t attract your ideal customers. So, how do you grow your client-base as a PR firm? We are here to answer this. We have compiled some of the practical strategies to help you grow your PR agency.
Pick a niche and ace it!
As a PR agency, particularly a new one, you might be a jack of all trade. You might be scared of picking a specific niche with the worry that it can hurt your income. Well, you can make more in revenue if you start offering bespoke PR services. For example, you can switch from offering general PR services to political PR or perhaps a fashion publicist and so on. You can go to a sub-niche in a particular industry and start building your name as a specialist in that area. The key is to pick a niche you love and stick to it. Then, invest your time in building a name and you will see how clients start to seek you out.
Ensure your website gives an excellent first impression
Potential clients that would like to work with you will first look at your website to gain insight about your PR agency. If your online presence is less than polished or doesn’t look professional, you lose your only chance to make a good first impression. Therefore, it would be wise to ensure your website provides enough information about you, your experience, and your expertise in the industry. Your website should also build trust and excite your prospects.
It is also vital to ensure that your website loading speed is quick. The beauty is that there are many tools you can use to audit your website loading speed. You can use Google’s Pagespeed Insights tool to help you check it out.
You can also add introductory videos to capture the attention of prospective customers visiting your website. Tell the visitor what your agency does and what it can do for them. Just ensure that the first few of that video are catchy!
Don’t forget to use more of white space in your design to give your users an excellent experience. Also, optimize for the mobile user. After all, most of the visitors are likely coming in from their phones and tablets.
Introduce a referral program
Never underestimate the power of word-of-mouth marketing. However, you have to give your customers an incentive to tell other businesses and their loved ones about your PR agency for this strategy to work. If you are yet to set up a formal referral program, simply ask your clients to spread the word about your agency if they are happy with your services. A great way to establish partnerships to take advantage of word-of-mouth marketing is through affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing is when you give commissions to other people and brands when they successfully refer you to another customer. You can check out this Freedom Breakthrough Review to learn more about how affiliate marketing works.
Find a good Facebook groups
There is a group for almost anything on Facebook. Groups dedicated to PR agencies and professionals have proven to be valuable information hubs and excellent avenues to interact with other experts in the field. You might also encounter a professional who will refer a client to you when they can’t handle additional workload.
Reach out to brands you want to work with
Sometimes, growing your PR agency is as easy as using the cold media outreach strategy. The first step is to write a list of companies you would love to work with. Ensure you research each brand and determine the best way to contact them. Once you finish the initial legwork, reach out to them and await a response. Even though they turn you down, you will have planted a tiny seed that will bear fruits in the future.
Generate more leads
A sure way to grow your PR agency is to consider generating quality leads interested in what you offer. However, lead generation is a significant pain point for any business. You can seek lead generation services for PR firms to a sales development agency. You are pretty much outsourcing to a dedicated external team and you can rest easy knowing you will grow the quantity and the quality of sales for your PR firm.
Ensure your business pitches and proposals are compelling
By the time you are requested to send a sales pitch or a business proposal, you are already among the few shortlisted PR agencies the brand would want to consider. Therefore, ensuring you stand out from the rest would be wise. As you prepare your pitch, ensure you customize it to suit their needs to further demonstrate you have their best interests at heart.
Create meaningful content
Your prospects expect you to know everything there is to know about public relations. Once they have established you are an expert in the field; they will be more inclined to work with you. What better way to flaunt your expertise than to create thought leadership content that is insightful and anything but generic. As you generate meaningful content, ensure you tailor it to your client’s needs, so they will feel you are addressing them directly.
Give social proof
We all love to hear a success story where a client was happy with your services. Potential clients crave social proof because they want to ascertain you are as good as you claim. They also want to avoid bad experiences as much as possible. Therefore it would be wise to display positive reviews from your previous clients on your website and follow through with a powerful call to action to compel prospective clients to reach out.
Wrap up
It would be a shame to spend all your time sourcing for clients when you could be working towards being a giant in the industry. Defining your niche and target audience will allow you to gain experience and become better positioned to work with more prominent brands. Leverage some of the tips to attract your ideal client and build your PR agency portfolio.
