There is no single PR model that suits every business. Large agencies can offer broad teams, international networks and a wide range of services. But for businesses operating in specialist or regulated sectors, bigger does not always mean better.
Sometimes, the real advantage is having an experienced consultant who understands your market, knows the journalists covering it and remains directly involved in your account.
Media relationships are built over years
A media database can tell you which journalist covers insurance, fintech or tax. It cannot tell you what interests them, how they prefer to work or which stories they are most likely to consider.
That knowledge comes from dealing with journalists consistently and building relationships over time. Having worked in financial services PR for 30 years, I hold direct relationships across the specialist financial services media, as well as with national journalists covering these areas.
They are relationships I have developed personally through understanding what journalists need, approaching them with relevant ideas and providing credible experts who can deliver. It means I can make an informed judgement about where a story is most likely to resonate, how the angle may need to change for different publications and which journalist should receive it.
Direct relationships create a more direct service
When several people sit between a client and a journalist, important details can become diluted and a specialist consultant removes those layers.
I work directly with the client to find the strongest story then take it directly to the journalists I believe will be interested. If a journalist has a question, needs a different angle or wants to speak to the expert, I can respond without information passing through several members of a team. The speed and continuity is important, particularly when the subject is technical, regulated or time-sensitive.
Sector knowledge strengthens the pitch
Knowing a journalist is valuable and knowing what will be relevant to their readers is just as important. Financial services stories often involve complex products, regulation or industry specific issues. A specialist consultant can get to the heart of the subject more quickly because they already understand the context.
The same story may also require several different treatments. An insurance trade journalist may want the commercial consequences for insurers, brokers or MGAs. A fintech publication may be more interested in innovation or payments infrastructure, while a national journalist will need a wider consumer, business or economic angle.
Established relationships combined with sector understanding make it easier to shape the story for each audience rather than sending the same generic release to a long list of names.
You get senior-level attention
The person you appoint is the person developing the strategy, finding the stories, writing the content, speaking to journalists and advising you when an opportunity arises.
There is no junior handover and no need for your account to pass through several layers. You have direct access to the person doing the work, which makes communication faster and ensures senior experience is applied throughout the campaign.
A journalist may need expert comment within an hour. A regulatory announcement may create an unexpected opening. A planned campaign might need to change because the news agenda has moved.
A specialist consultant can often respond quickly because there are fewer internal processes. Priorities can be adjusted, an idea can be tested directly with a journalist and effort can be focused where it is most likely to achieve a result.
The right fit matters more than size
For businesses requiring multinational support or several communications disciplines at once, a larger team may be exactly what is needed. The important thing is to understand what you are buying. Who will work on your account every day? Who actually holds the media relationships? Will the senior people you meet remain involved? Does the team understand your sector and the publications that influence it?
A specialist consultant may not have the largest team in the room but direct media relationships, senior involvement, sector knowledge and personal accountability can create a much more focused and effective service.
In PR, it is not the size of the contact list that matters. It is knowing the right journalists, understanding what they need and having a credible reason to contact them.
Find out how Parm PR can help your business.