Do you need a PR freelancer or an agency to get going?

As most marketing people know, the first step in selling the product begins with the PR program. It helps you refine your brand and introduce yourself to key influences out there who you are and why your product/service is relevant. Of course, public relations help does not come cheap and, if not properly managed, can be a huge loss leader for your young organization. So then the question becomes who do I hire to help me manage a PR launch for my product? A full fledged agency or a sole practitioner?

One thing to keep in mind is your relative size and how that matters to anyone you are going to hire. If you are dealing with a large PR agency or even a mid to small size one, the smaller you are, the less care you will receive regarding your account. As normally happens with agencies, you are sold a wonderful bill of goods when you are applying for the agency and you see a really strong team of A plus managers who many will insist will be your account team. Once you sign that contract however you will notice that in world record time your account is being by managed by people that you never met and before you know it you are being spoon fed the normal palladium of press releases followed by the by the rote school of one size fits all, non-creative PR.

Generally when you hire smaller freelancers, you are getting motivated and, if you have done your homework intelligent and experienced, professionals who rely on your support to fund their continued success. In addition, you are most likely dealing with one or two people who represent the organization. Your work is not going to be passed onto the new hire since, most likely, there will not be a new hire to pass the work onto. You will also find someone more open to making your vision work and seeing your ideas get a shot at some sunlight.

A freelancer succeeds by taking risks where an agency fails if they do so. The agencies main goal is to have you renew the contract so they will ensure you do that. A freelancer's goal is to ensure that you succeed since that demonstrates that they can help an organization succeed. A freelancer usually does not have to pay for an office and the non-essential staff that is common among PR agencies so with that lower overhead, they can bring you a greater focus on your core PR needs.

It is pretty obvious in my opinion that a PR freelancer is the way to go when you are starting up your organization. From both a fiscal sense as well as a more product driven one a freelancer is a more common sense approach for an organization that is just building its PR program. The level of customer care and ROI is almost certainly going to be higher. The influence you have with a smaller organization can not be over estimated and can/should be leveraged for your organization's benefit.