Four Ways to Grow Your PR FirmYour PR firm relies on a top-notch team to represent each of your clients in their best light.

As you take on more accounts, you must also increase your workforce.

Growing a successful public relations agency isn’t easy.

But if you do it right, the rewards far outweigh the challenges.

Four Ways to Grow Your PR Firm

Ready to take your PR agency to the next level?

Here are four tips for growing a PR firm.

Audit Your Existing Workforce

Moving forward should start with taking a look back.

You want to make sure your PR firm can smoothly transition to a larger team.

Take stock of your current team before stepping up your hiring efforts.

Your firm should be tracking PR metrics to measure success.

Review quantifiable data about individual staff members and your overall team.

Have your team set goals, then look at their results and discuss achievements/failures.

When you audit your workforce, keep an eye on level of improvement.

Pay attention to decisions your team makes after analyzing performance.

Conduct employee reviews to see if your PR firm is ready for growth.

Employee reviews are a good way to check in on your team’s happiness and engagement levels.

Talking with your staff can help you work out kinks in workflow.

Once you’ve gathered the information you need, ask yourself these questions:

  • Are your processes efficient?
  • Is everyone working in their most ideal role?
  • How much does each team member contribute to the firm’s success?

See if you can make adjustments to your current workforce.

If there’s no question after the audit that you’re ready to grow, it’s time to start expanding your team.

Decide What You Need

You need to hire more staff, and knowing your PR firm is growing is exciting.

Your eagerness might make you want to dive right into hiring.

Before you start posting on job boards and making phone calls, wait.

You need to take some time to hone in on the role you want to fill.

Many different skill and experience requirements fall under the umbrella of PR.

Locate the gaps in your existing workforce to see which areas are lacking.

Do you need more writers, graphic designers, or salespeople?

Are you looking for someone with a communications background to speak with clients or someone with tech skills to optimize digital platforms?

These are the kinds of questions you need to ask.

Make a detailed list of skills, experience, and education you want a candidate to have.

Rank items on your list in order of importance.

Then, use the list to craft a well-written, appealing job description.

The job ad should accurately describe the candidate you are looking for and detail the responsibilities of the role.

For the most reach, post the ad on multiple channels, such as your website, job boards, and social media.

Invest in the Right Tools

Your tech needs to keep pace with your growing team.

Make sure you provide your staff with the tools they need to complete an increasing workload.

In public relations, who you know can often open doors.

As your firm grows, your team will handle a valuable media list of contacts.

Provide your workforce with a contact management solution to keep track of their communications.

You don’t need to spend an arm and a leg to get the tools your PR firm needs.

Google offers a variety of free cloud solutions your team can benefit from. For example:

  • Drive allows staff members to create and share documents and spreadsheets online, so there’s no need to download or print.
  • Alerts will notify you when your pre-selected keywords appear on the internet.
  • Calendar shares every team member’s schedule so your staff can connect better.

Depending on the roles at your PR firm, you should be using several different tools.

Ask your team what features they’d like to see.

Streamlining your processes with the right solutions will help your PR firm grow.

Be Choosy about Candidates

Growing a PR firm doesn’t necessarily mean hiring a bunch of new employees.

Adding a few quality hires can have a huge impact on success.

Hire the cream of the crop, and you’ll see lasting results.

The problem is, finding top talent is easier said than done.

You need to thoroughly screen candidates for the best shot at securing team members who can take your PR firm to the top.

Don’t choose the first acceptable candidate you find. A first impression is simply that—the first impression.

Get to know your candidates through multiple communications.

Use phone screening and interviews to fill in any gaps on a candidate’s resume.

You can also use applicant tracking system features to parse resumes and keep track of your best candidates.

Once a candidate accepts your job offer, make sure you successfully onboard them.

On the new hire’s first day, have them fill out new employee forms and walk them through the training process.

Provide everything they need to get the job done.

It’s important for your workforce to work together and be comfortable sharing ideas.

Introduce the new hire to the rest of your team and take them out to lunch so they can get to know each other in a casual setting.

Utilizing these tips can help you grow a better team and a successful PR firm.

Amanda Cameron

Amanda Cameron is a content writer for Patriot Software, LLC, where she writes about payroll, accounting for small business , the recruiting process, and other small business topics.

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