If you are like most PR agencies, the most significant challenge your firm faces is attracting new clients. Bringing new clients entails more than creating an incredible public relations campaign and hoping to be discovered by potential customers. To run a successful PR agency, you must continually find ways to attract new clients and discover growth avenues. Read on for seven tips to grow and improve your PR agency.

1. Define your industry niche

Perhaps the biggest mistake most PR agencies make when looking for new clients is casting their net too wide instead of focusing on a specific audience. For this reason, the first step you should take to grow your PR agency is picking a niche and narrowing your focus on potential clients in that field.

Defining your niche does not only differentiate you from other agencies in the field. It also establishes you as an expert in the industry, not to mention keeping you at the top of clients' minds in your specific field.

2. Hire the right people

Your PR agency will likely flourish when you have the right people in your team and creative ideas. Consider hiring a team with strategic talent and complementary skills and concepts. You should strive to create a balanced team of individuals excellent at client handling, production, organization, accounting, and generating ideas. Contact a public relations recruiter to help you find the right people for your PR agency’s team.

3. Optimize your website

Most potential clients will find your agency online. They will likely visit your site to gather as much information as possible about your agency before hiring. For this reason, you must design a website that helps you create a great first impression of your agency.

Your website should provide critical information about your agency, highlight the various departments within your company, and showcase your expertise. You could also build a portfolio to showcase some of your previous clients. This does not only show off your skills. It also builds trust among prospective clients and encourages them to take the next step and reach out to you.

Remember to also optimize your agency’s website for search engines. Implementing the best SEO practices helps you to rank higher on Google and Bing. It also increases the chances of attracting targeted traffic, enabling you to find more new clients.

4. Solely sign what you can secure

To build a lasting PR agency and grow your reputation, you must establish a trusting rapport with potential clients before signing them. For this reason, conduct in-depth research on potential clients before you sign. You could meet them in person or talk to them via phone.

Requesting prospective clients to complete detailed questionnaires about their goals, expectations, team, past experiences with the press, and marketing efforts can help you establish whether or not you are the best agency for the job. By researching your clients, you ensure you are on the same page and avoid taking on projects you cannot deliver, which could ruin your agency’s reputation.

5. Establish yourself as an expert

Show potential clients you are the right person for the job and an expert at what you do by publishing high-quality, relevant, and helpful content on your website. Stellar content helps prospective clients believe in your potential, making them feel more comfortable partnering with you.

To create thought leadership, refrain from publishing generic posts. Instead, focus on creating unique and insightful content tailored to your potential client's needs, interests, behaviors, and pain points while bringing out your agency’s area of expertise. You could also highlight past experiences that have steered your agency to where it currently is. Below are various ways you could publish thought leadership content:

• Email newsletters
• Agency blog
• E-books
• Linkedin posts
• Webinars
• White papers
• Podcasts
• Guest posts

6. Create a referral program

An effective way to grow or improve your PR agency while saving time and money is by leveraging referral marketing. Referral marketing entails exploiting existing clientele to attract new ones.

To create a successful referral program, consider offering the existing customers an incentive for each new client they help you acquire. You could automate the referral process by discussing it on your social media channels and website, including the referral program details in your email signature, or launching email campaigns.

If you don’t have the time and money to launch a formal referral program, ask existing happy clients to spread the word on your behalf in your annual or quarterly reports.

7. Invest in the right tools

Managing complex PR campaigns can be technical, especially with a vast clientele. Consider investing in the right PR and social media monitoring tools to help you create, plan, deliver, and measure your efforts and boost productivity. Some tools you could invest in include social media management software, PR publishing tools, and press kit software.

Endnote

Creating a healthy pipeline of new and existing clients is critical to your PR agency’s growth. Be sure to define your niche, optimize your website, sign what you can secure, hire the right team, publish thought leadership content, launch a referral program, and invest in the right tools to grow your PR firm and achieve higher success.