This interview roundup is made up of PR entrepreneurs. We asked a number of PR media entrepreneurs to share a few things they wish they knew before starting their PR business.
Below are their answers.
Before starting a PR business, I wish I knew…
Chandra Gore
Before starting my PR business I wish I knew that I had already possessed the majority of the skills and knowledge to do so. I was hesitant when expanding to adding public relations to my consulting firm but the addition was almost seamless. I had already had the components of strategic communications to my service offerings and was under the impression that I needed more. If I had known I had everything I would have started earlier. Now my firm is thriving and growing daily.
PR Business: Chandra Gore Consulting
Alexander Vee
… how I could even get myself featured in the local newspaper when I was in high school! Done correctly, publication online on ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX & The CW is the most powerful way to influence organic attention for your company, especially on Google & Bing. Agency Intelligence is not a traditional “PR firm.” We don’t want to call ourselves one. We’ve simply reverse-engineered how Disney, Hulu & Warner get revenue & attention with their newsworthiness, and developed a strategy that harnesses major media for similar results with small businesses.
PR Business: Agency Intelligence
Kimberly Dettwiller Burton
…that I would need to be willing and able to work 24/7/365 and that vacations would never be fully off the grid. In this digital and mobile world, I am never fully off duty. I am not complaining because I do enjoy the ability to be flexible even though I must always be available. Like the time I took an urgent call from a client and wrote a press release and serviced it from my iphone all from a dressing room while on vacation in Hawaii. My client never knew and I felt a rock star for helping them in a time of need!
PR Business: Team Strategies, LLC
Jeremy Ryan Slate
Before I started my business I wish I knew the learning curve for my public. Most consumers have never really understood how PR works.. Digital marketing has made this even more difficult, as every business owner has wanted each PR action they take to be a marketing action. In hindsight, what we have focused on is driving home content that takes responsibility for educating the public so that they understand and gain the most benefit from their PR program. The focus on education not only changes client experience and expectations but actually leads to better client results.
PR Business: Command Your Brand
Katie Stevens
It’s ok to relinquish control
Early on in my career, I equated my involvement in client work as a key marker of my importance. Over time, as the business has grown up, we’ve handed the reigns over to our very capable team. It’s meant more creativity and fresh ideas, better retention and most importantly, more opportunity for our team to grow and take on new challenges. It wasn’t until we started working on the business instead of in the business that our growth started to take off.
PR Business: Talk Shop Media
Jessica DelVirginia
Before starting my PR business, I wish I knew how important it is to build your team with the best people you can find. I originally started my business as a side hustle, but as it quickly grew, I realized that I needed a more hands-on accountant than the first one I was able to find who would work for a low rate. I found one that I am able to go to for straightforward advice, and that I trust implicitly. Invest in your business, your team, and yourself. It’ll pay dividends down the road.
PR Business: Insite Strategy
Sara Morgan
Before starting my PR business, I wish I knew how important it is to closely vet the people we bring on before signing on the dotted line. Creating a successful PR engagement is not just about pitching a new product or restaurant opening … there needs to be an authentic story behind the brand and that authenticity starts with the team. The best PR engagements are true partnerships in which both sides are inspiring creativity and working in tandem (many times under tight deadlines) so you really need to make sure you vibe well and have the same strategic vision for what success looks like. There needs to be a base level of trust between publicist and client and it may take time to build but when you do, it’s pure gold.
PR Business: Eleven Eleven PR
Jason Brown
Before starting my PR business, I wish I knew … What a salesforce I had out there in my community already. I started my agency in 2008 in one of Michigan’s worst economies in its history and now 12 years later, I’m still in business. And any entrepreneur should rely on their rolodex/network to find new clients and not be afraid to ask for an introduction. Today, 95% or more of my business is referral-based and I believe will always be the main driver of our new business efforts.
PR Business: PublicCity PR
Ericka Saurit
Before starting my PR business, I wish I knew that saying no can be more powerful in your business than saying yes. Saying no to new clients – or to projects you only marginally want to work on but feel like you should because of the money – will only get in the way of doing the quality of work (or marketing and networking) it takes to attract the types of clients who will elevate and propel your business forward. Quality trumps quantity all day long.
PR Business: Saurit Creative
Paige Arnof-Fenn
Before starting my PR business, I wish I knew that the people you start with are not always the ones who grow with you. The hardest lesson I learned when I started my company is not getting rid of weak people earlier than I did in the first few years of my business. I spent more time managing them than finding new customers. Out of loyalty to them I let them hang around much longer than they should have. They became more insecure/threatened as we grew which was not productive for the team. As soon as I let them go the culture got stronger and the bar higher. “A” team people like to be surrounded by other stars so hire slowly and fire quickly.
PR Business: Mavens & Moguls
Eric Yaverbaum
Before starting my PR business I wish I knew that I would have good days and bad days but they don’t determine your intrinsic value. You can’t coast off the successes of yesterday but you can’t beat yourself up for the failures of today. Ride the highs and lows but don’t let them define you.
PR Business: Ericho Communications
Courtney Sandora
Before starting my PR business, I wish I knew the importance of setting client expectations. My first piece of advice is to clearly let people know what PR is and what it isn’t. It isn’t advertising and because of that you do lose some “control” over the output. Many people think you can dictate to a reporter what to write or ask a reporter to review a piece before it goes live. Clients also don’t always understand timing like long lead deadlines for magazines. Setting those expectations and educating clients on how the media works is key to having a good healthy relationship.
PR Business: Go Social
Alexandra Lasky
Before starting my PR business, I wish I knew more information about human resources protocols for my specific state, business (LLC) protocols for my state, accounting programs like quickbooks, and bookkeeping programs. All of this information and skill would have been helpful to me to know ahead of time instead of learning as I went. I am always up for a challenge, and very grateful for the experience, and feel as if I have basically earned a masters in finance/business degree throughout the process, but advanced knowledge is always helpful! I would recommend new business owners allocate time to educate themselves on all elements of business ownership to prepare them for what is to come. Luckily I had great people to teach me and a knowledgeable business partner to guide me on many of these elements, but it also doubles the workload when you have an agency to run simultaneously.
PR Business: The Influence
Bill Corbett, Jr.
That each day would be so different, interesting, exciting and stressful all at the same time. What I thought would be a 9 to 5 job turns out to be a 24/7/365 career with crazy hours many of which, thankfully are spent, focused on helping businesses grow and working with visionary and successful entrepreneurs.
PR Business: CorbettPR
Robert Smith
I wish I knew the other aspects of running a business besides just knowing public relations and how to write press releases. For over 20 years my Agency has served me well but there was a big learning curve when it came to management, hiring, expanding, client fulfillment, etc.
All in all it’s been a great journey including several awards business awards.
PR Business: Robert Smith Communications
Deidre Gaskin
Before starting a PR business, I wish I knew it’s ok to turn down business. When I opened my firm I was just eager to represent any and everyone because I love helping people build their brands and was excited to just build my portfolio. But over the years I had to understand what or who works for me and what my brand represents and clients that mirror that. In other words, not all money is good money. Now I’m very selective in my clientele and I make sure I work with clients who appreciate the services, who can afford the services and who are in the industries I’m passionate about including sports, business and beauty.
PR Business: MayLee Media
Zurlia Servellon
I wish I knew that although I possess all the skills required to do everything, it is a better idea to focus on certain tasks and outsource the rest. Perfectionism is hidden insecurity and being a perfectionist kept me stuck for a long time. I didn’t trust that I could train people to do the things that I didn’t excel at. At first, I was a marketer, lead generator, content creator, closer, writer, pitcher, and everything else in between. I experienced burnout until I understood that in order to run a successful business, I had to be willing to receive help. PR professionals are gifted creative minds and it is better to only focus on the things that will make our businesses better. Start training and empowering individuals who embrace your mission and vision, so they can do the rest. Developing talent is what I enjoy doing the most, and ever since I started focusing on that, my business has been thriving.
PR Business: Zurlia Media Group
Andrea Pass
Before starting a PR Business, I wish I knew…
The value of setting expectations and importance of educating. While most clients dream of a feature story in the “New York Times” or on the “Today” show, those placements can be realistic for some, but not for all. Public Relations professionals who don’t take the time to consistently speak with clients and set true, attainable goals end up with only short-term relationships and minimal press coverage. I quickly learned that an open line of communications coupled with teaching about how public relations works translates to success and long-term client relationships. I’m proud that my PR outreach results in targeted and consistent press coverage to help grow businesses and increase brand awareness.
PR Business: Andrea Pass Public Relations
Roundup: 11 Entrepreneurs Discussing their Top Business Mistakes
