Have you found yourself asking ‘how much should an Essex PR agency charge’? Choosing the right team to work with can be daunting. Not only do you need to ensure their values align with your organisation, but you also need to ensure you’re paying a fair price for their services. To help you on your way, in this blog post, we discuss how much PR services should cost and how to choose the right agency…
What Is a PR Agency?
A PR agency in its most traditional form is a team of people who are responsible for getting their clients featured within the media. This is usually within publications, such as newspapers and magazines. It can also encompass TV interviews, appearances on podcasts, and mentions on the radio too. Your Essex PR agency is responsible for bridging the gap between a business and their consumers, improving your reputation along the way.
How Much Should an Essex PR Agency Charge?
How much a PR agency charges depends on the scale of the campaign you require. Agencies closer to London will also likely charge more than those here in Essex, so staying local is usually the preferred option.
When you work with VerriBerri, we do not charge any additional fees other than our monthly retainer. This is used to cover our teams time, for ideology, outreach and content creation. As standard we don’t pay publications for the exposure, unless the client is specifically looking for advertorial coverage.
We pride ourselves on our bespoke, tailormade packages. With this in mind, it’s always best to speak to a member of our team for a quote. They will assess your needs, goals and the budget you have available, and will then produce a bespoke proposal for you to consider.
Can I Do PR Without an Agency?
Whilst it is possible for businesses to carry out PR alone, an agency is usually more cost effective. When you work with a team of communications specialists, like the ones here at VerriBerri, we can hit the ground running with your campaign. We have worked with journalists for over 15 years and in this time, have built solid relationships and connections. As such, we know exactly who to approach on behalf of our clients, and how to approach them. We also have a higher success rate in getting stories published.
When approaching a publication directly, as a business, you’re likely going to be met with an outlet asking for payment in return for an advertorial feature (ads). How we work differently, however, is that we seek organic, editorial features on behalf of the brands we work with. Not only is this proven to be more successful in converting, but it also means people can gain a valuable insight into your business.
In answer to your question, yes, you can do PR without an agency. But if we’re being honest, working with a team like ours is more efficient and cost effective in the long run. Plus, we guarantee our results!
What Are the Benefits of PR?
Like all marketing, PR has a plethora of benefits and is something all brands should be investing in. Below, we break down some of the main pros of being featured within the press…
Credibility
Being featured in the press is always a great way to showcase your organisations credibility. At the end of the day, publications won’t share stories about your brand if they don’t deem you to be trustworthy and dependable. As such, this acts as a mark of reliability and will encourage more customers to support your brand.
Brand Awareness
When you work with VerriBerri, we tend to only target large industry or mainstream publications on behalf of our clients. With this in mind, the articles we write are usually seen by a vast and diverse audience. In investing in PR and working with a team like ours, you can ensure your brand awareness reaches an all-time high. We’ll help you become a trusted household name within your industry.
To read some of our case studies, just click here.
Reputation
Having articles published in the press allows you to share more of an insight into your companies’ values and culture. You become more than just a name when this happens, allowing you to build a stronger relationship with your customers. With more and more people becoming conscious of the brands they support, having a strong reputation is crucial.
A robust reputation is also vital if you want to generate word of mouth and repeat purchase. Investing your time into reputation management will lay good foundations for a long and successful future.
Backlinks
Appearing in digital publications will often produce a backlink. This is something the team here at VerriBerri consistently push for when liaising with journalists. A back link is where a website (in this case the news outlet) includes your URL within their content. By linking back to your site, providing the source is credible, this will boost your credibility and SEO value.
Does PR Produce Quick Results?
In general, PR generates greater brand awareness and credibility. Whilst implementing this technique will also lead to an uptake sales over time, this isn’t always its primary focus. Regardless, it proves to be a valuable investment time and time again.
The time taken between an article being picked up by the press and the publication date is varied. Some publications work quicker than others, however this isn’t something we have much control over as your PR agency. These outlets have their own schedules in which they will slot your story. As such, PR isn’t always a super quick process and our lead quotas are always done on a quarterly basis as a result. Regardless, when articles are published, they have many benefits as mentioned above.
Choosing the Right Agency
When researching ‘how much should an Essex PR agency charge’ and trying to choose the right agency for you, there are 3 things in particular that you should pay attention to. These are…
Contract Terms
Many agencies will often tie their clients into long contracts, so this is something to keep an eye out for.
Here at VerriBerri, we provide our clients with flexibility by keeping our contract terms much shorter than most agencies. We’re also extremely confident in our team’s ability to deliver strong and consistent results, with a plethora of long-term clients on our books.
Values
Choosing a team whose values align with your organisation is crucial. In order for your agency to do a good job, they really need to understand and align with your brand and the messages you’re trying to push. Without this, there is a lack of synergy.
Communication
When working with an external team on any project, communication is the key driving force behind success. With this in mind, be on the lookout for an agency’s communication skills when in the initial first few stages of enquiring. You should also ask how they plan to manage communication throughout the partnership too. Will there be regular calls, catch-ups, and reports?
Who Are VerriBerri?
VerriBerri is a multi-award-winning communications agency based in Maldon, Essex. Situated on the river blackwater, all of our team work in-house for optimum collaboration. We’re a young, passionate, and creative team who go above and beyond to exceed the targets set for us.
The team currently stands at 10 members of staff, with departments covering social media management, PR and communications, search marketing, digital advertising, and graphic design. Click here to meet our team!
How We Work
Still wondering ‘how much should an Essex PR agency charge?’ Getting in touch with our experts is the easiest way to obtain a complimentary, bespoke quote from our team.
After we receive your enquiry, our business development experts will be in touch to schedule a discovery call with you and any other relevant parties. During this informal conversation, we will ask questions about your business to gain a better picture of what you do, your values, and how we can support you in achieving your goals. It also helps if we can have some information prior to our call with you, such as your website URL or a brief description of your company.
Following your call with our team, we will begin working on a bespoke proposal (quote) for you to consider. Within this, we will break down each of the services discussed and where we can, will also include multiple pricing options. If you are satisfied, we can then have a secondary call to discuss any questions you may have.
Next steps are creating and signing a Scope of Work. This is essentially a contract that holds both parties reliable for their responsibilities throughout our partnership. Once signed and your first invoice is paid, we can then schedule an onboarding call with you and the relevant team members from our side.
Who Do You Have Connections With?
Here at VerriBerri, our team have experience in a variety of different sectors. This includes the children’s industry, lifestyle, fashion, data insights, tech, and construction to name a few.
With our plethora of experience comes a long list of contacts. This means that we can get our clients featured in both mainstream and industry specific publications. We also have relationships with a number of local outlets across the UK.
A few examples of some of our connections include:
- Metro
- The Independent
- Cosmopolitan
- GQ
- Women’s and Men’s Health
- Forbes
- The Daily Star
- SME News
- Essex Live
Our team usually aim for digital press, as it provides higher long-term value than print. This being said, if our clients particularly ask for print media, this is something we can look into for them.
Get In Touch
For more information on ‘how much should an Essex PR agency charge’, get in touch with our team today. You can reach us by calling us on 01376 386 850 or by clicking here, where you’ll find our contact form. We can’t wait to hear from you!