Best 15+ Public Relations Agencies in Halifax

Every company that wants to reach its potential customers needs to introduce itself to people and establish healthy relations with the public. For this, the right thing to do is to work with a PR agency that is specialized in its business. But choosing the right PR agency is not an easy task. People or institutions that want to cooperate with the right PR agency should consider the following items, which will have very beneficial results for their choice.

 If you have friends or colleagues who have worked with PR agencies before, you can ask them for advice and benefit from their experience.

Decide how much money you want to spend on the PR job and how you want to spend it. Before you start looking for PR agencies, make decisions such as working on a flat wage or performance-based pay basis.

Decide on the size of the PR agency you will be working with. Although big PR agencies may be more attractive to you, remember that they may force you financially and make your choice accordingly. Smaller PR agencies don't have to strain on the budget, and they may be hungrier for advancement in the industry.

If you have an idea about what kind of PR agency you will work with, find a website where you can list the PR agencies that are suitable for you and list the potential companies you can work with.

After creating this list, contact PR agencies and get information on how they can find solutions to your needs. In which media channels can they be successfully featured? Will they be able to help you with events, reactions, social media, and content? Look for answers to these questions. Ask which companies they have worked with before and what services they offer them. See if they are excited to collaborate with you. If they're not interested in what you're trying to achieve, the partnership probably won't work, but if they show your passion for your work, it could be a good partnership for you.

Social Media Manager: Responsibilities of social media managers; promoting the brand, interacting with audiences across various social media channels, as well as coordinating and developing unique brand voices for each channel. Their day-to-day duties may include creating a social media content calendar aligned with the overall PR strategy, engaging with audiences across all channels through brand-voiced comments and posts, and monitoring various data points to track the success of specific campaigns and strategies.

Publicist: This is the position that works with the client and works with the client to develop a unique PR strategy. They then use this strategy to find specific campaigns, events, and outreach that will most effectively execute this strategy. The most challenging part of their job is undoubtedly managing crises. When there is negative press about a client, the PR professional has to quickly find the best way for the client's brand to recover.

Copywriter: Copywriters in PR agencies execute promotional strategies by writing press releases, speeches, blog posts, social media posts, and other materials. They must be versatile enough to write in a variety of brand voices and adapt that voice to suit a variety of campaigns or PR content.

PR Specialist: PR specialists are an essential part of PR agencies, whose main responsibility is to maintain good relationships with journalists and other media contacts who can help them produce press releases, appear on TV, broadcast speeches, and other promotional media strategies.

Spokesperson: Spokespersons, whose responsibility it is to act as the face of the brand by representing the company in public, in speeches, and on TV, often work in-house for the company. They must also have the strength to respond to criticism and bear the brunt of negative press when crises occur.

If you want to work in the field of public relations, here are the items that will help you start your career.

A college degree doesn't matter much to work in PR agencies, but most job postings will ask for a bachelor's degree. Most people who work in PR agencies develop a strong grasp of language, style, and both oral and written communication skills by earning a bachelor's degree in fields similar to journalism and communications.

As in most areas, one of the most critical roles in the PR industry is the connections you have. Because the nature of the job is to engage with audiences and manage their brand identity and reputation, PR firms look for people who are already on social media and are good at networking. Being active on social media and participating in industry-related pieces of training, events, and conferences, meeting people in the industry, and developing your network will be very logical steps for those who want to get a job in PR agencies.

When you're ready to apply for a job at PR agency, make sure your resume showcases your social and creative skills. Use your cover letter to showcase not only your achievements and experience but also your personality. When creating your resume, you can pretend you're writing a press release or blog post that aims to promote your brand in a positive way.

A reputable PR agency cannot guarantee that your brand will be featured by media outlets. Because this is a situation that is beyond the control of the PR agency. Even a PR agency with the strongest media connections cannot guarantee that the brands it works with will be featured in the media because it ultimately depends on the editorial team. Since meddling in the business of journalists and broadcasters will damage the relations of PR agencies with the media, agencies often prefer not to resort to this path and do not allow an interview, program, etc. to be filmed. It is left to the media organization to decide whether it will be published or not.

While PR is part of marketing, PR agencies are not responsible for sales. The responsibility of PR agencies is to increase brand awareness and highlight their clients as experts in the industry. Therefore, although PR agencies can convey to their customers how many readers or listeners are for a broadcast or podcast through their KPIs (key performance indicators), they cannot inform their customers about how many sales are made as a result of these efforts.

To help you choose the right PR agency for your business, you can follow these steps:

• Before researching potential PR agencies that fit your needs, list your key goals and expectations that you want the agency to help you achieve. Detail specific goals such as the markets you want to reach, the key messages you want to convey, and the number of media engagements that need to be achieved. When you present these goals to the PR agency during your interviews, they will explain how they will help you.

• List companies you have the potential to work with through a website where you can view the PR agencies available to you, such as the PR Agency Network.

• Ask to speak with past and current customers when you meet with the companies you have listed and learn more about the services they offer. This allows you to understand their strengths and weaknesses and helps you learn firsthand how well they work with other clients.

• After doing research and comparing the prices of different companies, decide which one is the best fit for your budget. If you find that an agency you like is way out of your price range, see if there's room in your budget to adjust their prices. In case there are some companies that you have a hard time choosing between, choose the one that fits your budget while continuing to provide quality service.

PR agencies help their clients in many ways and provide expert service. These are as listed below.

Reputation management: One of the main services offered by PR agencies, this tactic may include email newsletters, social media management, responding to comments and engaging with followers.

Crisis Management: Most of today's companies may encounter some corporate crises at certain times. Therefore, asking a PR agency to prepare a crisis communication plan has become very common in collaboration with PR agencies.

Media Relations: The media is undoubtedly the best way for companies to build their reputation and make their name heard. PR agencies are firms that specialize in properly managing the relationship between media and companies. Tactics that PR agencies employ include writing offers to journalists and influencers to get more coverage in industry news and media.

Social Media: Social media platforms are the most important place where companies can communicate with their target audiences and play a critical role in brand reputation management. Expert PR agencies also offer the best service to companies in the correct use of social media.

Speech Writing: PR agencies are the best place to get help when companies need to speak at press conferences and events. All speeches made on behalf of the company should represent your brand as a whole. If anyone from your company needs to give a speech, you may want to consider hiring a PR agency to take over the strategic messaging.

Press Releases: PR agencies also take an active role in press releases that companies need to write to announce their new products, launches, campaigns or movements. A hashtag to launch on social media about a new product etc. PR agencies can share with you the most useful ideas for the movement.

PR agencies with a wide range of services; strategically handle many communication processes such as reputation management, perception management, media relations, and crisis communication. The main purpose of PR agencies, which undertake the brand awareness and reputation management of the people and companies they work with, is to support these people in drawing a reliable image in the sector. It tries to prevent material and moral losses, thanks to the crisis communication plans that it carries out in advance or instantly against possible crises. It strengthens the foundations of the relationship with the target audience and the press, and increases brand awareness and brand loyalty, with many activities such as press release distribution, special news and interview studies, and TV program guests. PR agencies do all of these items in a professional and systematic way. PR agencies can also align PR and marketing goals, increasing your reputation as well as driving more sales.

In short, PR agencies help the people and companies they collaborate with to be more visible in the sector and make their voices heard by their target audience, thanks to their strong media relations.

The amount required to set up a PR agency and provide public relations support to individuals and businesses will of course vary depending on the type of PR agency, the services the agency intends to offer, and the location where the agency will be established. The initial cost of a PR agency considers equipment and materials expenses, fees to start a business, software expenses, office space expenses, employee and freelancer expenses, website costs, and advertising and marketing costs. It ranges from $20,000 to $50,000.

The top five PR agencies in the world are as follows:

• Edelman

Edelman, the world's largest PR firm with more than 6,000 employees and a revenue of $984.9 million in 2021, is an American PR and marketing consulting firm founded in 1952 by Daniel Edelman. It is currently managed by Daniel Edelman's son, Richard Edelman.

• Weber Shandwick

Weber Shandwick is an American PR firm founded in 2001 by the merger of Weber Group, Shandwick International and BSMG. In 2021, it took the second place in the ranking of the world's largest PR agencies with a revenue of 860 million dollars.

• BCW (Burson Cohn & Wolfe)

Burson Cohn & Wolfe, which put $772 million into its coffers last year, is a New York-based multinational PR and communications firm. In February 2018, parent WPP Group PLC announced that it had merged its subsidiaries, Cohn & Wolfe, with Burson-Marsteller. The combined agency is now known as Burson Cohn & Wolfe.

• Fleishman Hillard

Fleishman Hillard St. Louis, Missouri is a PR and marketing agency. The company, which generated $680 million in revenue in 2021, was founded in 1946 by Alfred Fleishman and Robert E. Hillard. It is currently headquartered in Missouri, USA.

• Ketchum

Ketchum; is a global public relations firm that provides marketing, branding and corporate communications services in the corporate, healthcare, food & beverage and technology industries. Ketchum, which is on the list of the five largest PR agencies in the world with its revenue of $ 550 million in 2021, was founded by George Ketchum in 1923 as a Pittsburgh-based advertising company. Its headquarters are now located in New York.

The tactics used by public relations departments in many parts of the world have traditionally been limited to media relations and event planning, and social media has become more popular lately. The aim is to win potential customers and try to protect the public image of the company.

Halifax has some different aspects from other places. Here, public relations are not limited to just providing visibility and helping to market products. It also includes strategies for building and improving a company's reputation.

Where PR agency staff are mostly confined to helping market products, PR professionals have a significantly lower status than Halifax, which has a broader role that includes corporate reputation strategy and management.

The top public relations position is usually an executive position that reports directly to the CEO Halifax.