Have you ever been advised to hire a PR agency if you want to boost your brand awareness, reputation, or sales with fast results? But how realistic can this be, and what do fast results mean in PR? In this article, we will explore the concept of fast results in PR and how they can vary depending on your business goals and expectations. We will also discuss the factors that can influence the speed and quality of PR results to give you a better understanding of what PR can do for your business. Finally, you will learn how to get the best results from working with a PR agency.
What Do Fast Results Mean in PR?
In simple terms, fast results in PR are defined by positive performance based on selected goals within the agreed-upon contract duration. These business goals vary for different brands; they can be short-term, mid-term, or long-term goals. A fast result for short-term goals might be within the first 30 days of deploying your campaign, for example. In PR, effectiveness and timely delivery count more, not necessarily the speed of results.
How Long Does It Take for Public Relations to Work?
As a professional PR agency, we have worked with many brands to generate profitable results based on selected business goals. We have had clients get results from PR activities within three months to 12 months. Depending on your PR readiness, campaign history, business goals, and industry, this timeline might vary for your business.
For example, a PR campaign built on a short-term goal of creating awareness could start showing results two to three months into execution. In most cases, you can start seeing results in the first month.
Midterm and long-term PR goals should take four to nine months before you start noticing tangible results. However, the proactiveness and expertise of the agency also contribute to the results’ timeline, so it’s best to hire a professional PR team with industry experience and up-to-date tools.
4 Factors That Can Influence the Speed and Quality of PR Results
The speed of PR results will vary depending on internal and external factors. For example, campaigns launched around the time of Queen Elizabeth’s death will have had less public traction based on the importance of that event. Natural occurrences like this can happen anytime and might derail the traction of your PR campaign performance. However, there are certain factors within your control. We highlight them below:
1. Cooperation and Responsiveness
When you hire a PR agency, that’s just the beginning of the process. You cannot expect PR agencies to perform magic when you don’t communicate your goals, share data from past campaigns, or respond to interview requests. A PR agency can only deliver results fast when you provide relevant information to help them understand your business. This will reduce the time spent researching your business, and creating a strategy and other essential assets to aid successful campaign creation.
2. Existing Brand Reputation and Perception
If you were scrolling through social media and saw multiple ads from fashion brands, which would you choose? An entirely unfamiliar ad or one from a brand you recognize? That’s how PR campaign results work, too. If your brand has a good reputation and a loyal customer base, you will have a lesser barrier of entry than a business without these assets.
3. Scope and Complexity of the PR Campaign
The speed and kind of results you get from a PR campaign can depend on several things. For instance, think about how intricate your campaign is—more complex ones might take a bit longer to start seeing results. The tools you need for the campaign also play a part. If they’re unfamiliar to your team or require a lot of training, that might slow things down.
Also, what you’re aiming to achieve with the campaign matters. You might not see an immediate impact if you have big, ambitious, long-term goals. Conversely, if you’re focused on smaller, short-term objectives, you might see results quickly.
Lastly, who you’re trying to reach plays a role too. If you’re targeting a large audience, getting your message across might take longer. However, the payoff could be worth the wait.
For example, a simple PR campaign will take less time to create than one requiring AR / VR technology integration to deliver a message. Is the PR campaign built around a long-term goal? Does it need feature collaborators or third-party tools? These questions can help you determine the scope and complexity of your campaigns for better PR strategy development.
4. PR Agency Clarity of Objectives and KPIs
Sometimes, your PR agency might struggle with understanding the objectives and KPIs for your campaign. This is often the case when you haven’t clearly stated your brand goals. If you don’t have SMART PR goals, you could get poor results or focus on the wrong metrics, which will mean dedicating more time to rework to get quantifiable results.
How to Get the Best Results from Working with a PR Agency
Ideally, a PR agency should deliver good results within an agreed-upon timeline. However, business progress isn’t always linear. Here are some tips to ensure you get the best results when working with a PR agency:
- Provide relevant documents and information about your business
- Set clear PR goals, objectives, and relevant KPIs
- Adopt clear communication and a collaborative approach
- Be responsive and available when needed
- Be authentic, transparent, and honest with the PR agency about business activities
- Treat the agency as a partner and be receptive to their ideas
Are you ready to improve PR results with personalized strategies delivered by professionals? Schedule a call with RPR experts today to get PR solutions tailored to your business needs.