This is one of those “how to” questions that come from my clients. This one came from Eekhof Beratung.

Eekhof Beratung is a building consultancy firm specialized in exclusive solutions. Eekhof, which is a small company, (two employees) has made the right choice and now they have a better web presence (recently released with a Pamil Visions W3C design), good web copy (author Mihaela Lica, German translation by Nicole Zieseniss, English proofreading Tina Stephen) and an ongoing online PR campaign.

The company is already known in Rheinland-Palatinate (Germany) and Luxembourg, but they aim a broader clientele and Pamil Visions has three months to achieve a 20% increase in inquiries. Plenty of time.

Now back to the question: how to choose a PR firm (you could also replace this with “why choose Pamil Visions?” - I really don’t mind).

Don’t start with the classic “do I need a PR firm?”. Yes, you do. If you are serious about your business, you need focused public relations campaigns and because the modern business happens online, you need a company or a professional able to run lucrative PR campaigns on the Internet.

Don’t even think about “I cannot afford a PR campaign or to hire a PR expert”. You cannot afford not to! If you have public relations experience, you will be able to do it on your own. If you don’t…

A professional PR campaign doesn’t need to be the most expensive to be lucrative. It needs to be appropriate for your business. While the idea that the more you pay, the more you get is quite accurate, you have to know that even campaigns run on lower budgets can get the right exposure. Remember what Bill Gates once said: “If I was down to my last dollar, I’d spend it on public relations.”

So if you run a small firm try to employ a small-sized PR business.

The advantages are obvious: smaller companies are more flexible and have usually lower rates because they do not need to pay many employees or to cover other inherent costs.

When a PR company is small it doesn’t mean that its services are poor. Would you describe your own business as mediocre just because of its size? No, you wouldn’t!

Experienced PR professionals who decide to start a freelance career often found small PR firms. Why would a professional PR leave a powerful company? I don’t know… (why did I leave the Ministry of Defense?)

For various reasons: some get bored and want to do something new, others get married and need to relocate… it really doesn’t matter. What matters is that you choose carefully. You need to be able to trust the PR experts you employ. After all they are going to have access to confidential materials.

So when it comes to how to choose a PR firm… my advice would be: trust your instinct and choose the PR firm that inspires credibility and reliability. I almost forgot: the PR profession is not reduced to writing and submitting press releases!