I recently wrote on the best Brighton digital marketing agencies, well now I want to cover the best PR companies available in this city.
Bourlet Consultancy
I actually run a PR agency myself, running under Bourlet Consultancy LTD (don’t look for a website, I don’t need another one to add after Takeitoffline, Spaghettitraveller, Drinkspal, Suityourlook and CBDsloth). Featured in over 400 newspapers and magazines in 2018, I’ve managed to get brands featured in the likes of the BBC, Metro, the Guardian, Daily Mail, Unilad, Ladbible, Virgin, Mashable, the Sun, Forbes, Daily Star, Telegraph, Hello Magazine, OK Magazine, Marie Claire, Stylist, Female First, Good House Keeping, Glamour and Prima to name a few. I’ve also done appearances a TV appearance on the BBC news, as well as radio appearances on Talk Radio, BBC Cambridge and BBC Oxford. Being a freelancer, I deliver top quality results but at a cheaper price than an agency. I can be reached on [email protected] for services including PR, SEO, Influencer Marketing and Social Media.
Midnight Communications
The award winning brand is based close to the station, on Foundry street. Their campaigns have been well received at the CIPR PRide awards each year. Beyond just PR, they also offer video production, social media, content writing and media training. I think the media training is interesting, as this can put an in-house team in a strong position to handle dealing with journalists internally.
Man Bites Dog
The founder Claire Mason certainly has an entrepreneurial mindset, considering her background. She started her first business as a teenager, released a book at 25 and then launched the PR brand at 30, not bad! With clients including Hogan Lovells, Korn Ferry and White & Case, Man Bites Dog is another who is a regular competitor for the CIPR PRide awards.
Bullet PR
Started by profound PR expert Pandora George, following a glittering career in the industry spanning 25 years. The brand can offer traditional PR services, as well as influencer marketing, social media management and content creation.
Fugu PR
I guess I should mention, this one is Hove actually. Based in the Platf9rm offices, the brand believes strongly in social responsibility and working with the community. Some of their clients have included Dr Martens, Crunch Accounting, Meaning Conference, BSI and South East Dance.
What To Ask The PR Brands
Who ever you pick, there are things you have to be wary off which I have also experienced by working in-house and utilising a PR agency. For example, many PR brands now have a form of metric, to hold themselves accountable for results. However, while this sounds like a positive thing to ensure you get ROI, the metrics are often quite bizarre. For example, they could give top scores to a local paper which has given no link and you’re already reguarly featuring in. As I’m sure you can imagine, this shouldn’t be getting the same score as a link based on your product in the Daily Mail. So I’d recommend enquiring how they evaluate their results and what they expect to get.
You should also enquire who will be your account manager and whether you are able to change if you wish to. This way, they can state who should be your account manager and you can research into the brand to see the best staff members or ones with the strongest reputation (you might want to do this before you meet them). The simple fact is, whether you’re working with an agency for SEO, PR, Social Media or PPC, you’re only as good as your account manager. This is your money, so don’t be nervous about offending someone, it’s the results that are most important.
My final tip is to stay on top of them. I don’t mean regular calls or meetings, as this can be wasted budgeted time that they could be spending contacting journalists. But you want to ensure they’re not getting slack. Inevitably, all agencies will tend to have more work than their account managers can handle and they will naturally either focus on the biggest client or the one they enjoy the most. If you’re spending less than the other brands, you will undoubtedly be treated accordingly, so make sure they’re being fair and giving you ROI.
