One of the more frequent concerns we hear from potential clients is how to balance having an external agency and an in-house employee, such as a communications coordinator. Candidly, we can see the obvious implications of this: you’re paying an employee and now you’re going to look for an external firm to bring into the mix? This is a rational concern, but let’s review where the two assets combine to put a wealth of resources at an employer’s disposal.
The in-house communications staff wears multiple hats: If you’re a marketing or communications director, it’s inevitable that you will be pulled in multiple directions. Your communications associate / coordinator will be asked to help with any number of tasks, from building proposals to managing social media to attending company events (inside and outside the office.) Therefore, when it comes to managing media relationships and creating PR opportunities, you’re suddenly short-handed - and the budget doesn’t allow for hiring another full-time staffer.
Using internal/external teams to fill workstream gaps: PR and positive brand exposure are on your list of to-do’s for the year, but your number two needs some ongoing training and support to grow. A seasoned PR professional is, by design, able to understand your brand and its marketing priorities without a ton of hand-holding. However, this individual(s) wouldn’t be able to craft a proposal without a lot of information sharing and exposure to your company’s leadership team. An in-house coordinator can absorb information via osmosis to build proposals and other collateral; an outside B2B PR agency can pitch your messaging to local and national media without ongoing supervision and mentorship.
A PR plan requires expert support: A former manager once said, “I can teach a writer how to code; I can’t teach a coder how to write.” This same rule applies to public relations activities. We remain bullish that it will be very difficult to ever outsource PR to an AI tool because when done well, it simply requires too much creativity and original thought. If you need someone to just spit out generic press releases, sure - AI can do that easily. But engaging a writer or editor from the New York Times or the South Florida Business Journal requires someone who can write and think at a level that is hard to fake with entry-level talent or a machine-generated message.

All said, there is no reason to fear having in-house support and an external agency; if anything, it adds a significant amount of value without incurring the expense and liability of recruiting additional full-time support that may either not be needed or could be a mismatch with your workplace culture. If you’d like to speak with Pedigree PR about how can fill your B2B public relations gaps, contact us today.
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