Advertising Agencies Should Invest in PR

There is an old Spanish proverb that translates to “the Cobbler’s children have no shoes” which refers to being an expert in the craft, but not tending to your own needs with your skills. We see this in PR and advertising all the time, including our own business, which we rarely have time to promote. We’ve been a referral-based agency for 14 years – and we get it: first, it’s hard to talk about yourself, and second, who has the time?!

Harmonica is often referred to as “the agency’s agency.” – a secret weapon of sorts. Because we’ve been working with various adtech, marketing and media agencies for well over a decade, we know the landscape, and we can help define your sweet spot, show off your best assets and build your industry credibility and fame, through a variety of tactics. [Fun fact: WPP put us in business over a decade ago as their agency’s agency, and even as our own business expanded into performance and digital, we have maintained a practice for defining adtech and advertising agencies in the industry and helping them scale.

The fundamental truth is this: agencies are extremely busy. You’re either grinding on creative, pitching your next project, or innovating on tech to outpace your competition. Alongside this grind, PR can be the essential missing piece to help position both the business and key stakeholders within the ad companies as leaders in the field, increasing their visibility and authority. For many of our ad world clients, we have become their most effective marketing strategy in attracting new clients and enhancing their reputation in the circles that matter most to their business.

There are dozens of reasons why advertising agencies should invest in PR, but here are five really good ones that will create more ease and flow in your agency.

1. Become Known: By working with a PR agency, advertising agencies can increase their visibility in the public eye, through media coverage and other brand-building strategies. This can help them gain recognition and stand out among other agencies.

2. Build Trust & Cred: By positioning themselves as experts and thought leaders through PR, advertising agencies can establish themselves as credible and knowledgeable authority figures within the industry. This can be particularly helpful in complex fields like adtech, where it is essential to have a deep understanding of data-driven marketing and analytics.

3. Score New Clients: By demonstrating their expertise and track record through PR efforts, advertising agencies can inspire confidence in potential clients, differentiate themselves from competitors, and magnetize the right brands for their business. This can lead to more incoming referrals and an increased pipeline of new business opportunities.

4. Show Your Work!: The best way to show off your agency or your innovation is often through the work itself. Too often, agencies hand off their work to the client, it goes out into the world, but they never get the credit! They miss the very critical step of sharing that work with the media, talking about it – why was it so clever?? Why was it so innovative?? – and then heck, if it’s really great, submit it for awards (of which there are plenty!). We’ve submitted and won countless awards for our ad clients.

5. Attract the Best Talent: PR can be used to attract top talent in the advertising and marketing industries. By demonstrating strong thought-leadership, building a positive reputation, and gaining visibility through media coverage and other brand-building strategies, advertising agencies can create real momentum that helps attract the best and brightest minds in the field, leading to a stronger and more diverse workforce.

Want to see some of the work we’ve done in the ad world? Want to talk more about these strategies and what we can do for your agency? Great, because we do, too! Please contact us anytime at [email protected]