How to find the right Digital PR agency for your business.
The digital PR agency landscape is saturated. It’s full of specialist digital PR agencies, SEO agencies offering digital PR services, and even traditional public relations agencies trying their hand at digital PR, so how do you know which agency is the right partner for you?
With most agencies now offering a minimum of 6 month contracts, it’s more important than ever to do your due diligence and find a digital PR agency that truly aligns with what you’re hoping to achieve, from enhanced organic performance, to increased digital brand visibility.
To help key stakeholders navigate this decision, we’ve carefully curated 6 key questions for you to consider when hiring an agency to carry out digital PR services.
Do they understand the link between digital PR and SEO?
With the rise in traditional public relations agencies advertising digital PR services, without experienced specialists in the team, you need to be sure that the agency you’re hiring thoroughly understands the why behind digital PR. They may be able to tell you that a link is great for Google rankings, but can they answer questions like:
What are the differences between various types of links?
How do you value one link type versus another in terms of SEO benefit?
How do you measure digital PR success in regards to organic performance?
If they’re tripping over their words to answer these questions, it’s likely that they’re not clued up enough on the intricacies of digital PR for SEO.
Do their digital PR case studies show an impact on organic performance?
The metrics a digital PR agency uses to measure their performance in case studies is an excellent indicator of whether they know their stuff. For example, if they’re only using metrics like social shares and monthly coverage views, this is likely to be traditional PR agency offering online PR services, not a digital PR strategy.
As another example, some agencies may only display ‘number of links’ and DA or DR metrics to measure success in their case studies. These tend to be delivery focused agencies that prioritise building a certain number of links as opposed to assessing the wider impact and providing a clear strategy to secure organic results. This is fine if you’re very clued up on SEO and are happy to provide the information to the agency on your organic performance goals, but if you’re looking for an agency to lead on the strategy, then this might not be the best option for you.
A sign of a strong strategy-led digital PR agency is one that includes metrics like keyword ranking uplifts, organic traffic, sessions, and revenue in their case studies.
However, agencies that offer all of the previously mentioned metrics give excellent insight into how you’re doing from a brand perspective, link building perspective, and an overall organic performance perspective. If you spot an agency (like us!) who provides all of these details, that’s a great sign.
Are they using outdated link building tactics?
We know that black-hat SEO and link building tactics are extremely frowned upon in the industry, but regardless of this, some agencies still continue to use them. From being involved in link exchanges to outright buying links, this is something to clarify from the get-go. You can ask your agency point of contact directly or do your own external research. You can do this by looking at the links they’ve built for clients listed on their website to see if they look high quality and clean.
If you do discover that they’re using outdated tactics, we recommend steering very clear of them. You never know how these black-hat tactics could damage your website in the long run.
Do they utilise traditional public relations tactics?
On a more positive note, an agency that utilises a combination of white-hat digital PR tactics and traditional public relations tactics will put you in the best position to build consistent high-quality links.
The traditional public relations tactics we’re referring to include things like personalising pitches to specific journalists, ensuring journalist relationship building is a key part of the strategy, and the ability to use product PR, thought leadership, founder profiling, and business outreach related tactics. This enables you to receive a 2-for-1 service, as you’re building high quality backlinks whilst raising the awareness of your brand in the media.
Is their digital PR strategy informed by competitor insights?
If a digital PR agency is pitching a proposed strategy to you and there’s no mention of your competitors in sight, that’s a huge red-flag. Whilst you’re not entitled to a full strategy at pitch stage, it would be highly unusual for any agency to join a competitive pitching process and present a strategy proposal without at least a top-level competitor analysis.
If this isn’t something that’s provided, asking them questions about what competitors they’ve researched to develop the proposal will help give you insight into whether they’ve considered competitors at all, or whether this is simply something they look into once contracts are signed rather than at pitch stage.
What will your account team look like?
It’s well known in agency-land that so many pitches and discovery calls are made up of the most senior members of the team, usually 1-2 Heads of Department, an experienced sales person, and/or the founder or a C-suite member in the business. Post-pitch, after entrusting your time and money into these stakeholders, you could be provided with a team of digital PRs with less than 3 years experience.
Unfortunately, this is extremely common practice, so it’s crucial to ask what members of the team will be leading your strategy and your main points of contact. If you’re unhappy with the level of seniority these team members have, you can request involvement from a member of the senior team or choose another agency that ensures there’s always an experienced and trusted leader working on your account.
For example, at Unearth PR, our PR Director will be your main point of contact and strategy lead, with more junior members of the team working behind the scenes. This ensures that you’re getting the strongest digital PR strategy and client service possible, whilst less experienced members of the team still have an opportunity to learn and grow with the support of our PR Director.
Finding the right digital PR agency partner is a tough job, but with the help of these qualifying questions, you’ll be on your way to making a strong, informed decision.
Looking for a digital PR agency that ticks all the boxes? Get in touch via our contact form to book a no-obligation discovery call with our PR Director.