5 questions to ask before you DIY your PR efforts
PR has become a core pillar of business growth. Yet for many brands (especially startups, small businesses, and entrepreneurs with a small budget) the question stands: Do we really need a PR agency, or can we handle reputation and trust building ourselves?
You might be thinking it’s better to do things at the source of your vision. You get to handpick someone you trust to work on it, too.
But effective PR is far more than seeding press releases or pitching to journalists. It’s about trust-building strategy, building and strengthening relationships, timing, and narrative management. These are skills honed through experience and deep, wide media networks.
So, can an in-house PR team get you there, or should you outsource and work with an agency?
Here are some more questions you should ask to help you answer the one above:
1. Do You Have a Clear PR Strategy…or Just a Set of Tactics?
One of the biggest pitfalls of DIY PR is mistaking activity for strategy. Many businesses start with scattered tactics.
Have you ever:
- sent out product announcements,
- wrote blog posts,
- hired low-cost ghost writers, and
- chased viral moments
And ended up with crickets? (Yes, I see you.)
Without an overarching strategy and narrative that ties everything together, you’ll always end up with a mess of siloed messages that don’t make sense and a scrambled social media presence.
In-House PR Teams
In-house teams are great if you already have a cohesive vision and a budget to stick to.
However, in-house teams often lack the bandwidth or experience to maintain the strategic layer needed for a campaign to truly stand out–especially with smaller ones.
What ends up happening are a bunch of campaigns that react to trends (or rehash usual marketing tactics) rather than build toward something authentic and true to your vision. And if your current approach feels reactive rather than intentional, it’s a clear signal that an external perspective could elevate your communications from repetitive to impactful.
A Seasoned Outsourced Agency
Here’s the elephant in the room: a seasoned, outsourced agency might cost more than an in-house team.
But there’s a reason behind that. A seasoned PR agency has the outside perspective and the invested experience to back up their expertise. Rather than jump into a campaign, they begin with strategy before execution. This involves a lot of research.
From there, they help you define your:
- brand’s voice,
- brand positioning, and
- long-term storytelling goals
And these are all embedded in a tailored, integrated communications strategy tied into your goals. This ensures every campaign builds toward a cohesive campaign.
2. Do You Have Media Relationships That Actually Matter?
Media coverage doesn’t come from mass emailing journalists, but from relationships built on trust. Reporters and editors receive hundreds of pitches every day. The difference between getting covered or ignored often hinges on who you know.
In-House PR Teams
In-house PR teams are great if you have a strict set of rules to abide by. But that can come at a cost.
If your in-house team doesn’t already have these connections (or the time to nurture them), it can be difficult to break through the noise.
A Seasoned Outsourced Agency
Agencies, on the other hand, can fast-track access to the right outlets and leverage networks that may take years for internal teams to build.
Seasoned PR agencies bring something valuable: vast, established relationships. They know which journalists cover your industry, how they like to be pitched to, and what stories capture their attention.
3. Can You Stay Consistently Visible?
PR success is about consistent visibility over time. That means regular story pitching, thought leadership development, content creation, and timely media engagement.
In-House PR Teams
Many companies start strong with DIY PR, only to lose momentum not long after. Without a dedicated team focused solely on media relations, opportunities slip by unnoticed.
A Seasoned Outsourced Agency
Agencies, on the other hand, thrive on rhythm. They maintain a content cadence that aligns with media calendars, industry trends, and campaign goals. They don’t just react, they anticipate.
If your PR efforts come in fits and starts, partnering with an agency ensures your brand remains consistently in the conversation. All while your in-house team can focus on other marketing efforts.
4. Are You Equipped to Handle a PR Crisis?
Every brand, no matter how careful, faces reputation risks: negative reviews, product issues, data breaches, or social media backlash. How you respond in those moments determines whether your credibility survives intact.
In-House Teams
Both DIY PR and in-house teams can fall short when a crisis hits. They can mimic the voice you want, sure. But without trained crisis communicators or an established response plan, it’s easy to make reactive decisions that make things worse.
A Seasoned Outsourced Agency
A seasoned agency specializes in crisis management. They’ve handled countless scenarios and can guide you through messaging, timing, and tone—helping your brand navigate tough moments with professionalism and empathy.
5. Do You Have the Right Tools and Analytics?
Again, research.
PR isn’t guesswork. It’s data-driven. Success depends on using the right platforms to measure impact. This can be measured through:
- media monitoring
- sentiment analysis
- customer mapping
- coverage tracking
- influencer mapping
And so many other ways!
In-House Teams
For an in-house team, your tool subscriptions can be cost-prohibitive. Meaning that if you’re relying on basic Google Alerts or manual tracking, your insights are likely limited. It’s not your fault, but it comes with certain organizational structures.
A Seasoned Outsourced Agency
PR agencies, on the other hand, heavily invest in research tools–providing clients with detailed analytics on reach, share of voice, and message resonance. Outsourcing to an agency gives you access to enterprise-level analytics you can’t access in-house.
You also have access to data that helps refine your messaging and prove ROI for future campaigns.
No Hate to In-House
To be clear, in-house PR isn’t without merit. For large corporations or brands with established media muscle, internal teams can maintain control, ensure brand consistency, and work closely with leadership.
But even these teams often partner with agencies for specialized projects, product launches, or reputation management. Even these teams know the value of an established media network and an understanding of the local PR landscape that agencies bring. This actually helps them focus better on their work on the brand’s side of things!
When Outsourcing Makes the Most Sense
When you’re deeply embedded in your own brand, it’s easy to lose perspective. You may think your story is newsworthy, but journalists might not.
And internal teams sometimes struggle to separate marketing hype from genuine PR value.
An external agency brings fresh eyes and editorial objectivity. If your pitches keep getting ignored, this outside-in perspective can help bridge the gap between what you want to say and what the press wants to cover.
A great agency becomes more than a vendor. They’re a partner in storytelling, reputation, and long-term growth. They bring connections, creativity, and crisis-ready confidence that DIY efforts rarely match.
Want to partner with a seasoned PR agency? NGP IMC has worked with countless brands, across multiple industries. Contact NGP here.
Kriztin Cruz is a recruitment and digital marketing professional, freelance writer, hobbyist painter, and frustrated sociologist–with too many things to want and too little time to spare. She graduated with a Psychology degree in 2019 at De La Salle – College of Saint Benilde Antipolo. When she’s not drafting a corporate letter or working on anything digital marketing, you can find her doing the following, but not in this order: reading a good book, scavenging for a good book, sketching, painting, journaling, junk journaling, obsessing over an obscure Czechoslovakian surrealist film (or anything by Miyazaki or Del Toro), cooking, finding a cafe to relax in, and creating new things while a nice documentary plays in the background.