Digital PR Agencies vs Digital PR Consultants

With the importance of digital PR becoming increasingly apparent to businesses far and wide, many companies have sought expert help when planning and implementing their digital PR strategy.

Digital PR agencies and consultants offer companies the opportunity to outsource their digital PR strategy to experts, removing the burden of implementing these complex practices alone and arming companies with the tools to maximise their growth online.

But what is the difference between a digital pr agency and a digital pr consultant? With swathes of agencies and consultants advertising their services online, many businesses are left confused when deciding which service is best for them.

In this guide, Reboot will detail the key features of digital pr agencies and digital pr consultants, alongside the pros and cons of each, to help you find the best service for your company.

What are the differences between a digital PR agency and a digital PR consultant?

While both digital pr agencies and consultants share a common goal to enhance their client’s digital PR performance, there are fundamental differences in their approaches.

A digital PR consultant typically works individually, or with a small team of fellow consultants, to assist your business with its digital PR strategy. This consultant is likely to have knowledge in all areas of digital PR and adopt a ‘jack of all trades’ approach to help you with each of these fundamental areas.

But what are digital PR agencies? Digital PR agencies tend to be comprised of larger, specialised teams with each focusing on a specific facet of your digital PR strategy. This means that, rather than having one individual or a small team responsible for your entire campaign, a digital PR agency will have specified teams for individual practices like content, SEO, graphics, and outreach.

Another difference between agencies and consultants can be found in their approach. Digital PR consultants work with you to create and implement your own digital PR strategy. While some consultants take a more hands-on approach, much of the work done is advisory and centred around providing businesses with the tools to implement their own successful digital PR strategy.

Conversely, digital PR agencies work directly on pre-determined projects, with different team members implementing different aspects of your digital PR strategy. While agencies can also offer advice, their greater resources mean they have the scope to implement as well as formulate your digital PR campaigns.

What are the advantages of hiring a digital PR consultant?

For new start-up companies or those operating within a tight budget, hiring a digital PR consultant can be a great way to boost your brand’s profile online.

If you’re seeking a consultant to work purely in an advisory capacity, then this service can be cheaper than hiring an agency that specialises in implementing your entire digital PR strategy for you.

Even if you employ a consultant to implement your whole strategy, the fact that you’re hiring either an individual or a small team, rather than a large company of experts, means that your overheads are likely to be a little less.

Digital PR consultants can also be a good option for businesses reluctant or unwilling to grant external access to things like their internal systems and website backend. As agencies require a hands-on approach to achieve their most effective results, a digital pr consultant may be able to provide industry expertise from afar without the need for external access.

What are the disadvantages of hiring a digital PR consultant?

While a digital PR consultant can help enhance your brand’s online presence, there can be limitations to the work they provide.

The multiple independent disciplines required for a successful digital PR strategy mean that a consultant can find themselves stretched when working on your campaign alone. These time constraints can be amplified further if the consultant is working with multiple clients at once, leaving them with inadequate time to devote to key components of your digital PR strategy.

Similarly, while many digital PR professionals have skills in multiple disciplines, it’s only natural that everyone is going to be stronger in some areas compared to others. While your consultant may possess outstanding SEO knowledge, for example, they might possess only average content writing skills and vice versa.

Leaving your strategy in the hands of an individual or small team of consultants can result in a campaign that excels in certain areas but underwhelms in others.

What are the advantages of hiring a digital PR agency?

Hiring the best digital PR agencies can provide businesses with unparalleled resources for their digital PR campaigns. As a company thats’ entire business model is based upon its ability to provide exceptional digital PR strategies for its clients, agencies possess unrivalled industry experience.

Digital PR agencies like Reboot have a diverse team of specialists, ensuring that each aspect of your strategy is handled by the most relevant experts. With designated teams for key practices like SEO, content, graphics, data, and outreach, elite agencies offer best-in-class solutions for every facet of your campaign.

While working with a digital PR agency has many benefits, it is still a collaborative process. The scale of their resources means that they can take the vast majority of the work away from you. Whereas a sole consultant can offer advice and even implement parts of your strategy, you’ll likely need to do some of the work yourself if you are to maximise the performance of your campaign.

Hiring a digital PR agency allows you to hand over the responsibility of your digital PR strategy to an expert company, leaving you more time to focus on primary business goals like driving sales and revenue.

What are the disadvantages of hiring a digital PR agency?

Although the best digital PR agencies have unbeatable resources when it comes to your digital PR strategy, working with an agency does not work for everyone.

If you’re a small, upstart business with limited resources and modest campaign goals, then hiring an agency may be excessive at this point in your company’s development. Instead, hiring a consultant to assist you with your digital PR strategy may be a more efficient and cost-effective solution.

There are some agencies like Reboot, however, that allow you to tailor your digital PR plan to suit the goals and budget of your business. This can work perfectly if you’re a smaller company as it allows you to pay for the necessary services while leaving out all the things you don’t require.

Working with an agency that offers bespoke digital PR plans can be a brilliant way for smaller businesses to develop an expert strategy without breaking the bank.

Why hire a digital PR agency like Reboot?

The importance of digital PR to businesses in the digital age is beyond question. With a plethora of different practices required for a holistic digital PR strategy, it’s essential that your campaign is delivered with expertise every step of the way.

While a digital PR consultant can add value to your strategy, the multi-faceted world of digital PR means that a larger team is required to truly maximise your brand’s potential online.

When you think you’ve found the perfect one, ask the digital PR agency some questions. You need to be sure your interests and ethics are perfectly aligned before you sign the digital PR contract, or agree to the price of the digital PR. Once you’ve signed with them, keep reviewing your digital PR agency.

Reboot Online is a digital PR, link building agency and SEO agency with a string of expert teams in all the fundamental areas of digital PR. By outsourcing your strategy to a specialist company, you provide your business with everything it needs to maximise its presence on the web.

With our proven digital PR practices, you can expect:

● Enhanced online presence from our targeted media coverage and quality backlinks

● Improved search engine visibility from our best-in-class SEO strategy

● Improved brand authority and publicity from our elite content writing

● Targeted PR campaigns that reach your target audience

● Expert campaigns backed by data