The job done by PR agencies or publicists may seem easy, but in actuality it’s not the way it looks at all. For an outgoing business owner, having thought like this usually come up. But when he decides to do the job himself, he’ll find out it’s not as easy as it seems. Are writing and sending press releases and schedule interviews really that difficult?

In some cases, not really. There are a lot of entrepreneurs out there who manage to maintain good relationships with numerous journalists and newspaper editors for their PR campaigns. If your idea of PR only involves writing press releases and holding interviews, you may be making the right choice of doing everything yourself. BUT, if you really want to use public relations to its full potential, you are going to need a professional. Someone who is not just knowledgeable, but also very efficient.

Here are the 6 reasons why you need a professional for your PR efforts:

1. You are not normally part of the beat reporters circle. In layman’s term, you don’t belong to the group of people who get the first word when something comes up around the community. You need a PR that’s up to date and fresh when already released. Professionals know when and how to make that happen. Within a few months of having him around to do your work, you may already be included in the list of priority businesses and entrepreneurs of the editors and journalists in your area.
2. You do not possess enough sense of urgency or in other words, you are usually too busy to respond to concerns immediately. Whenever a publishing house releases a new publication, they usually call weeks earlier to finalize the content to be released. If you don’t answer back, your content doesn’t get published. If you are trying to use TV segments, you get an even shorter cycle. What you need is a person who can answer concerns right away. This leads to one tip in choosing a good PR person. When an individual fails to answer right away 90% of the time, don’t bother hiring him.
3. Your marketing person does not know a journalist’s routine and neither do you. You may be able to get an opportunity yourself, but if you a few wrong moves, you can lose that chance forever. Experienced PR’s already know the importance of knowing how journalists work in order to come up with a press release that he or she really wants. And if you want to understand journalists, you need to approach radio program managers, producers, editors, beat reporters, and the likes. If you don’t have time for this, you are already losing.
4. On the other side, you may be simply not good at giving a newsworthy story. The goal of every press release writer is to create a sales pitch that can perfectly coincide with the story. The two components may be very different when apart, but a good PR can make it work no matter what. It may be useful to beware of ex-journalists when hiring PR agents. Most of the time, they tend to incorporate their past experiences when handling your press release campaign. When you provide the media with a good PR, they will have high expectations for the upcoming ones so be sure that you get someone for a permanent position.
5. Another reason to hire someone with experience is the fact that as a business entrepreneur, you don’t usually know how to make the message suitable for different mediums. It can be tempting to write one very good press release and submit it for blogs, publications, TV, and others. But, this is not supposed to be the right way if you want each of them to contribute to the success. Good PR persons know what style is needed for each medium. For example, TV requires a pitch that emphasizes on the visual perspective. Radio prefers short statements instead of lengthy PR’s. Whatever medium you are using, be sure that you get a good man to do the appropriation job.
6. Experienced people know all courtesies and exclusives related to journalists. In every market especially the national, there are certain conditions you have to recognize and adhere. For example, you are about to provide a copy of the release you made for a particular journalist and then back-out a few days before the deadline just because another much more famous journalist made a call. This can end up making the former journalist really mad and can end up to worse things. Another example would be on TV shows. Sometimes, whenever you agree to be on one, you can’t agree to be on another. You need to know when you have to do this and who you need to prioritize.

There is a lot of work involve in PR campaigns and it’s not very advisable to do all of them yourself. If you are in a close competition, don’t waste time and hire a good PR professional immediately.