I’ve often despaired at how most PR companies have failed to move with the times. Often, their concession to the fact that such a large part of the marketing process has moved online is to say: “Yes, we send the press releases to websites as well as magazines now”.
What about the fundamental questions? For example, are press releases even relevant now, or are they just something you need to be seen to be doing (and which fills up some content on your website)?
If your PR company is effectively doing the same thing for you now as the one you were using ten years ago, perhaps you need to start the ball rolling and encourage them to help you in more innovative ways. After all, they’re probably talented writers who know your company well, which is a powerful weapon in your marketing arsenal. Why not redfine one of their main roles as producing content for your website? Much of this might be suitable for press releasing, or offering as an advance exclusive to magazine editors, but perhaps it should have been written with your website in mind in the first place. And if you have a technical or business blog, who better to maintain it than your PR company?
I apologise to those PR companies which are continually reassessing what they offer their clients. But if yours doesn’t, give it a good kicking before you go elsewhere and let the experience you’ve built up with them go to waste.