In-House vs. Agency PR: Which Strategy Boosts Your Brand?

PR is a crucial component of communication between businesses and clients. Most people agree on that. With well-executed PR, a business can reach new heights, expand its horizons, build audience loyalty, and strengthen trust. But it’s just as easy to mess things up if handled incorrectly.

Let’s start with the fact that I’m generally against this kind of opposition, even though it’s very common. "We have our own team," "We’d rather hire an in-house PR person," "We do everything ourselves"—these are frequent comments.

But here’s an obvious analogy. If you need to sell your product, do you hire a traveling salesman, hand him a suitcase with product samples, put him in a cart, and send him off to knock on doors? Of course not. You hire a team of salespeople, provide them with mailing services, landing pages, lead generators, analytics, and so on. Can a salesperson sell on their own? Yes. Will their efficiency increase if you create the right environment? Absolutely. The same applies to PR.

Looking at trends in integrating PR into businesses, let’s examine how Russian IT companies—technological flagships of the economy—implement this. Previously, we found that 17% of companies significantly expanded their PR teams. More than 50% of companies want to strengthen their marketing units by involving PR agencies. This indicates that the sector understands that they can’t survive without PR reinforcements.

Sometimes, companies have both in-house specialists and external partners working together towards results. Of course, situations vary, and it’s not always about budget constraints. Let’s break this down neatly.

Pros and Cons of Each Option

In-House PR

The most obvious advantage of an in-house PR specialist: they’re all yours. Always available, and not strictly limited by a contract (just check PR job listings on HH.ru—there’s a ton of responsibilities). You can assign them anything! And they will do something. All for one salary! Whether they have the time, expertise, or resources to do everything effectively is another question.

An in-house PR person is deeply immersed in the business and knows it better than anyone else. That’s a unique asset. But there are two nuances:

1. When will they have time to work with the external world if they’re always learning about the product and engaging with internal business structures?
2. Everyone knows that if you stay in one environment too long, you lose objectivity, start seeing customers through your own lens, and lose critical perspective on the product and business.

An in-house PR person might embark on a vague quest, given ambiguous tasks like "figure something out." If management isn’t clear on what they want, they hire someone, vaguely outline a task, and then oversee execution with a "seagull management" approach—flying in occasionally to check progress. No news? "Make something up. Walk around the factory, talk to smart people, follow the director for two days and write down their ideas—that’s what we pay you for!" Agencies don’t work like that.

And here’s the kicker—lack of mandatory results is compensated by cost savings. One salary. But this advantage diminishes if there’s a whole PR team, in which case costs become comparable to those of an agency, where a team also works on your project.

PR Agency

Should you then hire an agency? Not so fast—there’s more to consider.

Agencies have more resources. They handle multiple clients, have broader experience, stronger connections, and more data to understand target audiences and markets. However, agencies must work closely with clients since they lack in-depth product knowledge and internal access. There’s an adjustment period to fine-tune collaboration.

Agencies are results-driven, working with deadlines and specific metrics—what, how much, and how effectively. Sounds great, but only if the client knows what results they want and is ready to cooperate—approving materials, providing information, and answering questions promptly. If not, an agency can become an annoying force constantly demanding input to meet deadlines.

Agencies are skilled but don’t like doing much beyond the contract’s scope. At some point, additional costs may arise—especially when a client gets excited and wants more.

Good work costs money. Not astronomical amounts, but agencies are always pricier than a single in-house PR specialist. However, if the in-house team grows beyond one person, costs become comparable.

Finally, working with an agency can be daunting—not because they bite, but because they make publicity a reality. Suddenly, people will read about your business, discuss it, scrutinize it. What if something doesn’t work well or look good enough? This fear of public exposure is more common among business owners than you’d think.

What Tasks Do International Companies Assign to PR Agencies?

A global study shows that brands outsource the following to agencies:

• Pitching to journalists (78% of companies)
• Revising or building media lists (73%)
• Project work for product launches (51%)
• Content creation, including blogs (39%)

Additionally, businesses often hire multiple agencies for different tasks.

The best approach, if circumstances allow, is a PR team strengthened by a professional agency. Alternatively, an in-house PR manager overseeing a partner agency can be effective. This mix optimally distributes resources, workload, and ensures measurable, predictable results.

But if you have to choose one? Here’s how to decide.

Choose In-House PR If:

• Process matters more than results. Social media is managed, texts are written, publications happen, and requests come in. Ambitious growth may be tough, but for some, that’s enough.
• You value internal knowledge. The in-house PR person understands your business deeply, maintains great internal relationships, and keeps communications smooth.
• You prefer a slow and steady approach. If there are no major growth ambitions and no clear promotional plans, an in-house PR specialist is a solid, cost-effective solution.

Hire a PR Agency If:

• You operate in a competitive market. Quick, well-planned PR actions are crucial, and predicting their consequences requires expertise and resources.
• You have ambitious growth plans. PR enhances audience interaction, speeds up decision-making, builds loyalty, and creates brand ambassadors. A well-known brand has at least a 30% higher selection probability over an unknown but identical product.
• You don’t have (or plan to build) an in-house PR team. Many business owners prefer to delegate processes outside their expertise to professionals, making agency selection critical.

Some might argue: "What about companies with full-scale in-house PR teams?" Yes, having an in-house team is strategically sound. But look at major players—they have plenty of partners, including agencies. Strength lies in diversification.