CEO of Next PR, an award-winning, full-service public relations firm with offices across the U.S.
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When choosing a PR firm for their business, prospective clients are instinctively drawn toward agencies with long-term experience and deep expertise in their specific industry. This approach makes complete sense in most other areas of life and business—we seek out specialists for our medical needs and rely on specialty vendors for materials or supplies. It, therefore, seems logical that a PR firm specializing in healthcare, HR tech or consumer products would be the best choice if you’re in one of those industries. They know the lingo, the media outlets, the reporters, trends and the competition.
It’s tempting to stick with a niche, I get it. But limiting your search to a specialized agency confines you to an industry-specific silo that can lead to missed opportunities (more on that below). Consider this: Opting for a firm with cross-industry experience opens up more outreach opportunities and allows you to tap into a team with expansive knowledge, creativity and innovation.
Here are four reasons why you shouldn’t automatically choose an industry-specific agency—and why a firm with broader experience may be the better choice.
Industries Are Interconnected
Especially when it comes to business and technology, nothing happens in a vacuum. Restaurants aren’t only concerned about front-of-house and back-of-house technology but also supply chain issues, inventory management and even HR matters. Healthcare is tied to AI, leadership development, HR tech, cybersecurity and a host of other business verticals. This recent article in the New York Times covers the trend toward unionization of doctors and pharmacists—suddenly, a healthcare tech reporter is now writing about an HR issue. Siloing your business into an industry-specific PR program can mean missed opportunities to tell your story to a wider audience.
A Broader Perspective Can Help Inform Your Strategy
A firm with more diverse experience brings the lessons learned in other verticals to bear for your business. Just as many companies are hiring from outside their industry to bring a new point of view, hiring a PR firm with broader knowledge brings fresh ideas to reinvigorate topics. Account teams working on different verticals can share and borrow insights and ideas across accounts, fueling creativity.
A Diverse Team Is An Asset
If the agency you choose only has people with healthcare PR experience on staff, you’re limited to those services—unless you hire another consultant or advisory firm. Having a PR team with diverse experience makes for a more well-rounded partner you can tap into for their unique expertise, both for PR purposes and overall business strategy. It also makes your investment with an agency a better value-add because you get more than just PR.
Variety Fuels Inspiration
Some people can happily eat the same cornflakes for breakfast every morning for 20 years (while that sounds like cruel and unusual punishment to me). For creative types, variety is essential for fueling inspiration. If your PR team has stagnated in the same industry for years, it can stifle innovation and drive burnout. They get bored and complacent and operate from a stale playbook where every client gets the same one-size-fits-all program.
On the other hand, a team that gets to learn new things, experiment with new tactics and creatively adapt strategies to new industries is more engaged, inspired and invested in your success, manifesting in better performance.
To keep their creative juices flowing, we encourage our team to pursue new verticals and passion projects. Our Conscious Capitalism program also gives us a chance to flex our muscles in new ways while doing good for nonprofits in need. This variety helps PR firms attract curious and creative talent, which keeps fresh ideas flowing.
What To Consider
Of course, opting for a generalist PR firm doesn’t exactly narrow the choices, and it can be hard to know which agencies actually leverage this diversity of expertise as a strategic differentiator for you, the client.
In your selection process, look for firms that prioritize continuing education for their staff and give team members space to explore and learn independently. Many PR agencies have a reputation of toxic culture where leaders drive hard, push staff to be more productive, and never give their team time to exercise their curiosity. If the staff seems overwhelmed and overworked, that’s a sign agency leadership may not be managing the account workload.
A well-rounded agency will also be able to connect the dots between your industry expertise and broader trending news. By strategically aligning your story with trending topics—both inside and outside of your industry—the PR team can amplify your brand and position your experts as thought leaders, driving conversations.
Choosing a non-industry-specific agency might feel like a risk on the surface, but just like the talent within your organization, diversity of perspective and experience is the key to innovation. While industry lingo, media contacts and market knowledge can easily be acquired, there’s no substitute for curiosity, passion, enthusiasm and creative strategy.
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