Why companies come to PR too late: notes from ITCOMMS' business development manager

You can't build a reputation in a month — and that's exactly what companies forget

While a business is still finding its feet, the budget goes to whatever pays back fastest and most visibly: performance marketing, paid ads, lead generation. PR gets filed under "later" — once there's more money in the pot, or once being known starts to matter.

In practice it works the other way round. Most companies come to PR at the point where they already need a reputation: before entering a new market, ahead of a funding round, at a product launch, or in the middle of a crisis.

We put this to Dmitry Chernienko, our business development manager, who meets executives, marketers and founders every day long before any PR project starts. He told us why PR arrives too late, which mistakes companies make before launching communications, and what the projects that actually work have in common.

Why companies start PR too late

The problem is rarely that companies don't see the value of communications, Dmitry says. Early on, a business picks the tools that show a measurable result soonest, which makes ads, performance marketing and lead generation look like the sensible bet.

Then the job changes. The company needs to be recognised, to be trusted, to manage what's said about it, or to move into new markets. That's usually the first time systematic PR comes up at all.

"Early on, companies go for the tools with a clearer, faster payoff — performance, ads, lead gen. PR gets taken seriously once there's a real job to do: build a reputation, raise awareness, strengthen trust in the brand. The problem is that you can't build a reputation in a month, so by that point it's often too late to start from zero," Dmitry says.

Which is why a communications strategy belongs in the growth plan early, rather than being switched on when trust has already become a critical asset.

What usually triggers a PR launch

There's normally a specific trigger. A competitor keeps showing up in the media, publishes research, gives expert comment, and gradually becomes the more visible name in the market.

The other common one is a crisis. That's the moment a business finds out what a reputation built in advance is worth.

PR also lands on the agenda when a company moves into a new stage of growth:

• entering a new market
• launching a product
• raising investment
• scaling the business

In each of these cases communications stop being an extra marketing line and start being something that directly shapes how much the company is trusted.

The most common mistake at a first meeting with a PR agency

Plenty of companies arrive with a long list of expectations and no settled view of their own priorities, Dmitry says.

The budget question, meanwhile, tends to be heard as a purely commercial one.

It isn't. The budget decides which PR strategy is worth writing, which tools will actually do the job, and what gets tackled first.

The other line he hears at almost every first meeting:

"Can you send us a proposal by tomorrow?"

Understandable enough. But a communications strategy that works rarely comes together in a day. Before a proposal there's work to do on the business's objectives, its audience, its market and what it wants communications to achieve.

When a company is actually ready for PR

Not every company is ready to start communications straight after the first meeting. Dmitry puts three questions to a business before a project begins:

• what the company wants PR for
• what business effect it expects
• what resources it's prepared to put into communications

And that's not only about budget.

Strong PR needs senior people involved, access to the expertise inside the company, and a readiness to keep showing up — comments, interviews and everything else that comes with it.

Without that, even the best strategy on paper becomes far harder to deliver.

When not to launch PR

There are cases where holding off is the right call. If the only goal is sales in the next few weeks, for instance. PR isn't a performance tool and won't stand in for advertising channels built around quick conversions.

The other misfire is doing PR because competitors are doing it. Communications should answer a business question of your own, not a move someone else has made.

Start before you need it

PR is rarely the first thing a company invests in. It starts to matter at the point where winning customers is no longer enough — when there's scaling to do, new markets to enter, capital to raise and long-term trust to earn.

The earlier communications become part of the business strategy, the more a company can manage its own reputation instead of reacting to events. That's the difference between systematic PR and one-off publications: it isn't working on this week's news hook, it's working on how the company will be seen in a year, in three, in five.

If you're building a brand, planning to expand into new markets, or want a communications strategy that supports growth over the long run, get in touch. We'll build PR as a way to hit business goals, not just a route to a few publications.

Translated with an AI translator