PR Agency in Thailand

As the professional field of business marketing is vast and encompasses many disciplines, specialisations and overlap, there is often some confusion as to the exact role of public relations in a marketing mix. Typically, a PR agency does not decide how a product is designed, brought to market, how it is priced, where it is sold or through which channels it is sold, as this is the remit of marketing management, which always occurs earlier in the product life cycle or promotional cycle.

The role of public relations is very specific, and it is to amplify messages. Those may be messages about the brand and its mission and promise, its products (often new products specifically), or its services. In each case, PR builds upon earlier marketing efforts which have already taken place, and which have brought the originator (in the case of PR agencies, the client) to a point where they need more people to know about it (benefits communication), know about the brand more generally (brand awareness), or to deepen the connection other businesses or consumers feel about the offering (relationship enhancement).

Historically, PR agencies have built connections with traditional media organisations – newspapers, magazines, TV and radio – which they then leverage, to try to achieve the above aims of their client.

Our modern PR world is radically altered – and far more diffused. Traditional media has struggled to remain relevant in a world of Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Google Ads, influencers, Live-casted events, Youtube, special interest fan pages, Twitch, TikTok, subscription blogs, and a myriad of other newer and emerging channels.

It is the role of the PR agency to work with the client to A) firstly understand the message the brand wishes to communicate, and then B) decide in collaboration which available channels should be leveraged in order to meet those aims.

The business (or client) hires the PR firm for a given term, and pays a retainer fee – a pre-agreed monthly amount – to service those requirements. Alternatively, the client may choose to select only a few services, and either buy them one-off (or ad hoc), or set up a simple retainer and add more items as they need them. The latter is almost exclusively the preserve of newer, more agile and more responsive smaller agencies (like our own).

The PR agency will deliver, to the best of its ability, opportunities, strategies, creative PR campaigns, and a continuing push to meet those communication and connection objectives, ultimately contributing to the success of the client’s marketing plan.

This depends on the exact needs of the business. Typically, the client will create some sort of briefing document outlining the key parts of their current marketing plan and where they wish the PR agency to step in and support those needs with actionable activities and actions. The agency will then put together a form of strategic proposal and suggest their proposed fees.

For reasons of cost saving or simplicity, the client may opt for a simple social media content strategy only, for example, where the PR agency will actively create structures and content which give the client a whole month (or longer/ongoing) of content which is designed to support their wider business goals within that more simple remit.

A fully integrated PR plan may encompass everything from media management, crisis communications, content development, social media management and media monitoring as well as occasional events, which requires a more in-depth quotation to be supplied by the PR agency.

We’ve tried to make the process as simple and as lightweight as possible by providing both indicative pricing and pre-priced easy packages which are designed to deliver what is needed in each case, and with a simple and easy-to-understand fee for those services.

In days gone by, this was perhaps an easier question to answer, based on a potential PR agency’s media contacts and past successes in a given industry. This would enable the client to then select an agency based on how well they know your sector, and also their general overall experience.

With the universal digital transformation, rise of the influencer, massive reduction in the relevance of traditional media organisations, and the old-school approach and lack of evolved expertise which afflict a great number of agencies boasting 15-year track records, times have changed.

Clients today no longer focus on how old or how big an agency is, and view their likely capability based on A) how responsive they are to their need and how agile and flexibly they can adapt their proposed approach to the client’s communication/marketing need (and budget) which is constantly changing. And B) clients are realising they can achieve much better results and ROI by using smaller, next-gen agencies which have only C-suite level teams (no interns, junior staff or lower-mid-level account managers typical of older PR agencies).

Newer, agile agencies are faster to deploy technology which enables the client to meet their goals, whilst being fully versed in the world of digital influence, engagement connectivity, fluid reporting with tools like AI-driven heat maps (rather than the old-school way, which is literally making up a random figure for media value and website posts to the client, which on its own is irrelevant).

By partnering with a smaller, more digitally-native agency like Gemini PR, you will find the agency’s team members work in-house with your leadership team or marketing manager, and are in constant contact. This is a very different approach to last-gen PR firms which rely on large teams of relatively junior employees whose job it is to make sure the agency looks like it is meeting KPIs, when actually there is much beyond this in terms of value creation which matters to forwards-thinking, modern and successful client businesses.

The first step would be to make sure that you have some form of internal marketing plan in place, as trying to engage an agency to amplify your messages before you know where you’re going is not optimal. It is also useful to know in which areas (generally) you would like the PR agency to support.

This could be any combination of: Launch event creation and promotion, online activation, media training for questions handling, press release and photo release writing and distribution, social media content calendars, KOL/influencer engagement and management, media visits, social media page management – and all manner of ‘on-the-ground’ tactical activations or digital-based activities which all can contribute to the success of your marketing plan.

Before approaching the PR agency for pricing or a full communications plan, it is very helpful to know which components you would like to use (or at least think would be useful). If you are not sure and would prefer us to recommend an integrated strategy for you, please reach out to us via the contact form.

Otherwise, simply go ahead and let us know your requirements via whatever outline format you have or prefer.

PR simply defines the way in which we manage our messaging to the world. It is not only something to be used by growing small businesses, large corporations or government departments; it is something we use all the time in our personal lives, from the images and updates we post on our Facebook pages to the things we allow friends to write about us on their family blogs.

It is not a corporate set of gimmicks designed to push people into buying things they don’t want; it is a principal set of skills which allows us to be represented to the world properly, whether we are a large and growing business, an SME or a personality/sole trader. It enables us to increase the value of the work we are already doing, regardless of the type of project we are working on at that time or the ‘final objective’ of our journey.

A marketing manager within a successful business may understand the value of using a well-defined PR program because it has the potential to create a larger market and a greater buzz about her company. Yet this is no different to a semi-pro photographer, designer or new brand owner who has managed to get their work exhibited at a local gallery and now needs journalists, product buyers and the general public to turn up and see his/her work.

Public Relations essentially does ONE thing and one thing only; it AMPLIFIES our message. The message, or rather our messages, are the things we want people to know about us or our business. If we are a company, we have hundreds of sophisticated products (or solutions) which do many amazing things. In fact, there are many things that are unique and wonderful about us, and whilst the public should know these fascinating things over time, they cannot absorb everything at once as we will overload them with information.

So we need to look at the most important messages; those messages which convey all the exciting little things about our product (or our personal profile as an entrepreneurial leader, for example) that contribute to our brand being trustworthy. These are our key messages.

The defining of effective key messages is essential to everything we do in PR. Without creating messaging which is clear, consistent, easy to understand, interesting and true, then there is nothing to amplify. So there is certainly some onus on the client to provide those things to say – and let the PR agency know who they want to address and connect with, too, which is now very important in the post-traditional PR age.

The ultimate role of the PR agency is to enable you to not just broadcast your key messages – which is what happened in the days before the digital age with traditional media like TV and radio – but to deliver them to your target audience. It achieves this by leveraging its deep and relevant relationships with media organisations both new and old, as well as crucial digital stakeholders you are currently looking to target. All of this, when taken together, relies on an exceptional PR plan and reliably brilliant execution, and that is what Gemini PR agency promises (by way of our contract) to provide for you.