Public Relations

In-house or Outsourcing of PR-Role

of PR Professional
Prodromos Yannas
 PR – In-house Department or Outsourcing to PR
consultant?

In-House Department – Advantages

• Flexibility in working hours and responsibility of employees to deal
with any exigency without extra compensation
• continuity
• Getting along with colleagues under a unified organizational culture

• Creation and renewal of own archive and data bank

In-House Department – Disadvantages

• In times of crisis the possibility of layoffs is increased
• Work gets to be monotonous and at times boring
• Preference to forward to top management ideas that they want to
hear
 Role of In-House PR Professional
• Participates in the dominant coalition of strategic planning or the
organization/corporation
• Scans the environment, analyzes trends, issues and perceptions of
key publics, informs top management and proposes courses of action
• Formulates, implements and evaluates strategic programs of
communication
• Cultivates relations with media (conventional and new)
• Coordinates tactical actions such as events, meetings, anniversaries,
preparation of written and electronic material etc
• Manages the image and the reputation of the organization/company
• Prepares communication crisis plans and manuals and assumes a
leadership role whenever a crisis erupts
• Collaborates with colleagues in other departments such as Marketing,
Advertising, Sales Promotion for the formulation of an integrated
program of communication and the coordination of all communicative
operations
 PR- In-House or Outsourcing to a PR consultant?

Outsourcing to PR agency or consultant – Advantages

• Independence – Objectivity
• Professional Experience
• Maintenance of good relations with media
• Access to specialized services (ie., graphic artist)
• Interconnection of issues

Outsourcing to PR agency or consultant – Disadvantages

• Expensive – fees per hour
• Inability at times to keep a healthy distance from company-client
• Inability to comprehend the philosophy and culture of the company-
client