Competition is fierce and companies struggle to differentiate themselves. For many companies, it may be time to look to public relations professionals for help. Hiring PR pros can benefit your company by increasing both brand awareness and your company’s credibility. Here are some tips to prepare you for success when hiring a PR firm:

1. Invest time in learning about the agency

The agency’s website should have everything you need to know from past clients to the expertise of each employee. Find out if they’ve worked with clients in your industry before and how successful that was.

2. Prepare to share your business goals

From the moment you walk through the door, you’ll be asked about your business goals. Be prepared to share a wide variety of information about your business such as your past successes, yearly goals and financials. This can be intimidating, but it’s to ensure that the firm can meet or exceed the long-term goals.

3. Have realistic expectations

Public Relations is time-consuming. That’s probably why you’ve made the decision to hire a professional in the first place. With that being said, you shouldn’t expect immediate results. Strong teams develop extensive plans and take no shortcuts to provide the best results. If you’ve invested time and money into a worthwhile agency, you’ll definitely see results but typically not for four to five months. However, you are able to ask for metrics to see your results along the way.

4. Devote time

It’s important for you to be involved in the PR team’s strategic process. Make sure you have someone willing to devote time to keep the PR team in the loop on a regular basis. Nobody knows your business better than you. So keeping your team updated with changes is critical to success. If you can’t do in person meetings, check in with weekly or biweekly conference calls. The bottom line is, frequent communication is a must to make sure everyone is on the same page.

5. Be open-minded

Come ready and willing to step outside of your comfort zone. When it comes to strategy, public relations professionals are full of savvy and innovative ideas. Being open-minded to nontraditional ideas can really help to elevate your business above the competition.