Twenty months have passed since Profile was founded. During that time, we’ve represented numerous multinational businesses, expanded our team, relocated to a new office, and launched several specialised business units.
The agency has changed considerably. Mistakes have been made, lessons have been learned, and our processes and strategies have become much more defined.
In this article, we look back on the progress we’ve made as an agency by asking our Marketing Manager, Rhys Marks, how Profile has evolved.
Rhys Marks (RM): After launching the agency, perhaps the greatest challenge was creating brand awareness.
Initially, with the PR industry being ultra-competitive and just a fraction of inbound leads relevant to us, we spent a lot of time expanding our pool of services to, admittedly, at times, attract the wrong type of clients.
This effectively stretched the agency and prevented us from delivering maximum value within the areas where we excel. We knew it wasn't sustainable.
So, we spent a lot of time optimising our messaging and channels, such as by transitioning from a focus on personal branding to executive profiling to better capture the right market.
We also leaned heavily on website SEO and strategic media coverage to drive more traffic and became stricter with the clients we signed.
Moreover, by strictly focusing on providing media relations support, social media management, and professional multimedia services as a combined body of work rather than tweaking briefs based on client preferences, the team has thrived from having a greater sense of purpose.
Nowadays, we regularly see a high volume of good inquiries as we've continued to refine and improve the business.
RM: The vision for the agency has gradually grown in scope.
We want to reach many more companies within other sectors where thought leadership is in high demand.
And in the long term, we hope to have Profile offices in key locations across the globe.
The team regularly travels to meet clients across Europe, the US, and the Middle East, which should make the opening of any new global office considerably smoother.
We also want to set standards for the rest of the PR industry to follow — whether it's developing best practice for thought leadership or operating with the utmost professionalism.
RM: The recent success of the agency has undeniably been influenced by our management’s decision to split the team into specialised business units.
We have a client manager who is responsible for day-to-day contact with clients as well as streamlining bodies of work.
Our two media executives deliver media coverage by regularly pitching news angles to journalists and preparing articles and interview briefs.
We have a social media copywriter who prepares posts on behalf of the client and focuses on building their following.
A multimedia executive shoots and edits photos and video content for clients.
Essentially, working in this way ensures that the team is constantly organised, each unit are experts within their field, and we produce efficient and better results.
Additionally, each team member is given the autonomy to make their own decisions and take on new risks so that they develop their skills at a faster pace.
This is why our management team has committed to regularly promoting within the team as well as hiring externally.
RM: From the launch of Profile until now, we’ve always encouraged transparency with every client.
We want to ensure we’re aligned with their ambitions, that they approve of our strategy, and that we can always find ways to do things better.
Even at the end of a client’s tenure, we also review our work from a long view. Sometimes, agencies can tend to avoid these conversations. But honesty is so crucial.
How can you ever expect to improve or leave a client on good terms?
More often than not, we’ve found that clients who used to work with us appreciate our transparency and either return or refer a peer because they trust us.
This is one of our key values, and we'll always stick by it to ensure that we work with the best efficacy and good will.
RM: Within the last year, the team has expanded significantly, driven by the number of clients that we’ve been onboarding and the need to constantly increase our capacity.
We’ve also moved to a new office near Old Street to better support our larger team with more facilities, such as with a studio for our multimedia team.
The new office conveniently puts us in the heart of London’s vibrant tech scene, which aligns nicely with many of the leaders we work with.
Our next goals are to build out our new sustainability unit and, finally, introduce a health unit.
This will allow us to serve clients in almost every industry and thrive as the market leader for executive thought leadership.