Why We Combine In-sector Expertise with Cross-sector Creativity (& What it Delivers)

When we’re speaking to a potential client, one of the first things they check is whether we have the right experience.

But what is the right experience?

For us and (our clients), it’s about more than simply knowing their industry. It’s a combination of genuine PR experience in their sector with wider thinking and ideation from elsewhere. In other words, ‘in-sector expertise’ and ‘cross-sector creativity’.

Let’s unpack that a little to see what it means, and why it’s so valuable to our clients.

Clearly, an agency that has already worked in your sector, targeting the people you’re trying to reach, is hugely valuable. They’ll have a track record and case studies you can relate to. They’ll understand the nuances of the sector, any regulations, issues, trends and key media. There’ll be a minimal learning curve to climb. Who wouldn’t want all that!

We certainly offer this level of deep sector-specific know-how. And thanks to our 30 year pedigree as an agency, working across 100s of clients, we offer it across a host of sectors – from HR to home & garden, environment to energy.

There’s virtually no sector we don’t understand.

Indeed, I’d actually argue that we know each industry as well as any sector-specialist PR agency.

If you work with a specialist PR agency, which has only ever worked with your kind of business, their ideas will be limited.

There’s a real risk that in their hands you’ll just be another brand with no cut through or original thinking. They’ll have the same old ‘it’s always done this way’ approach and a limited knowledge or track record of trying anything else.

Which is a huge risk in such a fast changing world.

That’s why for us, your PR agency needs to also offer the creativity and dexterity that come from working across a host of other sectors too.

Such breadth means we have a huge variety of different tools, techniques, experience and contacts to draw on. Your PR always has the very latest PR thinking applied to it – delivered by a team with immense agility of thinking and skills.

So instead of being simply a sector specialist, competing for the exact same space using the exact same approach, we’ll use our broad cross-sector experience to inspire innovative, creative PR strategies that help you stand out.

You get the best of both worlds, the reassurance of our in-sector experience but a genuinely bespoke much more creative PR approach.

Expertise in your specific industry:

• Deep market knowledge
• Contacts and relationships (e.g. with industry journalists)
• No learning curve
• Relevant case studies you can relate to
• Track record to reassure you and your board

AND…

Creativity and thinking from wider sectors:

• Broadest range of tools and techniques at your disposal
• Experience of latest PR thinking
• More agile team and thinking
• Genuinely bespoke programme with cut-through
• No conflicts of interest
• No stale same old thinking
• PR is future-proofed for changing times, changing audience habits
• Support you if you change your offer or move into new markets
• Cross pollination of ideas, contacts and experience

We appreciate that companies need to know their PR agency ‘gets them’. And they need to hit the ground running.

But that ground is changing fast. Media are coming and going. Audiences are consuming information in new ways. Sectors are merging. Companies are pivoting to target new markets or are adapting their offering to current customers.  And on top of this, AI is impacting on everything in unpredictable ways.

That’s why we think our mix of in-sector expertise and cross sector creativity is so powerful.

It’s the PR experience clients really need.

Need a PR agency that will get you results? Get in touch with us at susannah@energypr.co.uk to find out how we’ll achieve what you need.