How to Find the Best PR Firm in Los Angeles
In a city where image is everything, choosing the right Los Angeles Public Relations firm is essential. Get your business in front of the right people, and you could see your name in lights. But sign on with the wrong Los Angeles communications agency and you could miss a golden opportunity.
Finding the right Los Angeles PR firm is especially critical for companies that operate in industries that are synonymous with the City of Angels, including travel, real estate and entertainment.
If you operate a hotel, resort or airline, or work in international tourism, a top Los Angeles public relations firm can make yours a must-visit destination. If you’re involved with jaw-dropping real estate, the right Los Angeles PR agency can spread the word (and the photos!) to a precise audience. Whatever industry you’re in, there’s a big bonus to working with a Los Angeles PR firm: the proximity to Hollywood means they can coordinate with streaming services and television shows — think “The Bachelor” to “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” to Netflix original series and many more — to organize brand placements and other client efforts that can get maximum attention.
Here are a few things to consider when scouting out a Los Angeles PR firm:
Best PR Firm in Los Angeles
Known as the top PR agency in Chicago, Zapwater Communications is also a major player in the Los Angeles PR landscape. With an office in Santa Monica, Zapwater’s Los Angeles PR firm serves the same five industries as its Chicago counterpart — consumer, travel, fashion/beauty/lifestyle, hospitality, real estate & design — but with a decidedly Los Angeles spin.
Our approach combines industry expertise, market knowledge, creative thinking and a tailored approach to our clients that gets noticed by consumers — and the PR world. Zapwater has earned more than 250 industry awards for exceptional work. Notable awards include PRSA Los Angeles Prism Awards for our work with Finnair; La Paz, Mexico; LYFE Kitchen and PrivateFly.
Zapwater has also won more than two dozen HSMAI Awards, recognizing the best in sales and marketing for the travel and hospitality industries. We were honored for our work with Bluefish Vacation Rentals, Frangipani Beach Resort, Visit Finland and more.
We are also honored to be selected as one of the Best Agencies to Work For by PRovoke Media (formerly The Holmes Report). We recognize that the best work comes from a team that’s supported both in and out of the office, and we strive to create a workplace where our team can grow, give back and find that desired work-life balance, which results in better, sharper, more creative campaigns for our clients.
How to Pick a Los Angeles PR Agency
When it comes to selecting a Los Angeles communications agency, you’ll want to evaluate a few different aspects of the company, including innovation, metrics, track record and whether or not their company aligns with your brand values.
But there are a few unique factors to consider when looking for a Los Angeles public relations firm.
Industry Knowledge
A city as sprawling, culturally vibrant and historically rich as Los Angeles is packed with different industries. Evaluate how well they’re tapped into yours. You can work with the best luxury PR company in the world, but if they specialize in tech products and you run a hotel brand, it’s likely you won’t get the results you want.
LA Market Knowledge
As anyone who lives or works in LA knows, Los Angeles is unlike any other city — especially when it comes to getting noticed. Familiarity with the media community, market information, nuances and unspoken rules of the city can be the difference between getting attention and falling by the wayside. Make sure your Los Angeles communications agency has a firm grasp on the ins and outs of the city’s media landscape.
Connections
In LA, it’s all about who you know. Consider whether or not your Los Angeles PR firm is well-connected. Can they get your brand to the right place — namely, the people behind the people? The right company can use established connections to elevate your brand through TV placements, celebrity connections, influencer relations and other opportunities that are unique to Los Angeles.
Media Relations Skills
Some Los Angeles PR firms take a one-size-fits-all approach to their clients. At Zapwater, we approach each client and project with a creative, productive, collaborative and most of all enthusiastic approach. We recognize that each client has different needs, desired outcomes and preferred levels of involvement. Zapwater meets each client where they’re at, taking a tailored approach to every aspect of your business.
Additionally, we’re not the LA communications agency that’s going to send boilerplate press releases and then head to the beach. Armed with decades of market knowledge and experience, we also take a customized approach to media, crafting pitches that actually work for their outlets. In short: we get noticed.
PR Agency Activities
Zapwater’s wide-ranging services include a full spectrum of media relations, from print to online to podcasts to broadcast. We also craft and send media materials, plan and execute can’t-miss in-person and virtual events, coordinate strategic partnerships, work with celebrities and influencers, run social media campaigns, offer crisis communication strategies, and much more. Whether it’s earned, owned or paid media channels, we tailor your brand messaging to specific outlets — and get results.
Celebrity Stylists
With red carpets, step-and-repeats and paparazzi at every turn, celebrity stylists are key to the PR process in Los Angeles. After all, they’re the original influencer. Zapwater Communications works with top celebrity stylists to connect our fashion, beauty, home and lifestyle clients with the kind of opportunities you can only find in LA, like upfronts, red carpet appearances, editorial styling opportunities, personal appearances, event hosting and more.
Zapwater not only works with celebrity stylists, we help establish them, too. We worked with Lisa Adams of LA Closet Design to take her luxury residential closet design firm from a small business to a lifestyle brand. Using a combination of traditional media coverage, strategic partnerships (including non-profit programs), TV appearances, product endorsements, collaborations and networking events, Zapwater helped elevate Adams to the level of industry expert, influencer and closet designer to the stars.
Travel PR Los Angeles
As one of the PR agencies in Chicago, Zapwater is known as the top agency for domestic and international travel and hospitality brands, and our Los Angeles office has helped plenty of LA-area initiatives take off, too.
*Zapwater launched Finnair’s route from LAX to Helsinki, Finland through a robust social media campaign targeting bloggers and influencers. We secured and managed partnerships with four stopover destinations, creating an unforgettable, well-shared itinerary that helped boost North American passenger revenue by 30 percent.
*We worked with Visit Baja California Sur, as well as the Board of Tourism of La Paz, the state’s capital city. We focused on sustainable tourism and under-recognized areas of the peninsula, operating a national media campaign that specifically targeted the western US and Canada.
*Zapwater helmed the PR efforts behind Hollywood and Highland Center, an entertainment area full of shops, restaurants, entertainment and iconic venues, including the TLC Chinese Theater, the Dolby Theater, and the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
*We worked with Puerto Vallarta-based luxury hotel Casa Kimberly to position them as an elegant and exclusive antidote to spring break destinations. Using a combination of content creation, social media management, creative programming, visual assets, domestic and international luxury media relations and niche marketing, we garnered 138 million media impressions, including coverage in Condé Nast, House Beautiful and the New York Times 36 Hours.
With the right Los Angeles public relations firm, your brand could be set up for success in one of the biggest markets in the world, making your company a household name.
Interested in learning more about Zapwater? Please email us to schedule an initial meeting.