Public Relations Business

3 Public Relations Business Success Stories [2024]

Pat Walls

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Updated: October 8th, 2024

Navigate the narratives and shape perceptions with a public relations business. Public relations is the art of managing communications between an organization and its public, essential for maintaining a positive image and addressing crises effectively.

Starting this venture involves crafting compelling stories, securing media placements, and handling social media strategies to showcase your clients in the best light. It’s about connecting with journalists, bloggers, and influencers to get your client the attention they deserve.

If you excel in communication and strategy, there’s a lot of satisfaction to be found here. Not only do you help businesses flourish, but you also play a crucial role in building and maintaining trust with the audience. The demand for adept PR professionals is timeless, making it a business with enduring relevance.

In this list, you'll find real-world public relations business success stories and very profitable examples of starting a public relations business that makes money.

1. Muck Rack ($50M/year)

Gregory Galant and Lee Semel came up with the idea for Muck Rack based on their observations of the growing use of social media by journalists. They created a simple platform to index journalists’ tweets to help people know whom to follow. They didn't initially intend to turn it into a business but quickly saw its potential when over 10,000 journalists requested to be added within the first year.

Before committing to a formal business, they refined their idea based on user feedback. They recognized that both journalists and PR professionals were finding value in the platform. While there were challenges from not having a PR background, they overcame this by engaging deeply with their early users and learning from them.

One key lesson they learned from the ideation phase was the importance of staying close to the market. They continually updated the platform based on real user needs, which ensured that they built something truly useful. The iterative process and patience in understanding the domain played a crucial role in shaping Muck Rack into a sustainable business.

How much money it makes: $50M/year
How many people on the team: 250

How Muck Rack Grew to $50M ARR

Muck Rack, a bootstrapped startup that saves PR professionals valuable time by efficiently connecting them with journalists, grew from a simple prototype to a company generating $50M/year through smart SEO, a robust referral program, and strategic partnerships like the Shorty Awards, initially launched with under $200K in angel funding.

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2. Impression ($7.8M/year)

Aaron and his university friend, Tom, founded Impression as a side project while working in-house for a renewable energy business. They couldn't find an agency partner that met their expectations, so they decided to create one themselves. Starting with services like paid media, SEO, and digital PR campaigns, they evolved Impression into a strategic agency partner, reaching milestones like employing 100 staff and aiming for a revenue target of £10m.

How much money it makes: $7.8M/year
How much did it cost to start: $0
How many people on the team: 103

From Side Project To 7-Figures: How Two Friends Grew Their Agency To $7.8M/Year

Impression - a digital marketing agency started by two friends who were able to grow the business from scratch by profit-funding and recently reached the milestone of employing 100 staff, serving as a strategic agency partner to clients, and set to hit its next revenue target of £10m.

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3. Business Awards UK ($360K/year)

Dan's lightbulb moment came when he saw an opportunity to shake up the UK awards market. With a budget of less than £1,000, he launched Business Awards UK in November 2022, and within five months, the platform was turning over £25,000 to £30,000 per month.

How much money it makes: $360K/year
How much did it cost to start: $1K
How many people on the team: 4

Generating $30K/Month With Our Free-For-All Awards Platform

Business Insider synopsis: Not Just Another Agency's case study on Business Awards UK showcases their success in becoming the UK's fastest-growing awards platform, serving hundreds of startups, solopreneurs, SMEs, and large enterprises, with a gross turnover of £25,000 to £30,000 per month.

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Read by 1,793 founders