Has the cost of technology made it harder than ever to start up a PR firm?

PRmoment Podcast

On the PRmoment Podcast this week we’re going to be discussing whether the cost of technology made it harder than ever to start up a PR firm? Or are the barriers to entry at an all time low?

One of the things many of us really love about the PR sector is its dynamism. Do great work and you can fly. This dynamism has been fuelled over many years by a constant stream of new entrants to the PR agency market.

But is this dynamism now threatened? Does the cost of technology, for so long an enabler of agency start ups, now mean that to access the full set of technology and tools you need to service clients, the era of low barrier to entry to the PR agency market is drawing to a close.

Or has the continuous development of tech and software meant that the costs continue to fall?

On the show today to have this debate we have 2 agency founders. Carrie Jones and Archana Jain.

Carrie is the CEO at JPA Health, an independent healthcare communications firm in America. She founded the firm in 2007. It now has 150 full time employees and has taken minority PE investment. Carrie believes that the cost of technology and software has meant that it has become prohibitively expensive for new PR agencies to start up.

Archana is the managing director of PR Pundit Havas Red in India, one of India's leading consumer PR firms. Archana founded PR Pundit in 1998 before selling the firm to Havas Red last year.

Archana believes that technology has made the cost of starting your own PR business cheaper than ever.

Can they both be right?

Before we start, we’ve now launched our PR Masterclass: The Intersection of Data, Planning and Measurement. Attend this PR Masterclass to hear from experts on the latest techniques, tools and case studies about the use of data in modern communications. Early bird ticket prices are available until December 20th. You can attend face to face in London or virtually from anywhere in the world.

The other big news in public relations is that the PRmoment Awards 2025 are open.

All the categories, the updated entry form and the 2025 entry pack can be viewed on the awards microsite. The early bird entry deadline is December 13th.

Also, thanks so much to the PRmoment Podcast sponsors the PRCA.

Here is a a summary of what Archana Jane and Carrie Jones discuss:

5 mins Carrie and Archana talk briefly about their career stories and how they launched their firms.

9 mins Archana Jain on why she believes that technology means that it is currently easier than ever for independent founders to start their own firms.

“It’s never been easier to set up an enterprise in India.”

14.30 mins Carrie on why she thinks it’s now prohibitively expensive for PR founders to start their own firms now.

“Tools are off the shelf solutions that are available to everyone. They don’t give you a competitive advantage.”

“In the US market in order to be competitive with the big agencies, you need Google Cloud partnerships, you need access to big data. Off the shelf AI and generative AI solutions is not enough. It needs to be a proprietary closed database supplemented and trained by a data scientist.”

“The data and compliance standards required in a multi market have a different complexity.”

“The level of compliance, the level of large data purchases, the level of expertise to tweak, modify all of the data solutions. For me it’s never been harder and it's super, super expensive”

26 mins Carrie and Archana talk though the PR tools markets in the US and India.