In many cases it is location and due to the business being based in London there is the image that they are more up market, more refined and you will get a higher quality product for paying a little more.

This is not necessarily true, as there are hundreds of thousands of businesses within the London area and true that some are well known for quality and value (at a cost) this is not the case with all of them.

PR agencies within London number over 1,000 and true there are some of the larger PR firms based in the city (international agencies that have their corporate offices within the M25 or close to a key client) however there are lots and lots of ‘pr boutiques’ and smaller agencies that are located close to the center, but may have just started out.

Many of these will provide competitive prices to compete with the many other PR agencies that there are in the UK (not to mention the ones from overseas that are pushing into the UK now).

If an agency is based in the very heart of London then they may charge more due to their costs of rent and staff however this is not necessarily the same across the board as all agencies will be different.

For a larger agency, they may have more staff that need to commute into the center, whereas a smaller agency that only has 2-3 staff that live locally, would be more price competitive.

The best way to check what prices and options PR agencies offer is to get quotes from them and compare them like for like with perhaps other agencies in London or even agencies that are outside of the M25.

We do advise to work with a local agency where you can, as meetings are an important part of the agency understanding your business and goals, this can be lost with a more virtual relationship that is based around e-mail. Not knocking hands off business relationships however with marketing and PR a meeting is recommended in the early days but also to have review meetings. If your company is based within the M25 and live close by it would make sense to work with a local London based agency – just a case of comparing them with others locally to be price conscious.