Dimitris Prokopis On Pathbreaking Success Of The Agency PR & Life As An Entrepreneur
By: Surabhi Verma
Tags: Public Relations, Leadership, Success, Marketing, Social Media

Our audience is keen to read about the stories of entrepreneurs creating a difference in the world. Tell us about yourself and your area of work.

I have always been the type of person to blaze a new path in everything I was engaging with, even before I finished my studies in both Public Relations and Advertising at The American College of Greece. I wanted to be able to thrive, I had plenty of ambitions, loads of energy and a belief that reality is no different than what I have read in the books studied or was taught. Unfortunately, the reality is different, but if you invest in what you do and want to excel, you use that as a weapon and “guess what?” that’s what my younger self did.

Public Relations isn’t a necessity, it’s essential, and the world has never needed it more than it does now. It is almost 2020 and the digital era has gobbled up everything in its way up.

Everything should be fast and make sense and that’s what we’re here to do.

Your story is something many readers would love to relate to. In detail, tell us about your journey behind creating a successful PR agency.

If you have to know one thing about me is “I love milestones” and that is key to many achievements throughout this successful if I may say, journey till now.

Before founding “The Agency P.R.” in 2015, I was working in the Corporate Events Management area and the outdated way of this posturing in which everyone wanted to be seen as “so much more” forced me to go out there and create something that has a greater commercial impact. Something that it demanded a far more wide-ranging skillset as well as a nimbleness to adopt a more clear form.

As soon as I reached the first milestone of leaving my job to create something “bigger” for me as an individual, everything got structured.

I am the Founder who believes that the best way to grow a business of value is by doing the best-in-class creative work. 99% of the work we do — in P.R — is intricate. Knowing that creativity had to be running through the veins of my P.R. agency.

Having all these constantly in my mind I created an agency that after almost 5 years of leveling up, there are three key areas in which we excel.

First thing is that we provide a truly diverse range of services. I would say different, but everyone is using this word nowadays as if being different is enough.

Secondly, we focus on the big stuff that has no immediate outcome, but potential long-term value. Our goal is, was and will be to be better for our clients and the market is more ready than ever for brave agencies.

Last but not least is that we are able to control the quality and the speed of each element we send out and since it’s a big digital world out there we can really help brands find their way in it.

Following the same three steps, along with our passion for planning and excellence, makes The Agency PR stand out and unarguably numbers don’t lie.

What are the top services that your PR agency provides?

Media Planning. The Agency PR keeps its brands in the public eye, relevant, and part of the media buzz by boosting their top stories out there, in the media business, in a pretty and edgy layout combined with powerful content.

Event Management. A good idea won’t work without flawless execution. Our whole team will roll up their sleeves and bring to life every concept we came up with for you. This can be a one-time grand opening, a product lunch or a large scale charity event that requires, media coverage celebrity attendees, secure locations, catering, RSVP management and of course publicity.

Social Media Management. We think about what makes your customers tick. Not what the person before you achieve. We don’t follow trends. We create what works. With great aesthetics too. We offer complete social media management with custom made content to keep your audience engaged and loyal to your brand. We ensure the most effective outcome.

Branding + Image Making. Consistent brand image and voice is the most important part of identifying your business from the crowd. Your users are impatient. They’re probably distracted too. Keep it simple and beautiful. Fun and functional. From a simple logo to full brand launch. Clean aesthetics, supported by a strong concept is what we stand for.

Influencers Marketing. Do we believe in the power of influencers in 2019? Yes! In case you missed just how popular social media influencers have become, take a look the staggering numbers reported a recent Forbes study:

Last year saw a whopping 12.9 million brand-sponsored influencer posts. And that number is estimated to double in 2020, creating an estimated market size of nearly $1.7 billion.

Talent & Celebrity Handling. Book celebrities & talent from film, television, comedy, singer, runway model or host for your convention or event.

Being an entrepreneur comes with added workload and responsibilities. How do you deal with stress and work pressure on a day to day basis?

It might sound a little silly but people generally tend to stress over a bunch of paperwork. I have to admit I’m difficult in stressing out for minor reasons.

Because I’ve learned to work under pressure over the years, for me planning and preparing ahead of time is the dullest & stressful thing ever.

Nevertheless, there are some things that need to be done in order to deal with work pressure on a day to day basis.

Maintaining a healthy workplace is also an essential move when you’re in my shoes.

I also have to constantly be motivated and productive and believe it or not I still use a BlackBerry for my daily email exchanges since there is nothing else there to distract me from.

I have separated my work phone to my personal one. I have folders with apps on my iPhone that help me be more effective such as the Headspace app. Apps like Ted for example and also reading tons of articles daily on Quartz or Flipboard make me feel stress-free and keep me at 100.

In these times when there is an uprise in the PR agencies, as a company founder, how do you keep up with the growing competition? What are the strategies that you apply in general?

Over the years, I have identified our competitors. I know what they’re offering, what type of metrics tool they’re using, what their strengths and what their weaknesses are. But I don’t go knocking on their clients’ doors. There is plenty of fish in the sea.

I don’t aspire to be like the big guys and let me tell you that working hard to be exactly like that ends up to be the opposite. I make more effort in telling people who I am, what I sell and why should they buy from me. I always find ways to stand out and I am always busy thinking of how to successfully establish and strengthen my clientele.

Our strong website referrals and mentions, our strong share of voice and ROI behind our playful branding is what makes my business more appealing and ahead of the competition. Most of them are using the same tactics such as storytelling (hello 2009). Let them use their tactics while you focus on the new and more advanced ones.

What is your dream about taking your agency to the next level? How do you plan to grow it in the next few years?

People will always need PR to build, manage and protect their reputations in today’s convoluted media environment. I love Social Media and building audiences through it.

I am in talks with people through SM that I would never think I'd reach out to ever.

What we do at my firm has been noticed from cities all over the world and the requests we receive about brands on the other side of the world are truly incredible.

We have clients in L.A, London, Paris, Singapore and the fact that we receive requests from Tokyo and Nigeria have me in awe.

My ultimate dream would be to run offices in more than two countries and with my colleague, in the Digital and Online department as an Account Manager, Nefeli Georgala by my side I think we can work wonders.

What advice would you like to give to the coming of age publicists/ agency owners?

The best advice that I have to give is that the best PR is done by walking out; not by sitting at your office. Meet with people, know everyone’s name and find out what they are up to.

Also, do not hire people exactly like you.

Find people who will disagree with you.

You’ll make better decisions because of it.

Last but not least, don’t be fake, that’s not how it’s done here.

Connect with THE AGENCY PR via given social pages below:

www.theagencypr.gr

www.instagram.com/theagencypr

www.facebook.com/theagencypr

www.linkedin.com/company/the-agency-pr

Dimitris Prokopis

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dprokopis/