EMSI Public Relations Named No. 1, Largest Tampa Bay PR Firm

EMSI Public Relations (www.emsincorporated.com), has been ranked the largest PR firm in the seven-county Tampa Bay region for 2013.

The Tampa Bay Business Journal’s rankings of the region’s top 25 public relations firms is based on number of full-time public relations employees, total number of local employees and the number of years the firms have been in business.

EMSI ranked No. 2 in 2012.

Founded in 1990 by CEO Marsha Friedman, the firm is a pioneer in the pay-for-performance model of public relations. In 2012, it was named a Top 500 Company by Gulf Coast Business Review and one of the Top 75 Women-Owned Businesses by Tampa Bay Business Journal.

The company specializes in gaining earned media exposure for clients on television, talk radio, print/online news, and social networks. 

When she founded the company, Friedman says, it was one of only four pay-for-performance PR firms that she knew of in the nation.

“It’s still an evolving frontier; even the definition of ‘pay for performance’ differs from one agency to another,” she says. “I carved out a definition that would be fair to clients and for which we could be held accountable.”

For radio and TV, clients pay a per-interview fee to be invited as guests on talk shows. In social media, they’re guaranteed a certain number of organic connections each month, and print exposure is guaranteed and measured in terms of circulation or visitors per month.

Clients say the approach is effective.

“We work with perhaps one of the only PR firms that uses a pay-for-performance model,” says Terry Murray, best-selling author and business consultant. “EMSI is the perfect fit for entrepreneurs looking to build their credibility, visibility and reach for a very reasonable investment.”

The company also has a news division, which specializes in providing content for print media and expert guests for broadcast media.

“We’ve become a trusted resource to whom media across the United States and Canada turn for experts who can address trending issues and breaking news,” Friedman says.