The award recognises the agency�s strong reputation for quality and outcome in Singapore and the rest of Southeast Asia.

SYNC PR (SYNC) was recognised by the industry for their hard work and dedication to their craft by being awarded the Best Startup PR Agency by leading business resource APAC Insider. The startup agency was chosen from a strong pool of PR agencies in Singapore, for the category primarily focused on the startup and SME community in the region.

Terng Shing Chen, CEO and Founder of SYNC, said, �This is a great honour for the company and a testament to the team�s hard work. When we first started, it was a couple of us sitting in a coffee shop to now a team of over 20 consultants and content developers based around Asia and Australia. The award highlights the commitment we have to our mission in helping bridge the gap between the PR and content industry and the startup and SME industry in Southeast Asia.�

Part of SYNC�s success can also be attributed to their aggressive approach to innovation and new methodologies in PR that has helped them stay relevant in the digital-first age and make PR understandable to businesses.

Bridging the gap between PR and business

One of the biggest divides between business and public relations has been the inability to measure and track business success accurately. Using antiquated PR measurements such as PR value, Ad value or even counting the number of articles has been an industry standard that provides little or no value to a business looking for measurable ROI.

With startups and SMEs, the marketing budgets can be smaller or at the very least, more tightly controlled. This means that success is often outcome-based and dependent on business goals - new business, sales and other basic ROI measurements. SYNC has built its offerings to complement business growth rather than separate PR from traditional business metrics.

Creating a scalable agency model

To stay relevant, SYNC has also adopted a scalable business model that is not traditionally seen in the PR and content industry.

Borrowing heavily from the SaaS industry, SYNC utilises a pared-down PR process that eliminates wastage and non-essential tasks to reduce the time spent on producing the best outcomes for clients. This is further augmented by having a technology-first mindset to reduce waste and improve efficiency. The cost-savings are passed down to the client that benefits from the lower fees, while not having to sacrifice the business outcomes in the process.

This has allowed SYNC to build a portfolio of over 200 clients with a majority of clients maintaining long-term retainer structures rather than short, inexpensive projects.

Terng added, �Our agency model and focus on talent and efficiency has helped us weather the pandemic quite well, and compete against established agencies without needing to resort to price wars. In fact, we regularly partner with agencies as our flexibility allows us to insert our services into existing PR or business processes easily and efficiently. This allows our partners and clients to scale their services without needing to commit significant resources to scale.�