Choosing a PR agency feels high-stakes because it is: you're handing your reputation to outsiders. After eighteen years on the agency side — winning pitches and losing them — here's the honest version of how to decide.
1. Who actually works your account?
The most important question in the room. At big networks, the senior team pitches and juniors execute. Ask for names, titles and years of experience — then ask to meet them before you sign, not after.
2. What do they know about your category?
Category fluency is speed: an agency that already knows your editors, your competitors and your calendar quirks starts delivering in weeks, not quarters. Ask which desks they'd pitch in month one — and why.
3. How do they define success?
Beware the agency that leads with impressions. Ask how they connect coverage to revenue, how they report, and what happens in a slow month. The good ones show you a real report before you ask.
Ask who does the work, not who sells it. The pitch team should be your team.
4. Retainer, project, or sprint?
Retainers build compounding momentum; projects suit defined moments like launches. If you're testing the waters, a 90-day foundation sprint with clear deliverables beats a vague "trial month" every time.
5–7. The quick ones
Do they guarantee placements? Run from anyone who does — editors can't be bought, and guarantees mean pay-to-play dressed up. Can you talk to a current client? Any agency worth hiring will arrange it. What's the exit like? Fair terms, owned relationships and a clean handoff say everything about how they treat partners.
The bottom line
The right agency feels like a senior hire, not a vendor: curious about your margins, honest about timelines, and allergic to vanity metrics. Interview accordingly — and trust the team you'd actually enjoy calling on a hard day.
