Here’s what actually matters
Most PR agencies sound the same when they pitch. They talk about relationships. They talk about integrated strategies. They talk about being data-driven. They show you case studies of successful campaigns. Then six months later, you’re stuck wondering why the coverage they promised isn’t actually bringing in business.
The problem usually isn’t that agencies are lying to you. It’s that you’re not asking the right questions. Most clients never dig into how an agency actually thinks. They don’t ask what happens when things go wrong. They don’t find out how the agency really works, day to day.
This guide is different. It’s not about finding the perfect agency. There’s no such thing. Instead, it’s about finding the right agency for you. And that means asking questions that show you how they actually operate. Not the way they sound in a pitch. The way they really work.
Start by knowing what you actually want.
Before you ask an agency anything, you need to be clear about three things:
What goals define success for you?
Not just “increased brand awareness.” That’s too vague. Real success might be one of these: “We want to get 15% more qualified leads in the next 12 months by being mentioned in industry publications.” Or: “We want people to know who our CTO is and see her as an expert in AI safety.” Or: “We want to build links from respected websites in our industry to improve our search ranking for the keywords we care about.”
If you don’t have a clear answer, agencies will just give you activity and call it success. You’ll accept it because you won’t know what else to measure.
What’s your realistic timeline and budget?
Some things take longer than others. Building real authority in your industry usually takes 8 to 12 months before you see real results. Launching a product and getting coverage can happen in 4 to 8 weeks. Handling a crisis needs to happen in hours. Honest agencies will tell you that you can’t do all three at the same time.
Budget matters too. Not because expensive agencies are better, but because money determines what’s possible. A cheap freelancer works differently from a mid-size agency, which works differently from a big agency. Each one is fine for the right situation. But expecting a small budget to deliver what a big agency can do will just disappoint you.
Are you okay with an agency telling you “no”?
The best PR advice sometimes means doing less, not more. Sometimes an agency will say, “I don’t think that story is going to land.” That’s actually helpful. It means they’re thinking about what will actually work, not just pitching everything.
If you want them to pitch every idea you have and generate tons of coverage no matter what, tell them that now. Some agencies will say yes to that. They’ll just be wrong. If you want someone who will push back and only pitch stories that have a real chance, you need to be clear about that, too.
The questions you need to ask
Strategy questions
Ask: “ What qualities make a pitch strong in your view?”
This is the first real test. Press releases exist for everything. But not everything deserves to be in the news. Listen to how the agency answers. Do they think through the decision, or do they just pitch what you want?
A good answer shows they have a thinking process. They’ll likely think, “Is this something people care about? Or is it just about your company? Do journalists care about this right now? Does it fit a bigger story happening in the industry?” This tells you they’re thinking strategically.
A bad answer sounds like this: “We have great relationships with journalists, so we can pitch anything and see what sticks.” This means they’re using relationships as an excuse to avoid real thinking. Relationships help, but they can’t replace good judgment.
An even worse answer: “We pitch everything and see what works.” This wastes everyone’s time, damages your credibility with reporters, and burns out the agency team.
What you want: An answer that shows they actually evaluate stories before they pitch. Ask them how they’d evaluate one of your ideas. If they ask you good questions first instead of just saying yes, that’s a good sign.
Ask: “What types of companies have you struggled to get results for?”
This question separates honest agencies from those that oversell what they can do.
The best agencies will name specific situations where they’ve struggled. They might say: “We’ve struggled with tech startups in crowded markets because the product itself isn’t different enough. We can get coverage, but it takes a lot of money and effort to make it work.” Or: “Early-stage companies often run out of money before we build enough momentum.”
A bad answer is: “Every company is different. We find a way to make it work.” This sounds optimistic, but it’s not realistic. There are real situations where PR is a bad fit. If an agency won’t acknowledge that, they’re setting you up for disappointment.
A major red flag: “We haven’t really failed.” If they’ve worked with dozens of companies and had zero problems, either they’re only choosing perfect clients, or they’re not being honest with you.
What you want: Specific examples of situations where their work doesn’t deliver real value. Then compare that to your situation. If you’re a young healthcare company and they say, “early-stage healthcare companies need clinical proof before we can pitch, not marketing,” that’s useful. That alone shouldn’t stop you from hiring them. It just means you need at least 18 months, not.
Ask: “How do you approach a 12-month strategy differently from a 3-month push?”
This shows whether an agency has real depth or just repeats the same campaign over and over.
A strategic thinker will break it down into phases. They might say: “A 12-month project starts with building your story and figuring out which journalists care. Then, in months 2 to 4, we pitch carefully to build your credibility. By months 5 to 10, we do more pitching because you’re known now. At the end, we focus on making you an authority and building your links for search visibility.” This shows they understand how momentum builds and that different timelines need different tactics.
A bad answer sounds like: “We execute your strategy. Month one, we launch the story, then we keep it going for a few months.” This works for a 3-month campaign, but it suggests they’ll just repeat it four times for a 12-month project. That gets exhausting and doesn’t work well.
What you want: They should talk about phases and how one month builds on the last. They should also ask you about your business. Some industries have busy seasons when journalists are paying attention, and good agencies plan around that.
Execution questions
Ask: “Who will actually work on our account every day?”
Here’s the thing: the person pitching you is rarely the person who does the work. You might be talking to the founder or a senior strategist. They won’t touch your account after they sign the contract.
Ask directly: What are the names and titles of people doing the actual work? How many other clients does each person have? How often will the senior person be involved?
The answer matters a lot. If the main person has 12 active clients, you’re sharing them with a lot of other people. Seven clients are reasonable. Fifteen clients means surface-level work. You also want to know if someone senior enough can make decisions without having to ask the owner for everything.
A good setup is one person managing 4 to 8 clients with a senior person checking their work and advising monthly. A smaller agency might be the founder plus one person. Either works, but you need transparency and a real sense of capacity.
What you want: Specific names, not “a dedicated team.” And a realistic sense of how many clients they’re juggling. If they’re vague about who handles your account, that’s a bad sign.
Ask: “Tell me about a recent campaign that didn’t work out. What happened?”
How an agency handles failure tells you a lot.
The best answer admits a specific campaign, explains what went wrong, and explains how they handled it. Did they course-correct while it was happening? Did they tell you early, so you could adjust expectations? What did they learn?
A bad answer dodges the real question. They might say: “We had a campaign where results took longer, but we had other wins anyway.” But that’s not what you asked. You asked about unmet expectations.
A major red flag: They blame everything on external factors. “The client didn’t give us access,” or “The timing was bad,” or “The product wasn’t ready.” Context matters, but agencies that always blame others rarely improve their own work.
What you want: A story where they either fixed the problem as it was happening, or communicated it upfront instead of just reporting bad news at the end. This shows you how they’ll handle your campaigns when things don’t go as planned.
Ask: “What happens if we disagree on strategy?”
This tests the dynamic before it happens. You want to know how they handle conflict.
Some agencies just do whatever you want. They’re not partners, they’re order-takers. Some agencies are too stubborn and refuse to listen. Neither is good.
A good answer sounds like this: “We’d bring data or examples from other companies. We’d ask why you see it differently. If we still disagree, we’d explain the pros and cons of both approaches and then do what you want. But we’d document the decision, so if it doesn’t work, we understand why.” This shows they’ll push back with reasons, but ultimately respect your authority. They also protect themselves by tracking decisions.
A bad answer is just: “The client always has the final say.” True, but that doesn’t actually answer how they handle disagreement.
What you want: Evidence that they’ll advocate for what they think is right while respecting your final decision. This is the difference between a vendor and a real partner.
Measurement questions
Ask: “Do you still report something called AVE?”
This is a quick test of their thinking.
AVE means “advertising value equivalent.” It converts PR coverage into fake ad spend. If you get a piece in a newspaper, they might say, “That’s worth £50,000 in advertising.” It’s mathematical nonsense. A piece read by 2,000 relevant people is worth way more than an ad seen by 200,000 random people. But AVE treats them the same if the math works out.
If an agency reports AVE, it tells you something. Either they haven’t thought hard about what actually matters, or they know clients like big numbers, so they’ll give them what they want. Both are concerning.
A good answer is: “No. We report on coverage in publications your actual audience reads, referral traffic to your website, links from important sites, and business outcomes like sales conversations.” This shows they’ve thought about what actually matters.
What you want: A clear no, and specific metrics instead. If they say some clients request it, push back: “Do you recommend against it?” If they say yes, that’s honest. If they say, “We just provide it if asked,” you’ve learned something about their standards.
Ask: “How will we know if this is working at month three and month twelve?”
This separates agencies that really measure things from those that just report whatever happened and make it look good.
At three months, you should ask: Are journalists responding to pitches? Are they building relationships with reporters who matter? Have they figured out which publications and reporters are important? Is there a plan for the rest of the year? Is anything happening yet?
At twelve months, you should see: Real coverage in publications that matter, a better profile of links pointing to your site, people talking about your company, more website traffic from publications, or an impact on sales conversations.
A bad answer is just: “We’ll get you coverage.” Coverage without quality doesn’t mean anything. Five pieces in major publications matter more than 50 pieces in unknown blogs.
Another bad answer: “We’ll track reach,” but they can’t explain how they measure it. Or “We’ll track sentiment,” but they don’t have a process. This means they’ll measure whatever looks good after the fact.
What you want: They should walk you through specific metrics they’ll track, the tools they’ll use, what “good” looks like, and how it changes at three months versus twelve months. They should also explain the difference between leading indicators (activity showing things are happening) and lagging indicators (results showing impact).
Ask: “How does your PR work connect to search visibility?”
This question is important for digital PR. Traditional PR agencies often can’t answer it.
Here’s why it matters: In 2024, the real value of media coverage is links. When a major website links to yours, it tells search engines that your website is important. That helps you rank higher. A piece of coverage in a small blog that nobody reads has minimal value. A piece in a high-authority site that links back to you builds your search ranking and brings real traffic.
A good answer shows they understand: which websites have authority in your industry, how to get links from them, tools for tracking links, and how their work has driven organic search traffic for other clients. They should be able to show examples of how their work improved search rankings.
A bad answer: “We focus on brand building, not SEO.” That’s a false choice. Done right, they work together. Coverage in important sites builds your brand and your search ranking.
Another bad answer: “We don’t track SEO metrics, that’s not our job.” If you care about search visibility, that’s a problem. They either need to learn or you need a different agency.
What you want: They should understand domain authority, backlinks, and referral traffic. They should have examples of how their work improved search visibility. Even if search isn’t your main goal, you want an agency that understands the connection.
Relationship questions
Ask: “What do you need from us that most clients don’t give you?”
Good agencies know exactly where clients get in the way. They might say: “We need faster decision-making,” or “We need access to your leadership team,” or “We need flexibility when good opportunities come up,” or “We need honest feedback, not just politeness.”
When an agency names its needs, it shows they’ve thought about what actually works. It also lets you decide if you can give them what they need. If they need 48-hour approval on everything and your company moves more slowly, that’s useful to know now.
A bad answer is: “We’re flexible, we adapt to anyone.” That sounds good, but it’s not honest. Every agency has real needs. The question is whether they’ll tell you upfront.
Ask: “How would you handle a crisis or negative story about our company?”
You might not be hiring them for crisis work, but crises happen. This shows whether they’ve thought beyond normal campaigns.
A good answer includes: How they’d quickly figure out if something is really a crisis, who would take charge, how fast they could respond, what the first 24 hours would look like, and how they’d work with your legal team or other departments.
A bad answer is: “We’d cross that bridge when we come to it” or “We’d just follow your lead.” These aren’t real answers. Handling crises requires thinking ahead.
A good answer also asks you questions: “What’s your policy on public responses? Who do we coordinate with? Do you have a legal team?” This shows they know what matters in a crisis.
What you want: Evidence they’ve thought about the basics and can move fast if needed. They don’t need a 50-page crisis manual, but they should have a clear process.
Ask: “Can you introduce us to a client who left you?”
This is an unusual request, but it’s super informative.
Happy clients in their case studies are easy to find. They’re also carefully chosen. Former clients give you a more complete picture. Especially those who left on good terms, but where it just wasn’t the right fit.
Ask that former client: Why did you leave? How did the agency handle it? Would you recommend them? What could they have done better?
If an agency refuses this, it’s telling. They might be worried about what clients say, or they don’t stay friendly with people who leave. A confident agency can name at least one client relationship that ended well. Both sides agreed it wasn’t right, and they understand why.
What you want: Willingness to connect you with someone who left, and their explanation of why should match your understanding of their strengths and weaknesses.
Listen to how they answer, not just what they say.
Red flags to watch for
Overselling past success without context. “We generated 500 pieces of coverage for X client” sounds impressive until you ask which publications and what the business impact was. Context matters.
Unable or unwilling to name specific people. “You’ll work with our top talent” is vague. You need actual names and a realistic sense of who’s handling the day-to-day.
Dismissing your timeline or budget concerns. Good agencies know that timelines and budgets determine what’s possible. If they’re pushing back on your constraints instead of working within them, it’s a mismatch.
Treating every engagement like a launch campaign. PR has different modes. Sustained thought leadership is different from product launch, which is different from crisis response. Agencies that default to the same approach for everything are selling their capability, not matching your needs.
Reluctance to discuss failure or challenges. Every agency has had campaigns that underperformed. If they won’t talk about it, they haven’t learned from it.
Good signs to look for
Asking good questions back. Before they pitch their approach, do they ask about your business model, competitive landscape, customer journey, sales cycle, and existing reputation? This shows they’re thinking strategically, not just running a play.
Disagreeing with parts of your brief. “I think the timeline is ambitious, here’s why and here’s what we’d need to make it work” is more valuable than “we can definitely do that.” It shows they’re thinking about feasibility, not just saying yes.
Discussing trade-offs openly. “If we focus heavily on tier-one publications, we’ll have fewer total pieces but higher quality. If you want volume, we can get more coverage in secondary sources. Here are the pros and cons of each approach.”
Acknowledging their own limits. “That’s outside our area of expertise,” or “We haven’t worked much with companies in your industry, here’s what we’d need to learn,” shows intellectual honesty. It also raises a good follow-up: How will they operate in areas of lesser expertise?
Talking about measurement from the start. “Here’s what we’ll measure, here’s how we’ll measure it, here’s what we expect it to tell us” is the mark of an agency that takes accountability seriously.
Watch how they pitch.
Listen to their pitch. Do they suggest a generic strategy that could work for any company? Or do they reference specific publications, specific journalists, specific ideas for your business? Do they ask what success means to you, or do they just assume it?
The best agencies say something like: “Based on what you told us about your market and goals, we’d start with [specific step] because [it matters for your situation]. Here’s where we might struggle, and here’s how we’d know if it’s working.”
Bad pitches sound like templates: “We’ll run a thought leadership campaign. We’ll target publications. Coverage will increase awareness and generate leads.”
That’s generic. It tells you nothing about your specific situation.
Check their proposal
A good proposal names specific team members and specific target publications. It has a clear timeline with milestones. It explains how you’ll measure success. It includes a monthly reporting plan. It’s specific, not vague.
A weak proposal says: “We’ll conduct a PR campaign to increase awareness through media relations.” That could mean anything. You want details.
The decision
You don’t need the perfect agency. You need to find one where these six things are true:
- Your timeline and their timeline match. If you need results in 3 months and they say 12 months minimum, you have a problem from day one.
- How they measure success matches what you care about. If they count volume and you care about quality, you’ll fight about progress every month.
- Real capacity exists. They say they can take your account, and this specific person with this actual workload is available.
- They get your industry. They don’t need to be experts, but they should ask smart questions about your specific situation.
- They’ll tell you no sometimes. Not just to timelines and budgets, but also to your ideas if they don’t think they’ll work. A yes-machine won’t help you.
- You actually like working with them. You’re going to talk to them a lot. If every interaction feels like a pitch, something’s wrong.
Why this matters
The goal isn’t to find the most impressive agency. It’s to find one where the working relationship is straightforward. You’ll get honest feedback. Measurement will be clear. You both understand what success looks like.
Many agencies can do good work. What separates them is whether you’ll know it’s happening. Whether they’ll tell you when things aren’t working. And whether you’ll actually see a return on your investment.
Ask these questions. Listen carefully. But here’s the most important thing: Pay more attention to how they answer than what they answer. That tells you how they’ll work with you after the pitch is done.