Hiring a PR agency too early is one of the most standardized ways for a growing business to burn $30,000. Hiring one at the right moment is one of the most valuable things you can do. The difference isn't the agency. It's whether you are ready. Here's how to tell, what it costs, exactly what to ask before signing, and the red flags that should end a conversation.
The signals you're actually ready
An agency multiplies an existing story machine, but it can't conjure one. You're ready when most of these are true:
- You have news at least monthly. Launches, data, hires, milestones, expansion: enough raw material that a professional pitching every week has something to pitch. If you have three announcements a year, you need a good DIY process, not a retainer.
- Coverage has a specific job. "Get our name out there" is not a job. "Build category credibility ahead of a Series B," "win trade press that our enterprise buyers read," "make the founder the quoted expert on X." Those are jobs an agency can be pointed at and measured against.
- Founder time is the constraint, not knowledge. You've done DIY PR, it worked, and you're now dropping it because you're busy. That's the healthiest possible reason to hire.
- The retainer is under ~2% of revenue. A $5k/month retainer on $250k/month of revenue is a bet. On $40k/month it's a liability.
- You can commit six months. PR compounds slowly. If you'll judge the engagement at day 60, don't start it.
If you're mostly saying no, the agency vs. DIY breakdown covers the cheaper paths, including project-based freelancers, which are the right answer for one big launch.
What it costs (so nobody anchors you)
- Freelance/solo consultant: $1,500–$5,000 per project, or $2,000–$4,000/month light-touch
- Boutique agency: $3,000–$7,000/month, typically 3–6 month minimum
- Mid-size agency: $7,000–$15,000/month
- Big-name firm: $15,000–$50,000+/month
On top of the retainer: wire distribution fees, which run $150–$1,500 per release (real numbers here, and note that some agencies mark these up), event costs, and paid media if any. Ask what's passed through at cost.
A useful sanity check: a boutique retainer buys roughly 20–35 hours of team time a month, weighted toward whoever is cheapest on the account. That's the product. Priced per senior hour it can be fair, but only if those hours have news to work with.
The 10 questions to ask before signing
Interview at least three agencies, and ask everyone the same list:
- "Who exactly works my account day to day?" The senior partner sells, and an account exec two years out of college often delivers. Meet the actual person, ask how many accounts they carry (more than 6–8 is a volume operation).
- "Show me results for a client my size in my industry." Not their famous client. Their client that looked like you. Ask what the client's inputs were, so you know if those results came from news you don't have.
- "Which journalists covering my space have you worked with recently?" Specific names and outlets. Relationships are the thing you're renting, so verify they exist where you need them.
- "What do you need from me every month?" Good agencies demand founder time: interviews, fast approvals, data access. An agency that promises results with zero involvement from you is describing press-release spam.
- "What does success look like at 3, 6, and 12 months?" Competent answer: relationship and pipeline metrics early (briefings held, pitches in play), coverage quality later. Incompetent answer: "impressions."
- "How do you report, and what's in it?" Ask to see a real (redacted) monthly report. If it's a wall of ad-value-equivalency numbers and syndicated pickup counts, that's what your $5k buys.
- "What happens if my news is weak in a given month?" The honest answer involves making news (data reports, commentary on industry events, contributed articles) or telling you to pause. Listen for honesty, not magic.
- "What's your fee structure, and what's billed on top?" Retainer scope, out-of-scope rates, wire fees at cost or marked up, termination terms. Get the minimum commitment in writing, and push for 30-day out clauses after month three.
- "Why did your last two clients leave?" Every agency has churn. The ones who answer candidly will also be candid when your campaign stalls.
- "What would you do in the first 30 days?" You want a specific plan referencing your actual company, which means they researched you before the call. A generic onboarding deck means you're client #47.
Red flags that should end the conversation
- Guaranteed coverage. The big one. No legitimate agency can promise earned coverage, because journalists don't work for them. "We guarantee placement in Forbes" means a pay-to-play contributor post or worse. Walk.
- Guaranteed outlet lists in the proposal. Same flag, dressed up.
- Pricing that requires a call to learn even the range. Opacity at the pricing stage predicts opacity in reporting.
- AVE (ad value equivalency) as a headline metric. The industry's own trade bodies disavowed it years ago, and anyone still leading with it is measuring for the invoice, not for you.
- No questions about your business goals. An agency that starts pitching tactics before asking what coverage is for will deliver activity, not outcomes.
- "We'll blast your release to our list of 10,000 journalists." That's spam with a retainer attached, and it burns your name, not theirs.
- Pressure to sign 12 months upfront. Six is defensible. Twelve with no out-clause is a bet you shouldn't make with a firm you've never worked with.
Whatever you decide, keep the floor in-house
One thing shouldn't move to the agency, or wait for one: your record. Every real milestone should go out as a distributed release, and your press page should stay current. That's a few hundred dollars and a few hours per announcement, it serves your search results and sales conversations regardless of coverage, and it's the asset base any future agency will build on from day one. Agencies come and go, but the record is yours.
If you're ready, hire deliberately: three interviews, the ten questions, a six-month scope with a clear job. If you're not, keep the money and keep shipping announcements. Readiness looks like too much news to handle, and it's a good problem to arrive at.
Not ready for a retainer? [See what the do-it-yourself floor costs](/pricing): write, distribute, and build your record for less than a week of agency fees.