What Startups Should Look For When Hiring a Public Relations Agency

At some point in a startup’s lifecycle, they’re going to need to hire a public relations agency or an in-house employee to lead communications efforts. One of the most common asks that I hear from founders of Prime Movers Lab’s portfolio companies is “I’m looking for a PR agency. Who should I hire?” Here are some questions that I guide founders through when they are looking to hire an agency.

Do you even need an agency? — Many early-stage startups may have an incredible product that is solving real challenges, but the basic building blocks that an agency (and a reporter) need may not exist yet. I see a lot of startups hire agencies too early. A PR agency can only accomplish what you give them. Even the best agency is worthless if you don’t give them the time (weekly calls), resources (access to c-suite executives who have a unique viewpoint), and hard news (product announcements, funding, new customers).

How much is this going to cost? — Hiring a PR agency is not a small expense. Even if your retainer is around $15,000/month, you are likely not going to be a priority for a medium to large PR firm. This is another reason why you need to make sure that this partnership can be successful. Your company and the agency need to be a perfect fit on many levels to justify the cost.

Insider tip: one of the first things you should look at is the agency’s billing structure. Do they offer a flat rate or a tiered structure where senior leadership’s billing rate is significantly higher than the account executive on the team? Agencies with a tiered structure will have a harder time staffing an account with senior leaders. In these cases, senior leaders (who charge $400+/hour) will appear on calls and do maybe 4–6 hours of work each month on the account while the account executive (who charges $180/hour) will work 20+ hours on the account. You want to make sure that vice presidents and senior vice presidents are guiding your account team on a daily basis.

Who is going to be on the account? — Agencies are notorious for stacking their new business pitch teams with senior leaders who quickly disappear after the contract is signed, leaving you with a team of junior staffers and interns to do the actual work. During the pitch process, you should directly ask them who will be on your account team. It should be all of the people in the room at the pitch. Your agency should staff the account with a mix of senior leaders to guide the account, mid-level managers and supervisors who can execute, and junior staffers to conduct grunt work like building media lists and tracking coverage.

When I worked at a large agency, we would bring in a former White House press secretary to new business pitches. He would wow prospective clients with his ideas and tales of White House intrigue, but he would rarely ever work on the account once it was secured. Keep an eye out for similar bait and switch tactics when you’re speaking with agencies.

Do you need a global footprint? — ​​While having a global PR agency with offices on every continent (although I don’t know why you would need a team in Antarctica) sounds appealing, you are paying a premium for those services. If you do not need them, you can probably stay away from the larger agencies. There is no reason for you to be subsidizing their Paris bureau if you have no work in the EU. The time will come when you need that, but until that happens, some of the best midsize agencies have partnerships with sister firms that you can task on an as-needed basis.

What other services do they offer? — Most agencies claim to be integrated communications firms. However, the teams that provide those additional services may not collaborate with your actual account team. Ask how each of these teams is going to work together. If they are not, you might as well go hire two different agencies.

Who have they worked with? — Be sure to ask for references and a list of clients they’ve worked with in your sector. Some of the best agencies in the world may not have worked in some unique industries like deep tech. Many agencies have gotten fat off of fintech and software-as-a-service clients in recent years so they have hired to build out these practices. As a result, they may not have the connections or subject matter experts to tell your story.

At the end of the day, your PR agency needs to be an extension of your team. They need to believe in the product and the company as much as the founder. You should communicate with them as if they were employees at your firm by bringing them into your Slack channels and email aliases and keeping them in the loop on key business decisions. If you don’t trust them to protect sensitive company information, you shouldn’t be working with them. Much like investing in a company, you should conduct enough due diligence to make sure they are the right firm to help you and your company.