8 Questions to Ask a PR Firm Before Hiring

With the emerging demand for public relations, you will find various PR firms in the market competing with each other. It becomes quite confusing to choose the best PR firm among all of them. We have listed some sets of questions that will help you clear up your confusion and hire the PR firm for your organization.

Question 1: In which industry do you specialize?

Once you enter the market, you will see that there are different types of PR firms that are specialized in their sector. So, before you hire one, you must determine the industrial specialization of your PR firm. This will give you an idea of how this type of PR agency can help you achieve your goal. 

Question 2: Can you help us get media coverage? What are the strategies you will follow to achieve this?

To gain popularity for the brand, media coverage plays a very vital role. But not all kinds of media are suitable for every product or service. So, you need to confirm the strategies your PR firm is going to use for the media coverage. You may also ask about the list of various media outlets they are going to contact to publicize your brand. If you haven’t heard of any strategy before, you can ask them to explain.

Question 3: What will be your plan of action while working with us?

Before starting your work with any PR agency, you must ask about their plan of action. How they are going to coordinate with your marketing team to meet the goal—ask these questions to get more clarity about the campaign and the flow of work. 

Question 4: What to expect in the first few months?

Figure out the goal for the first few months. PR is a long process and it takes time to reach the final goal. But once it is achieved, it is long-lasting. So, you cannot expect the same to happen in the starting only. But this is also important to get an idea about the things they are going to achieve in the first few months and what strategies they are going to follow for this. So, how they get started and the strategies related to it. 

Question 5: What are your criteria for measuring success?

That means you must understand how they track ROI. Also, ask whether they have a tracking system or use some analytics tool to analyze the success of the campaign. 

Question 6: Explain your pricing structure in detail.

Before starting any campaign, it is important to understand the pricing structure. You must also decide on a budget in advance so that you can compare and decide whether it is affordable or not. 

Question 7: Can we check your work with previous clients from the same industry as ours?

This will give you an idea of their work experience in your industry and their style of working. 

Question 8: What is the work experience of your team in sales and marketing?

This is an important question to ask, as it will determine whether the PR experts have enough knowledge of sales and marketing or not.