How to Vet a PR Agency

Hiring a PR agency is one of the few purchases where the product is invisible until after you have paid for it.

There is no rating system, no standard contract and very little published pricing. What there is instead is a short list of questions that reliably separate firms doing real work from firms selling a logo wall.

Use this on any agency you are considering. Including us.

Start with what you are actually buying

Before anything else, establish which product is on the table, because everything downstream depends on it.

Earned editorial means an independent journalist decides to cover you. You are buying effort — research, angle development, writing, pitching — with no promised outcome.

Paid, contributor or sponsored placement means the publisher sells the slot. You are buying a defined deliverable, usually labelled.

Both are legitimate. They cost different amounts, carry different risk and produce different assets. An agency that blurs the two on a sales call will blur other things later.

The evidence to demand

Ask for proof in a form that cannot be manufactured.

• Live links, not screenshots. A screenshot proves nothing. A working URL you can open, search for and check the byline on proves a great deal.
• Recent work. Placements from the last few months, not a portfolio anchored in one good year.
• Work in your sector, or a straight answer about why not.
• The full article, not the homepage. "As seen in" logo strips are the weakest possible evidence and the most common.
• A named person who will do the work. Senior people sell; junior people often deliver. Ask who writes and who pitches.

Then check the links yourself. Open them. See whether the piece carries a contributor or sponsored label, whether it is still live, and whether it reads like something a person would want to read.

Contract terms worth reading

Most disputes come from four clauses.

• Deliverables. Does the contract promise placements, or promise activity? Both are fine. Confusing them is not.
• Approval rights. You should review and approve any article published under your name before it goes live. If that is not written down, ask why.
• Term and exit. Minimum commitment, notice period, and whether unused work rolls over. Long lock-ins with vague deliverables are the classic trap.
• What happens on failure. If a promised placement does not run, is there a replacement, a credit or a refund? Silence here is a decision, and it is not in your favour.

Also check who owns the copy, and whether the agency can use your name and results in its own marketing.

Warning signs

• Guaranteed coverage in a publication with an independent newsroom.
• Refusal to say whether a placement is earned or paid.
• Pressure tactics — a price that expires today, a slot that is about to go.
• Screenshots instead of URLs, or links that have quietly gone dead.
• Vanity metrics as the headline result: impressions, reach, "potential audience" figures with no methodology.
• No named team, no address, no traceable history.
• Promises about search rankings or lead volume that press coverage cannot control.
• Copy written for you that you are not allowed to approve.

Questions to ask on the call

• Which route is each placement — earned, contributor, sponsored or wire?
• Who writes the piece, and do I approve it before publication?
• Which outlets specifically, and can you send live links to three recent placements?
• What does the engagement include beyond placement — strategy, messaging, ongoing pitching?
• What is the realistic timeline, and what does failure look like?
• What have you tried that did not work for a client like me?

That last one is the most revealing question on the list. Anyone with real experience has a straight answer.

Hold us to the same standard

Digital Networking Agency is a paid service, so every test on this page applies to us too. Ask us which route a placement uses. Ask for live links. Ask what happens if something does not run, and get the answer in writing before you pay anyone, including us.

If a firm gets uncomfortable when you apply this checklist, that discomfort is the finding.

Frequently asked questions

How can I check whether an agency's placements are real?

Open the live URL, search the headline to confirm it is indexed, and look at the byline and any label on the page. Real work survives that check comfortably.

Is a cheaper agency automatically worse?

No. A lower price usually signals a paid or contributor route rather than earned pitching, which is a different product rather than a worse one. It becomes a problem only when it is sold as something it is not.

What is a reasonable commitment length?

Long enough to do the work, short enough to leave if it is not working. Be cautious about long lock-ins where the deliverables are described only as effort.