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What should founders look for when choosing a PR agency?
Quick Read
Every PR agency will tell you they have media contacts. Very few will tell you how they’ll understand your business, build your positioning or contribute to your business goals. If you’re a startup, SME or family business, choosing the right PR agency can make the difference between getting a few media mentions and achieving your business goals. Before signing the retainer, ask these 8 questions. They’re based on our 7 years of experience of working with 200+ founders across 70+ industries and will help you choose a PR agency that becomes a growth partner, not just a vendor.
1. Does the PR agency understand founders and founder-led businesses?
A founder doesn’t think in terms of press releases. A founder thinks about sales, hiring, investors, customers, competition and growth. That’s why the first meeting with a PR agency shouldn’t begin with “What announcement do you have?” It should begin with “Tell us what’s happening in your business.”
At Umanshi, we’ve realised that founders rarely come with a PR brief. They come with business challenges. Sometimes the real story isn’t the product launch but the industry problem they’re solving, a customer success story or even a strong point of view on where the market is headed. Our role is to identify stories that founders themselves may not recognise. Here is our repertoire of our work with founders.
This is also where working with startups, SMEs and family businesses differs from working with large corporates. Large organisations usually have annual communication plans. Founder-led businesses need a PR agency that can think along with them and not wait for instructions every month.
Questions to ask your PR agency
1. How extensively have you worked with founder-led businesses?
2. How do you identify stories if I don’t have a communication plan?
2. Can the PR agency build strategic positioning and narratives instead of simply getting media coverage?
Many founders evaluate a PR agency by asking, “Can you get us into Economic Times or The Hindu?” It’s a fair question, but not the most important one.
The better question is, “What do you want my customers, investors and industry to remember about my business a year from now?”
Media coverage is an output. Positioning is the outcome.
One of our favourite examples is Celcius Logistics. Instead of repeatedly talking about the company, we built larger industry narratives. We created conversations around India’s broken cold chain infrastructure, food wastage, the invisible journey of perishables from farm to fork, technology transforming temperature-sensitive logistics and why cold chain is critical for India’s economy. As a result, Celcius wasn’t just seen as another logistics company. It became one of the voices driving conversations around the industry.
When a PR agency builds the right narratives consistently, journalists begin reaching out to you for your perspective instead of the other way around.
Questions to ask your PR agency
1. What narratives will you build for our business over the next 6 months?
2. Can you show examples where you’ve built positioning and not just secured media coverage?
3. Is the PR agency clear about what success looks like?
One of the biggest reasons founders get disappointed with PR is because expectations were never discussed properly.
Visibility isn’t a business goal. Fundraising is. Employer branding is. Entering a new market is. Becoming the preferred partner for enterprise customers is.
Every business needs a different PR strategy.
For example, when we worked with Lingaro India, the objective wasn’t lead generation. It was strengthening employer branding and positioning the leadership team as experts so the company could attract quality talent in a competitive market.
For Celcius Logistics, the objective was different. The company was scaling rapidly and credibility among investors and industry stakeholders was critical. PR became one of the pillars supporting that journey, alongside business performance, eventually leading to a successful ₹100 crore Series A fund raise.
If every client is measured using the same KPI—number of articles —that should raise a question.
Questions to ask your PR agency
1. What business goals can PR realistically support?
2. How will you measure success every month and every quarter?
3. What KPIs will you recommend for our business?
4. Has the PR agency delivered results for businesses without massive marketing budgets?
Large brands often have advertising, influencer marketing, events and sponsorships running alongside PR. Founder-led businesses usually don’t.
Every media opportunity has to work harder.
That’s where the thinking of the PR agency matters.
We’ve seen this across several of our clients. Whether it was QualiZeal building thought leadership or startups such as FlexiBees looking to go national, the focus was never on creating noise. The focus was on creating relevance. Good PR isn’t about issuing more press releases. It’s about ensuring every communication supports a business objective.
A startup doesn’t need a PR agency that thinks like an MNC. It needs one that knows how to create impact without depending on a multi crore marketing budget.
Questions to ask your PR agency
1. Show me startup or SME case studies.
2. What results have you achieved without advertising support?
3. How do you identify stories when there isn’t a product launch?
5. Who from the PR agency will actually service your account?
Almost every founder has experienced this.
The founders or senior leadership attend the pitch meeting. Once the agreement is signed, the account is handed over completely to junior executives.
There is nothing wrong with young professionals. But founders deserve clarity about who will be responsible for strategy and who will manage execution.
At Umanshi Marketing, Arunisha Sengupta, Co-founder and a PR veteran with over 28 years of experience, continues to be part of client review meetings. Strategy isn’t something we discuss only during the pitch. Businesses evolve every month and communication has to evolve with them.
Most of our accounts are managed and lead by Abhishek Biswas with over 8 years of experience with PR agencies such as Concept PR, Kaizen PR, etc
Before signing, ask how much time senior leadership will actually spend on your account after onboarding.
Questions to ask your PR agency
1. Who will be my day-to-day SPOC?
2. How often will senior leadership participate in review meetings?
6. What is the PR agency's process after onboarding?
Many agencies have an impressive pitch deck. Fewer have an equally impressive execution process.
Ask the PR agency to explain what your first 90 days will look like.
At Umanshi, clients know exactly what to expect. We conduct
– weekly update meetings,
– monthly review meetings,
– share monthly media dossiers,
– continuously identify fresh opportunities and
– jointly define goals for every quarter
This ensures founders never have to wonder, “What’s happening with my PR?”
A structured process also makes it easier to course-correct instead of waiting till the end of the quarter.
Questions to ask your PR agency
1. How often will we meet?
2. What reports will we receive?
3. How will you keep us updated between meetings?
7. What are the direct and indirect costs of hiring the PR agency?
The monthly retainer is only one part of the investment.
Understand what is included and what isn’t.
Ask whether founder articles, thought leadership, award nominations, media training, photography, videos, events or paid opportunities are additional.
Also understand what the PR agency expects from your team. Will they proactively come up with ideas or wait for you? Who will write articles? Who will coordinate interviews? How much time will the founder need to invest every month?
The more transparent both sides are on Day One, the smoother the engagement becomes.
Questions to ask your PR agency
1. What additional costs apart from the retainer we should budget for?
2. What support will you need from our team and cumulatively how many hours of work from our end?
3. Who is responsible for PR content ideation and content creation?
Final Thoughts
Choosing a PR agency isn’t about appointing someone who knows journalists. It’s about choosing a partner who understands your business, asks the right questions and co-achieves goals that supports business growth.
The right PR agency won’t just help you get featured. It will help customers, investors, employees and partners understand why your business deserves attention in the first place.
About the Author
Tamanna Gupta is the Founder of Umanshi Marketing & Branding Pvt. Ltd., an IIM Bangalore alumna and a marketing and branding professional with over 23 years of experience across The Times of India, Percept Sports & Entertainment, AllCargo Logistics, etc. She has worked with over 200 founders across 70+ industries and has received multiple industry awards for her work in marketing, branding and Fractional CMO consulting. She believes PR should be measured by the business outcomes it creates—not just the media coverage it generates.
Thinking of appointing a PR agency?
Before you sign a retainer, let’s have a conversation. We’ll help you evaluate whether your business is PR-ready, identify the narratives your brand should own and build a practical PR roadmap aligned with your business goals—not just media coverage.
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