How do you set PR goals and KPIs with your agency?
Pick one business goal, agree on three to five metrics that prove it, and put both in writing before work starts. A program aimed at "more coverage" measures activity; a program aimed at "support the raise" or "win category buyers" measures outcomes. Most founders skip this step and inherit the agency's default scoreboard: impressions, advertising value equivalent (AVE), raw hit counts. Industry measurement studies find the tools PR teams lean on most are still these output counts rather than outcome measures, so a goal-less program drifts straight to them. Those numbers climb whether or not the program is working, so they tell you nothing about progress.
Only you can supply the goal, because only you know what the company needs this quarter: a raise, senior hires, buyer trust, category authority. Name it and the metrics fall out of it. Agree on three layers:
- The business goal - the one outcome PR serves this quarter. One, not four.
- The KPIs - three to five metrics that track it: share of voice on your beat, message pull-through, tier-1 placements (WSJ, Fortune, TechCrunch), referral traffic, inbound that cites coverage.
- The targets - honest ranges for your stage. Anyone guaranteeing a placement count is guessing or lying; reporters don't take orders.
| Your goal | The KPI that proves it |
|---|---|
| Support a raise | Tier-1 placements before the round opens |
| Win buyer trust | Share of voice and message pull-through |
| Recruit | Referral traffic from coverage to careers pages |
| Category authority | Sustained share of voice over two quarters |
Then match the grading to the timeline. Coverage lags effort: even a strong agency usually needs 60 to 90 days before placements land, so grade the first two months on inputs (pitches sent, reporter conversations, messaging locked) and month three onward on outcomes. The what-to-expect page walks through that ramp in detail. Revisit targets every quarter, because a goal set before a fundraise rarely survives it unchanged.
Watch for two red flags in this conversation. An agency that resists writing down targets is planning to report activity instead of outcomes. And an agency that accepts every goal you list without pushback hasn't thought about whether PR can move it: press is strong on trust and authority, weak on direct lead generation, and an honest partner says so before you sign. Judge the program against the outcome you chose at the start, and hold both sides to it.