How do PR agencies charge? Retainer vs. project vs. pay-for-placement
PR agencies bill three ways. A monthly retainer, the industry default, buys ongoing access and a steady pitch motion; ours starts at $5,000 a month for Seed and Series A companies. A fixed project fee buys one scoped deliverable, like a launch. Pay-for-placement charges per article that runs, and it is the one model to treat with suspicion. The question that picks among them: is your news a stream or a single event?
| Model | You pay for | Fits the buyer who |
|---|---|---|
| Retainer | Ongoing access and pitch volume | Has a steady stream of news to feed it |
| Project | One scoped deliverable with an end date | Has one launch or funding moment, then quiet |
| Pay-for-placement | Each article that runs | Wants a guaranteed article count, which only paid content can promise |
The retainer is the default because earned media is relationship work that compounds. A reporter who covered you in March answers faster in June. It is also the industry's most common model, and it prices in availability rather than raw hours: pricing guides put a retainer at roughly a 10% to 25% premium over the same work billed hourly, because you are paying for priority and a standing relationship. An active retainer is a volume game played over months: ours runs about 7,000 targeted pitches a year to 2,500+ reporters. A one-month sprint cannot do what a six-month rhythm does, which is also why retainers carry minimum terms and notice periods; the page on contract terms and exit clauses covers which of those to accept. The failure mode is paying retainer money with no news to feed it. Match a retainer to a real, recurring news flow or do not sign one.
A project fee is the honest choice when your news is one bounded event:
- Coming out of stealth
- A funding round
- A single product launch
Insist on a defined deliverable, a fixed fee, and an end date. The scope-of-work page covers what that document should spell out. If a proposal answers a bounded brief with an open-ended retainer, ask why.
Pay-for-placement rarely delivers the accountability it promises. Real journalists do not sell coverage, so an agency that charges per article is typically selling sponsored content, syndication, or pay-to-play outlets labeled as earned media. PR practitioners say as much: the consensus on r/PublicRelations is that no credible pro promises a set number of earned articles, because nobody controls what a reporter runs. Sponsored content is advertising; if that is what you want, buy it directly and pay standard ad rates. The page on guaranteed coverage explains the warning sign in full.
Pick the model that matches your news flow, then negotiate scope and term inside it. Our retainer plans are public on the pricing page.