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The PR Service Menu: What You Can Actually Buy

What can a PR agency actually do for you?

Mostly one thing: get your story into outlets you don't control. Media relations is the core product, and it is volume work: thousands of pitches for a handful of placements (the numbers are in the media-relations page). The ratio is well documented: Propel's analysis of roughly 400,000 pitches found journalists reply to only about 3% of them. Everything else on the agency menu is either an input to that work or a specialty built on top of it.

Here is the full menu, roughly in the order buyers need it:

  • Media relations - ongoing pitching for earned coverage in real outlets (TechCrunch, WSJ, trade press). The default engagement and usually the right first one; the media-relations page covers what good looks like.
  • Messaging and positioning - sharpening your story so pitches land. An input, not a standalone product. It is typically the first month of any retainer.
  • Product launches and announcements - a time-boxed push around one moment. Cheaper than a retainer, useless without real news; the product-launches page breaks down what's included.
  • Thought leadership - bylines, podcasts, speaking slots, awards. Builds a founder's name during the long stretches between product news.
  • Digital PR and link building - coverage valued for the backlink rather than the readership. Usually bought by a marketing team for SEO.
  • Analyst relations - Gartner and Forrester briefings. Worth money only if your enterprise buyers read those reports.
  • Funding and financial comms - announcing rounds and exits. A large enough round is the one story most reporters will take on its own.
  • Crisis communications - reactive damage control. Priced, staffed, and timed differently from everything above.

Each specialty has its own page in this section. One boundary to know going in: social media, community, and content marketing usually sit with your marketing team, not your PR agency. The scope-vs-marketing page draws that line.

To buy well, name the business outcome first (customers, candidates, investors, or acquirers reading about you), then pay for only the line items that serve it. Most early companies need media relations and nothing else. PR's direct ROI is often negative in the first few months, so a focused $5,000/month coverage program beats a $9,500/month full-service retainer you don't yet have the news to feed. Both tiers are on the pricing page.