What happens in your first 90 days with a PR agency?
Use the first 90 days as an operating checkpoint, not a promised placement date. Coverage can arrive earlier or later because the news, outlet, and editor control the timing. The agency should still make progress visible from the first month through a target list, approved messages, outreach, replies, and open reporter conversations.
A sample first-quarter plan looks like this:
| Phase | What the agency does | What it needs from you |
|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1 to 4 | Onboarding, messaging, target media list | Your real story, your data, one named decision-maker |
| Weeks 5 to 8 | First pitches go out, relationships open | Fast approvals, a spokesperson, an open calendar |
| Weeks 9 to 12 | Pitches land, first placements, briefings | Show up for interviews, stay on message |
Two of those inputs only you can supply, and no agency can fake them:
- Raw material - a real launch, a funding round, a number, a customer outcome worth a reporter's time.
- Speed - a named approver who can respond inside the reporter's stated deadline.
The weeks 1 to 4 work is shared, not delegated. Your role in the messaging sprint is covered in the messaging-and-positioning page, and you should agree on success metrics before the ramp ends, which the goals-and-kpis page walks through.
Learn to tell a slow ramp from a stalled one. A slow ramp is quiet but visible: reporting shows named reporters, sends, replies, and next actions. PressFriendly activity records count 7,000+ targeted pitches a year to 2,500+ reporters, but that is an agency-wide scale example rather than a quota for one client. Set the expected activity range in your own scope. By day 90, compare the log with that baseline and ask the account lead to explain any sustained gap.
Set the activity baseline, reporting format, and 90-day review in writing before you sign.