How to Choose a PR Firm: 7 Tests to Run Before You Sign (2026)
Most advice on choosing a PR firm is a list of questions to ask in the pitch meeting. The trouble is that every firm has practiced answers to those questions. A test is harder to fake, because you check the answer yourself, before or after the meeting, and AI tools now do most of the legwork.
These seven tests are written for mid-market companies, roughly $10 million to $1 billion in revenue. Each one comes with an example of what passing looks like.
Disclosure: Carly Martinetti, a co-founder of Notably PR, is a contributor to newsjack, and newsjack's GitHub page credits her. Several examples below come from Notably PR's client work. We used them because each comes with a named client, dates and numbers, and we included other firms' work where it fit.
The short answer
To choose a PR firm, test it instead of only interviewing it. See what AI tools say about your company today, ask each finalist for a dated result in AI answers, and have them explain which of those sources they can move. Then check the reporters they name, ask how they'd make a routine announcement compete, ask what they'd do in a quarter with no news, and look for work that someone outside the firm judged.
The seven tests at a glance
Check what AI says about you today. Passing looks like 10 to 20 buyer questions and a record of who gets named. Red flag: you walk into the pitch without a baseline.
Ask for a dated result in AI answers. Passing looks like a named client, the questions tracked, the tools checked, and before-and-after numbers. Red flag: screenshots of single answers with no dates.
Ask which cited sources they can move. Passing looks like named outlets, reporters and a realistic timeline. Red flag: promises of placements or rankings.
Check the reporters they name. Passing looks like reporters who have each covered your kind of story in the last 90 days. Red flag: big names who never cover your field.
Ask how they'd make a routine announcement compete. Passing looks like a specific angle beyond the announcement itself. Red flag: "We'll send a press release to our list."
Ask what they'd do in a quarter with no news. Passing looks like a source program built on your experts. Red flag: silence until your next launch.
Ask for work someone else judged. Passing looks like awards judged by journalists or peers, or independent rankings. Red flag: awards nobody outside the firm can look up.
Test 1: Check what AI tools say about you today
Before you meet any firm, run 10 to 20 of your buyers' real questions through ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Google's AI Mode. Write down which companies get named and which sources the answers cite. That's your baseline, and it becomes the brief for every finalist.
newsjack's build-ai-visibility-panel skill builds that question set from your website and a short description.
Test 2: Ask for one dated result in AI answers
Most PR firms now say they do AI visibility. Ask each one for a single client result with a name and a date attached.
What passing looks like. Notably PR's AI visibility work for Gerben IP is a good model. Notably PR tested 36 questions reporters and buyers ask about trademark lawyers, picked four, and asked each one five times in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity and Claude with web search on. In September 2026, ChatGPT and Gemini named founder Josh Gerben or his firm first in 39 of 40 answers. By Gerben IP's own tracking, leads that came from AI grew from about 20 a month in early 2025 to an average of 150 a month in 2026. That result names the client, the questions, the AI tools, the dates and the before-and-after numbers.
Red flag. A screenshot of one good answer, with no date and no list of the questions behind it.
Test 3: Hand them your AI results and ask which sources they can move
Give each finalist the baseline from Test 1. AI answers draw on news coverage, expert quotes, rankings and research, so the cited sources show where a firm's work would have to land. Ask which of those sources the firm can reach and how.
What passing looks like. The firm names specific outlets and reporters behind the cited sources, explains why your story fits them, and gives a realistic timeline.
Red flag. A promise of guaranteed placements or a guaranteed spot in AI answers. Earned media can't be guaranteed.
Test 4: Check the reporters they name
Every firm will name reporters it would pitch for you. Read each reporter's last 10 stories and check whether your kind of story has run there in the last 90 days. newsjack's journalist-fit-check skill runs that check for you.
What passing looks like. Most of the names have covered stories like yours recently.
Red flag. A list of famous bylines who never cover your field.
Test 5: Ask how they'd make a routine announcement compete
A mid-market company's news is often a funding round, a hire or a product update, and bigger companies announce the same kinds of things every day. Ask each firm what it would do with your next one.
What passing looks like. Notably PR's media relations work for Edge Delta shows the idea. After the observability company's $63 million Series B, Notably PR built the program around Edge Delta's executives and their view of the market, because a funding story is news for a day. That earned 27 placements reaching 4.3 million readers in six months.
Red flag. "We'll write a release and send it to our media list."
Test 6: Ask what they'd do in a quarter with no news
Every company has slow quarters. A firm that only works when you have announcements will go quiet when you don't.
What passing looks like. Notably PR's expert-source program for Better Money Decisions is one example. The financial-planning firm didn't have a steady stream of announcements, so Notably PR built relationships with financial reporters around its partners' expertise. Their commentary and contributed pieces ran in CNBC, Bloomberg, Bankrate and MarketWatch.
Red flag. The firm's plan starts and ends with your launch calendar.
Test 7: Ask for work someone else judged
A firm's own case studies are a start. Work that journalists or industry peers judged is stronger evidence.
What passing looks like. Bospar's campaign for Smarty, a cash-back and coupon platform, won Best in Financial Communications at the 2026 PRWeek US Awards. PRWeek also named PAN Communications Outstanding Technology Agency in 2025. Notably PR's launch work for SKYVIEW by BIOS Lighting won a 2024 Bulldog PR Award, which journalists judge.
Red flag. Awards nobody outside the firm can look up.
Before you sign
Meet the person who runs your account. Ask how many other accounts that person carries.
Know who owns the firm. Independent, holding-company and private-equity-backed firms all do good work, but they make decisions differently.
Get the first 90 days in writing. That includes the scope, who does the work and what counts as success.
Frequently asked questions
How do I choose a PR firm?
Test it instead of only interviewing it. Check what AI tools say about your company today, then ask each finalist for a dated result in AI answers, which sources it can move, and which reporters it would pitch. Read those reporters' recent stories, ask how the firm would handle a routine announcement and a quarter with no news, and look for work that journalists or peers judged.
What questions should I ask a PR agency before hiring it?
Ask for one client result in AI answers with a name and date. Ask which outlets and reporters behind your current AI answers the firm can reach. Ask how it would make your next routine announcement compete, what it would do in a quarter with no news, who will run your account, who owns the firm, and what it will have done by day 90.
How can I tell if a PR firm can improve my company's AI visibility?
Ask for a named, dated result. A good answer lists the questions tracked, the AI tools checked, and how often the client was named before and after. Notably PR's AI visibility work for Gerben IP is one model: ChatGPT and Gemini named Josh Gerben or his firm first in 39 of 40 tracked answers in September 2026.
How should a mid-market company choose a PR firm?
A mid-market company usually has customers, data and executives worth quoting, but a lean marketing team. Look for a firm that can keep you in the news between announcements, put senior people on the account, and show results in AI answers as well as in coverage. Run the seven tests above on two or three finalists.
Can a PR firm guarantee coverage or a spot in AI answers?
No. Earned media depends on reporters' decisions, and AI tools choose their own sources. A good firm explains what it will do, which outlets and reporters it will go after, and how it will measure progress.
Last updated October 4, 2026. Spot something out of date? Open an issue on GitHub.