Search for a PR agency in Bangalore and you will find agencies promising media coverage, digital PR, influencer marketing, thought leadership and “360-degree” campaigns. The harder question is not who offers the longest service list. It is who can solve the specific reputation problem in front of you.
1. What outcome are we actually hiring PR to create?
“Get coverage” is not an outcome. Better objectives include building founder credibility before fundraising, increasing trust around a healthcare launch, improving stakeholder confidence during expansion, shaping a public narrative or creating awareness for a new category.
2. How deep is the agency’s media understanding?
Ask how the agency decides which journalists and outlets matter. A good answer should reference audience fit, beat relevance, story timing, proof strength and the likely editorial angle—not a giant undifferentiated media database.
3. Do they understand your sector’s risk and language?
Political communications, healthcare, education, real estate and consumer products do not carry the same reputational risk. An agency should understand regulatory sensitivity, stakeholder expectations and the proof standards that apply to your category.
4. Who will actually work on the account?
Meet the people who will write, pitch, advise and handle difficult calls. Ask how much senior-team involvement remains after the pitch.
5. What happens when the story turns negative?
Even if you are not hiring for crisis communications, the agency should have a clear escalation model: who decides, who writes, who approves, which stakeholders need to be informed and how quickly a holding response can be prepared.
6. How will success be measured?
Raw clipping counts and potential reach are weak proxies. Better measures include relevance of coverage, message pull-through, quality of publication, spokesperson visibility, sentiment, share of voice, qualified inbound interest and the outcome the programme was designed to support.
7. Can PR connect with the rest of your marketing?
Earned media can become more valuable when it connects to founder content, social distribution, creators, events, performance media and owned editorial. But integration should have a reason.
8. What proof can they show?
Ask for relevant examples, not just famous logos. Good proof explains the challenge, decision, execution and result.
9. Do you trust their judgement?
PR involves ambiguity. Sometimes the right answer is not to pitch a story, not to respond immediately, or not to amplify a weak claim. The agency should be willing to disagree when the reputational cost is higher than the short-term attention gain.