Questions to Ask a PR Professional
Questions to ask a PR professional, written for two readers: a student or career changer who has twenty minutes with someone in public relations, and a business owner sounding out a PR person or agency before paying for one. The first four groups follow an informational interview, from the person's job and week through how coverage is won and measured, reporters and crises, to landing a first role, and the last group is for the prospective client.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Job and week
What does your job in PR involve from one day to the next?
Why ask it
PR covers writing, pitching reporters, advising executives, planning events and watching what is being said, and few people do all of it. A useful answer names the two or three things that filled this month. If you get a definition of public relations instead, ask what was on their screen at ten this morning.
How did you get into public relations?
Why ask it
People arrive from journalism, a communications degree, politics or an internship that turned into a job, so the route itself shows you which doors exist. Ask what they would repeat and what was luck. A career changer should listen for the point where earlier experience started to count.
Do you work at an agency or in-house, and how does that shape the job?
Why ask it
Agency people tend to juggle several clients and account for their hours, while in-house people serve one employer and learn its internal politics. Someone who has done both can say what they missed after moving, and which side they would pick for a first job. If they have only known one, save your questions about the other for someone else.
What do you enjoy most about PR, and what wears you out?
Why ask it
Write down the second half. Being ignored by reporters, waiting on sign-offs and clients who expect a front page are the usual candidates, and they tend to fall hardest on whoever is newest. Then picture a week made mostly of the one they named.
What does PR do that marketing and advertising do not?
Why ask it
The usual line is that advertising buys its space and PR has to earn it by persuading someone else the story is worth telling. Listen for how blurred it is where they work, since some teams run press, social accounts and paid partnerships side by side. If the boundary is fuzzy there, ask who settles it when two teams want the same announcement.
Who has to approve your work before it goes out?
Why ask it
A press release can pass through a client contact, a lawyer and the executive being quoted before anyone outside sees it. The length of that chain decides how fast the team can answer a reporter on deadline. For a vivid answer, have them describe the last draft that came back barely recognizable.
How much of your week is writing, and what kinds?
Why ask it
Expect a mix: pitches of a few lines, press releases, talking points, quotes drafted for an executive, statements, award entries. Much of it goes out under someone else's name, and it is worth finding out now whether that would bother you. The pieces a beginner is trusted with first are the ones to practice.
What do you specialize in, and did you choose it?
Why ask it
Consumer, technology, health, finance, public affairs, entertainment and internal communication can feel like separate trades, each with its own reporters and its own rules. Someone who fell into a sector knows how hard it is to move to another, and usually has one they would not go back to.
How often does work reach you in the evening or on a weekend?
Why ask it
News does not keep office hours, so 'never' would be a surprise. What matters is whether out-of-hours cover is shared around the team or lands on one person's phone, and whether the time comes back. 'Now and then' means something different to everyone, so get the date of the last time it happened.
When people call PR 'spin', what do you tell them?
Why ask it
They have heard it before, so asked with a smile it lands as curiosity and not as an accusation. The defense they reach for first, whether that reporters check everything or that one lie ends a relationship, shows what they take pride in. It also hands you a sentence for the relative who asks why you want to do this.
Coverage
How do you tell whether something is news or only an announcement?
Why ask it
Most of the job rests on this judgment. A strong answer has a test in it, such as who outside the company would care, why now, and what is new. Ask for something a client was excited about that they had to say was not a story.
Can you walk me through a pitch that landed, starting with the first email?
Why ask it
The subject line, the length of the message and the reason for choosing that reporter are the details to get. The better accounts include reading what the reporter had already written. If the whole story is 'we sent it to our list', the win may have been luck, and you have learned how that team works.
How many of your pitches go nowhere, and what do you do with silence?
Why ask it
Rejection is routine in media relations, and people who last have a habit for it: one follow-up, a new angle, a different outlet, or letting it go. Be a little skeptical of anyone who says most of theirs succeed. The number of times they chase before stopping is a detail worth copying.
When is a press release the right tool, and when is it a waste of time?
Why ask it
Opinions differ sharply, which is what makes this worth asking. Some treat a release mainly as a record and a fact sheet and rely on personal pitches to win coverage, while others still send them widely. Either view holds up if they can say what the release is for.
How do you measure whether PR worked?
Why ask it
Practitioners disagree about this, and the disagreement is the interesting part. Counts of clippings and audience reach are easy to produce and say little on their own, so listen for a link to something the organization wanted: inquiries, sign-ups, search interest, a changed opinion among a named group. If they quote the advertising value of coverage, ask whether they believe the number.
When do you offer one outlet a story first, and when do you send it to everyone?
Why ask it
An exclusive can buy a bigger piece from one reporter and annoy every reporter who was left out, and people weigh that trade differently. Sound reasoning mentions what the client needs and whose readers matter most. Anyone burned by a story that ran small or late will tell you how they hedge now.
What do you say when a client wants a story no reporter would run?
Why ask it
It tests whether the person is an adviser or an order-taker. Good answers involve saying so early and offering something else: a different angle, a smaller outlet, the company's own blog. 'We pitch it anyway' deserves a follow-up about what that does to their standing with reporters.
How far ahead is a launch planned, and what usually upsets the plan?
Why ask it
The timeline shows how much of the job is logistics: approvals, a spokesperson's calendar, an embargo date, a product that is not ready. Listen for how much slack they build in. If nothing ever slips in their telling, ask about the last announcement that moved.
How much of your job is press now, and how much is social media, influencers and the company's own channels?
Why ask it
In some places press is still the whole job, and in others it is one of four or five channels a single team runs. The split tells you what the role needs beyond writing a pitch. The seams show on a bad day, when someone has to decide who answers on the social accounts.
Which piece of coverage are you proudest of, and what did it take to get?
Why ask it
Let them enjoy this one. Listen past the outlet's name for the work behind it: how long it took, how many attempts, whose idea it was. Then ask what the coverage changed for the client, a part of the story they may never have been asked for.
Has AI changed how you draft pitches or track coverage, and what are you not allowed to use it for?
Why ask it
Rules differ by employer, and some clients restrict what may be put into such tools, which is why the second half is worth asking. Drafting, summarizing coverage and building media lists come up often. What they keep by hand, frequently the pitch itself and anything sensitive, is their view of where the skill lies.
Media and crises
How do you start a relationship with a reporter you have never met?
Why ask it
The answers worth copying are unglamorous: read their work, send only what fits their beat, be quick with facts, never waste their time. Be wary of talk about 'contacts' as something a person owns. Ask how many reporters would take their call today, and why.
What do journalists complain about most in the pitches they get?
Why ask it
Someone good at this knows the list by heart: wrong beat, wrong name, big attachments, a follow-up an hour later. If they have worked as a reporter themselves they will have examples. Treat each complaint as a rule for your own first pitches.
What do 'off the record', 'on background' and 'embargo' mean in practice where you work?
Why ask it
These terms get used loosely and reporters do not all define them the same way, so listen for a habit of agreeing on the terms before anyone speaks. Ask for a time a misunderstanding caused trouble. The lesson for a beginner is to treat anything said to a reporter as usable until both sides have agreed otherwise.
What do you do when a reporter calls about a story you knew nothing about?
Why ask it
The disciplined reply is to take the question and the deadline, promise a time to call back, and go and find out. Guessing on the spot and a flat 'no comment' are the two ways it tends to go wrong. Notice how quickly they can reach someone who has the facts, since that is often the real limit on a good response.
What do you do when a reporter gets a fact wrong about your client?
Why ask it
The route matters: a quick, polite note to the reporter with the evidence, and the editor only if that fails. Listen for the line they draw between an error and a story the client simply disliked. Asking for corrections over tone spends trust they will want later.
How do you prepare someone who has never given an interview?
Why ask it
Media training often falls to senior people, so a junior may be describing sessions they watched. Either way, expect two or three points to keep returning to, practice on camera, and the hardest question asked in rehearsal so it is no surprise on the day. The hard case is an executive who refuses to rehearse, and their way around it shows how much standing they have.
What happens in the first hour after bad news breaks about a client?
Why ask it
A practiced answer comes out as a sequence: find out what is true, decide who speaks, tell staff, put out a short holding line, watch what is being said. Hesitation here is informative. Plans tend to stall on who can approve a statement at night, so see whether they know.
Can you tell me about a crisis you worked on, and what you would do differently now?
Why ask it
They may need to strip out names, and that is fine. The second half matters more: someone who learned from it will name a specific delay, or a line they wish they had not used. Be cautious with a version in which everything went right, which is how the story gets told in a sales meeting.
When is saying nothing the right call, and when does it make things worse?
Why ask it
There is no rule, and the reasoning is what you are listening for. Good answers weigh whether the organization is at fault, whether the story will fade without fuel, and how silence looks to the people affected. What may be said during a dispute differs by place and situation, so ask how they work with lawyers.
Have you ever been asked to say something you did not think was true?
Why ask it
Ask it plainly and wait. Most have a story about a line they refused or softened and how the client took it. If they work under a professional body's code of conduct, ask which one and whether it has ever settled an argument.
Breaking in
Which skills should someone starting out work on first?
Why ask it
Writing short and clean nearly always comes first, then reading the news closely, then being organized enough to track twenty threads. 'Relationships' is the answer to unpack: underneath it is usually being accurate, quick and careful with a reporter's time. Take the skill they rank first and find a way to show it in your next application.
If I wanted a PR job a year from now, what would you have me do first?
Why ask it
'First' forces an order, which general advice lacks. Typical picks are writing something every week, earning one real placement or landing an internship, depending on how their own team hires. Say in a sentence where you are starting from, or you will get the advice they give everyone.
What would make you interview an applicant with no PR experience?
Why ask it
People who screen applications can say what stops them scrolling: a cover email that reads like a good pitch, signs the applicant follows the news, one piece of real writing. Many will add that a typo in an application for a writing job ends it. Someone who has never hired can still say what their own first boss noticed about them.
Does a degree in PR or communications matter, or do employers look at something else?
Why ask it
Requirements differ by country, employer and sector, and one person can only speak for the teams they have seen. The useful fact is what the newest people around them studied, which is often a spread from journalism to history. If a qualification or accreditation comes up, find out who actually requires it and who merely likes to see it.
What should a beginner's writing samples or portfolio include?
Why ask it
A handful of short pieces usually beats a thick folder: a press release, a pitch email, an article, a social post or two. Work for a student group, a charity or a relative's business counts if it was real. Ask whether they would look at one of yours and tell you what to cut.
How could a student earn a first piece of press coverage without an internship?
Why ask it
Good answers are specific and cheap: handle publicity for a campus event, get a local business into a local paper, pitch a student project to a trade newsletter. One placement you earned yourself gives you a story for every job interview. Volunteer work for a nonprofit counts the same way, provided a real reporter said yes.
What do interns and the most junior people on your team spend their days doing?
Why ask it
Expect media lists, coverage tracking, first drafts, meeting notes and research. Titles differ by employer, account coordinator and assistant account executive among them, so ask what the entry rung is called there. The telling detail is how soon a junior is allowed to pitch a reporter alone.
What should a first job in PR pay around here?
Why ask it
Framed as the going rate, it lets them answer without revealing their own salary. Agency and in-house, one sector and the next, one city and another all pay differently, so have them say which market they mean. An industry salary survey or current job postings will show whether their figure still holds.
What mistakes do you see new people make in their first year?
Why ask it
Common answers are pitching without reading the reporter, burying the point, promising a client something only a journalist controls, and hiding an error. Whichever they name first has probably cost their team recently, and how it was handled shows how the place treats beginners.
I am coming from another career. What carries over, and what would I have to learn from scratch?
Why ask it
Name your field when you ask. Knowing a sector from the inside can carry real weight, since a former nurse or engineer understands a client's world faster than a generalist, while pitching and news sense are usually new. Ask whether they have hired a career changer and at what level that person came in.
Do you belong to a professional association, and has it been worth the fee?
Why ask it
Which bodies exist, what they cost and what they offer differ by country, so let them name the one that counts where they work. Some people credit a local chapter with their first contacts and others never attended a meeting. A student can follow up about a cheaper student rate and events open to non-members.
Which outlets and newsletters do you read before you start work each day?
Why ask it
PR people are paid to know what reporters are covering, so the list should be long and specific: outlets, newsletters, a few individual writers. Start on two of them the same week. A month of reading them is also the cheapest test of whether the daily material of the job holds your interest.
What do the senior jobs in PR look like, and where do people go when they leave the field?
Why ask it
Routes include running accounts or an agency, heading communications in-house, going freelance, or crossing into marketing, public affairs or investor relations. The moves that surprised them among former colleagues show what the skills are worth outside the field. If they describe their own next step, you have also learned what the job looks like from the middle.
Who in your network sees PR from a different seat than you do?
Why ask it
Ask for a contrast: if they are at an agency, someone in-house; if they are corporate, someone at a nonprofit or in government. Check whether you may use their name in the introduction. Send a short thanks afterward saying whom you contacted, so the favor does not vanish into silence.
Before you hire
What would you need to know about my business before saying whether PR can help?
Why ask it
Start here if you are the client. The person worth your money asks questions back: who your customers are, what you want to happen, what is new about you. Be cautious with anyone who has a plan before they have asked anything.
Which businesses like mine have you worked for, and what came of it?
Why ask it
Size, sector, the outlets reached and what the coverage did for the business are the four things to get. A conversation with one current client and one former one will tell you more than a case study. Experience in your trade or your town often counts for more than a famous name on their client list.
What is a realistic result for a business my size in the first six months?
Why ask it
Listen for modest, concrete outcomes and an account of what they depend on. Earned coverage takes time to build, and a careful person will say what could go wrong. Write the answer down and bring it to the six-month review.
Can you promise coverage in a particular outlet?
Why ask it
The answer you are hoping for is no. Whether a story runs is the reporter's and editor's decision, so a firm promise often means a paid placement or sponsored content. Those can be legitimate, but they are a different product, so ask which one is on offer and how it would be labeled.
Who would do the work on my account day to day?
Why ask it
The person who wins your business and the person who emails reporters for you can be two different people, particularly at an agency. Meet the second one before signing and find out how many other clients they carry. With a solo practitioner, the question becomes who covers when they are ill or on vacation.
How do you charge, and what is not included?
Why ask it
Some charge a monthly retainer, some a fixed fee per project and some by the hour, and which suits you depends on whether you need steady work or one launch. Find out what a month's fee buys in hours or finished pieces, and whether distribution services, photography or travel are billed on top. Have the answer in writing before any work starts.
Which outlets and reporters would you approach for us, and why those?
Why ask it
You are checking whether they know what your customers actually read, which for a local business may be a regional paper, a trade title or a podcast. A list of national names with no reasoning behind it is a warning. Ask what the story would be for the first outlet they named.
How will you report progress, and how often will we talk?
Why ask it
Settle the rhythm before signing: a monthly summary, a call, a shared list of who was pitched and what they said. Seeing the pitches that failed is useful too, since it shows both the effort and how the market responded. Decide together which result would make you both call it working.
What will you need from me, and how much of my time?
Why ask it
PR cannot be handed over entirely. Expect to supply facts, approve wording quickly and be available to a reporter at short notice, sometimes the same afternoon. If you cannot do that, say so now and ask how they would work around it.
What happens if we want to stop?
Why ask it
Ask about the minimum term, the notice period, and who keeps the media lists, drafts and photos produced along the way. Terms vary by provider and by where you are, so read the contract and ask how it works there. Someone confident in their work tends to be relaxed about this question.
How to get the most from a conversation with a PR professional
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before you meet
Know which conversation you are having
A student or career changer is asking someone to describe their working life, and the first four groups are written for that. A business owner is deciding whether to pay for a service, and wants Before you hire plus the questions on measurement and pitching under Coverage. Mixing the two confuses the other person about what you want from them, so choose one and say so at the start.
Ask for the time the way they would pitch
Your request is a pitch, and it will be read by someone who writes pitches for a living. Keep it to a few lines: who you are, why them in particular, twenty minutes, and two or three times that would suit. Mention something specific about their work, such as a campaign or a client sector, so it is clear the message was not sent to thirty people.
Read what they have put out
Look at their employer's or agency's site, the kinds of clients it lists, and any recent announcement you can find coverage of. Then your questions can start from something real: 'I saw the coverage of the store opening. How did that come together?' People in this field notice research because it is the first step of their own job.
Pick a handful
Twenty minutes is time for five or six questions and their follow-ups. Take the opening one or two from Job and week, then choose by what you most need to decide: whether the work would suit you, how to get a first role, or whether to hire. Keep the rest as spares in case an answer is short.
During the conversation
Expect a polished first answer
You are talking to someone whose job is choosing words under pressure, so the first reply is often smooth and a little general. One follow-up usually gets underneath it: 'What did that look like last time?' or 'What went wrong along the way?' Ask it with curiosity and they will mostly enjoy being pressed.
Let them keep clients anonymous
Much of what a PR person knows is confidential, and crisis work especially so. Say early that you do not need names and that 'a food company' or 'a previous employer' is fine. You will get fuller stories, and you will have shown the discretion the job requires.
Ask for the last time it happened
Questions about pitching, measurement and crises all improve when tied to a recent case. 'How do you handle a correction?' gets a principle. 'When did you last ask for one?' gets a reporter, a deadline and an outcome, which is what you can learn from.
Leave the favor for the end
Do not ask for a job or an internship in an informational interview. Ask for advice, for one more person to talk to, and for permission to send a short note later. If there is an opening they think you fit, they will raise it themselves.
If you are thinking of hiring one
Decide what you want PR to do
Before the first call, write one sentence about the result you are after: more local customers knowing you exist, credibility with investors, a response to a bad review that is spreading. A PR person can tell you whether press coverage is a sensible way to get it. Without that sentence, every proposal will sound equally good.
Put the same questions to two or three people
Ask each candidate the questions under Before you hire in roughly the same order and note the answers. Differences in price are easier to judge once you can see differences in who does the work, what is included and what each one thinks is realistic for you.
Judge the reasoning, not the contact list
Anyone can name famous outlets. What you are paying for is judgment about which story of yours a particular reporter might want, and the patience to pitch it properly. The candidate who tells you one of your ideas is not news, and explains why, has shown you that judgment for free.
Agree on what counts as working
Settle before signing what you will both look at after three and six months, and write it into the agreement or an email. Fees, terms and notice periods differ from one provider and place to another, so ask how each of them handles it and read the contract yourself.
Mistakes to avoid
Treating PR as free advertising
Coverage that is earned cannot be scheduled, worded or repeated on demand, and a reporter may include a point you would have left out. If you need a fixed message on a fixed date, that is advertising. Asking a PR person about the difference early saves both of you from the wrong expectations.
Taking one sector for the whole field
Someone who launches consumer products and someone who handles communications for a hospital or a city department have very different weeks. After one conversation you know one corner. Use the last question under Breaking in to find a person in a different seat before you decide the field is or is not for you.
Pressing for confidential detail
If they decline to name a client or describe a crisis, let it go and ask about the general shape instead. Pushing tells them you might be careless with information, which is the last impression to leave with someone who could recommend you.
Skipping the thank-you
Write within a day, keep it short, and mention one thing you will act on. In a trade built on well-judged short messages, that note is also a writing sample, and it is the one they are most likely to remember.