Digital PR agency

A digital PR agency's primary job is to get your business mentioned in online publications. The mention usually includes a link back to your site. This is called earned media. The agency researches your industry, identifies journalists who cover it, crafts a story angle, and sends pitches. A successful pitch results in a published article that names your company.

The work is manual and relationship driven. Good agencies have media contacts and know what different editors want. They spend time understanding your business to find a credible news hook. This could be original data from a survey you ran, a unique opinion from your founder, or a commentary on a trending industry event. The goal is to make your company a source, not an advertiser.

Most reputable digital PR agencies work on a monthly retainer. Prices start around 3000 dollars per month and commonly range from 5000 to 10000 dollars. For enterprise brands, retainers can exceed 15000 dollars. This fee typically covers a dedicated account manager, a set number of hours for strategy and pitching, and reporting. It does not guarantee any specific number of links or placements.

A typical engagement lasts at least three months, often six. The first month is for research and strategy. The second and third months see active pitching. Results, meaning published links, usually begin to appear in month two or three. The agency will report on metrics like the number of pitches sent, journalist responses, and the Domain Rating of the sites that linked. Payment is due regardless of the number of links secured that month.

The main risk is paying for activity, not outcomes. You pay the retainer for the agency's time spent pitching. If no journalists bite, you still pay. Some agencies use junior staff to send templated pitches at high volume, which can damage your brand's reputation with journalists. Others might pursue links from low quality sites just to hit a number.

A significant trade off is control. The agency owns the journalist relationships. If you end the contract, those contacts leave with them. Furthermore, some agencies engage in practices that violate search engine guidelines, such as buying links or participating in link schemes. The penalty for this falls on your website, not the agency. It is crucial to ask how an agency sources its links and to avoid any that promise a specific number or guarantee placements.

Ask for specific, recent case studies for businesses like yours. A good case study names the client, shows the published article, and explains the story angle that made it work. Be wary of agencies that only show metrics like total links or Domain Rating without showing the actual coverage.

Ask who will be doing the work. Is it the person you met with, or will your account be handed to a junior executive. Request a sample pitch from a recent campaign to judge the quality of the writing and research. Finally, read the contract carefully. Look for clauses that tie you in for a long minimum term, or that make you liable if the agency's tactics cause a search engine penalty.

Mentionry is not an agency. It is software that automates the research and drafting part of digital PR. You give it your domain. It finds specific, individual opportunities where your business could earn a link. This includes pages that link to your competitors but not to you, journalists asking for sources, and relevant podcasts or awards. For each opportunity, it drafts a personalized email for you to send.

The key distinction is that Mentionry sends the pitch from your own connected mailbox. You use your email address, your domain, and your sending reputation. Replies land in your inbox. The software does not place or publish anything. It finds the opening and writes the ask. Whether a link then appears is the publisher's decision. This model means you pay for the software, not for a publicist's time. There is no retainer. You control the relationships because you are the one emailing.

The software is built to avoid common risks. It excludes paid placements by design. Its drafting model can refuse to pitch an opportunity if it decides your business cannot honestly answer the journalist's query. In a measured run for one domain, it found 110 opportunities, judged 40 as worth pursuing, and drafted pitches for 14 that were a genuine fit. The filtering is the product, not the volume.