What Is the Real Value of Hiring a PR Consultant? (It’s Not Just Press Hits)
Hiring a PR consultant isn’t just about placement. It’s about experience, relationships, access, and leverage, much of which is invisible unless you’ve worked inside the industry.
Most people evaluate PR by asking one question: “What coverage did we get?”
That’s a reasonable place to start. It’s also where most people stop, and that’s where PR tends to get undervalued.
This article explains what PR consultants actually do, the real value of hiring a PR consultant, why press hits alone are a poor way to measure PR success, and how experience, judgment, and relationships quietly shape outcomes long before a story runs.
When you hire a PR consultant, you’re not paying for placement. (“Pay-for-play” is not PR. Full stop.) At its core, what a PR consultant does is help companies earn visibility and credibility in a way that supports real business outcomes, not just headlines.
You’re paying for experience, relationships, access, and leverage, much of which only becomes visible once you’ve already avoided the wrong moves.
The Real Value of Hiring a PR Consultant — in 4 Parts
1. Strategic experience & risk assessment (the part clients don’t see)
When you hire a PR consultant or agency, you’re not paying for a certain number of emails sent to reporters. You’re paying for someone who knows:
Which stories are worth telling (and which will quietly hurt credibility)
How editors actually think, including what they’re tired of and what they’ll lean into
How to frame complex, technical, or unsexy businesses into narratives journalists can use
Which common “good ideas” founders insist on that reliably go nowhere
A founder once wanted to pitch a “major product update” that every competitor had already launched. We didn’t pitch it. Six weeks later, we reframed the story around a market shift the reporters were already tracking— and got real interest.
This kind of judgment comes from pattern recognition built over years. You can’t Google it or ChatGPT it. You either earn it the hard way, or you borrow it.
The Myth of “No Such Thing as Bad Press” & How It Hurts Business
There is such a thing as bad press, and it doesn’t just hurt optics. It can damage brand trust, undermine industry credibility, and materially affect revenue, valuation, and stock price.
History makes that clear:
Enron collapsed after investigative coverage exposed accounting fraud, wiping out trust and shareholder value almost overnight.
WeWork saw its valuation crater after media scrutiny around governance and financials reshaped public perception.
Volkswagen’s “Dieselgate” lost the company billions of dollars and long-term brand trust after emissions fraud reporting triggered fines, recalls, and stock drops.
Boeing faced years of reputational and financial fallout as investigative reporting exposed safety and cultural failures. Many would say that is ongoing today.
In all cases case, attention wasn’t neutral. It either was fuel on the fire or it became the fire.
These are extreme examples, but the same mechanics apply even when there’s no fraud, scandal, or wrongdoing involved. Most reputational damage doesn’t come from investigations; it comes from poor judgment, bad timing, or tone-deaf framing that could have been avoided with experienced PR guidance:
Target’s abrupt reversals and unclear messaging around DEI initiatives triggered consumer boycotts and sustained brand fallout, contributing to consecutive quarters of declining sales and a stock drop of roughly 30%, erasing tens of billions of dollars in market value.
Mark Zuckerberg’s years of tone-deaf public comments minimizing user privacy concerns helped cement a long-term narrative that Facebook didn’t take responsibility seriously, fueling regulatory pressure and trust erosion.
Peloton’s early pandemic messaging (“If you’re not working out, that’s on you”) came across as elitist and guilt-driven, contributing to declining brand affinity as growth slowed. At the height of the pandemic, Peloton’s stock traded around $171 per share with a ~$50 billion market cap; afterward, it fell to lows near $3 per share.
Elon Musk’s “Funding secured” tweet about taking Tesla private at $420 triggered SEC action, lawsuits, stock volatility, and years of scrutiny.
Now, PR is not solely crisis communications, nor is it mostly crisis communications — at least not for the majority of brands. But it is always keen judgment on how your brand lives in the public narrative.
Good PR judgment shows up in the decisions clients never see:
Advising against stories that invite scrutiny a business isn’t ready to withstand
Choosing context and restraint over hype
Protecting reporter trust by not forcing narratives that won’t hold up
Once the wrong story takes hold, it’s extraordinarily hard to reverse. This is why strategic PR experience isn’t just about getting stories placed. It’s about making sure the right stories run. This judgment extends beyond what gets pitched to how (and to whom) stories are brought forward.
2. Relationships (not “contacts”)
PR isn’t about having a list of names. It’s about understanding how journalists actually work and respecting that.
A strong PR consultant knows things like:
Which reporters will only talk to founders or C-suite, no matter how good the story is
Who hates email but reads every DM
Which reporters are sticklers for AP style and who will instantly delete any pitch with an exclamation point
Who will never reply to a pitch (but might still use it)
Who’s open to a quick coffee when you’re in the same city
They also know the unglamorous but critical details:
That some reporters and outlets don’t want your comments unless you provide relevant images with proper credit
That timing matters as much as content; some want a heads-up weeks in advance, others only care about what’s happening right now
That format preferences vary widely and rarely written down
Most importantly, a PR consultant takes the time to know what reporters actually cover. I don’t mean this in a generic “they write about tech” way, but in a specific, beat-level sense:
What topics they return to again and again or subjects they’re clearly curious about
What angles and stories they’ve written recently
What standards or scope limits they have (ie. they only cover major Silicon Valley tech giants, not tech startups… but their colleague covers startups!)
What they never touch, no matter how compelling it sounds
Pitching a reporter without knowing their beat or having any familiarity with their work is one of the fastest ways to get nowhere. Even a good story dies if it lands in the wrong inbox, framed the wrong way.
I’ve had reporters say “Send me anything you’ve got” —not because they plan to publish every story I pitch, but because they trusted I wouldn’t send them something irrelevant.
These relationships aren’t built overnight. And they’re very easy to burn.
3. Access (with real dollar value)
Most companies don’t realize that PR consultants bring serious infrastructure with them. Clients benefit from this access without having to maintain it themselves.
Reporter databases and monitoring tools that cost thousands per year
Private journalist communities and listservs where opportunities surface early
Real-time awareness of what reporters are about to cover, not what they already published
Faster response windows that dramatically improve hit rates
Being early and relevant beats being loud.
This is also where experience matters in deciding when a press release actually makes sense — and when it’s a waste of money. Releases cost money, add-ons (logo, photo, too many words…) add up, and distribution alone doesn’t create coverage.
4. Leverage and efficiency
A good PR consultant doesn’t just pitch. They prioritize.
Which narratives deserve attention now versus later versus never (often the most valuable decision)
How to develop thought leadership from your priority brand narratives, trending topics, executive perspectives, and original research
How to build credibility so coverage compounds instead of starting from zero each time
Good PR builds on itself. One strong placement makes the next one easier. That’s the difference between one-off coverage and a deliberate earned media strategy that compounds over time.
Small, precise press lists often outperform broad, generic ones
Different narratives require different scale by design
Consistency and relevance matter far more than volume
Clear reporting focuses on what was pitched, to whom, and why, not just which logos landed.
How PR Creates Long-Term Business Value Over Time
The four elements above—experience, relationships, access, and leverage—don’t operate independently. They reinforce each other over time.
This is where PR starts to look very different from the outside than it does on the inside.
Why Top-Tier Media Works Differently
Top-tier outlets don’t optimize for company visibility. They optimize for reader value. That distinction matters more than most founders realize.
Editors and reporters are looking for:
Insight that helps their audience understand what’s changing
Context that explains why something matters now
Sources who make their jobs easier, not louder
Credibility is cumulative. Each relevant interaction lowers friction for the next one.
Many top-tier placements don’t start with a “big announcement.” They come from:
Reporter relationships built months or years earlier
Expert commentary before a major story ever runs
Showing up consistently with perspective, not promotion
Can you get top-tier coverage as a startup or brand that has not yet invested in PR? Yes — it definitely happens. However, it’s the exception to the rule of “press coverage begets more press coverage” — and it still requires a strong understanding of PR best practices, a newsworthy angle, and a targeted approach.
The Overlooked Advantage: PR That Understands the Rest of Marketing
Strong PR doesn’t live in a silo. It shows up everywhere to steward brand awareness — sometimes in ways that are very visible, and sometimes in ways you only notice when something goes wrong.
The best PR consultants understand things like:
How earned media feeds organic search, sales conversations, and investor confidence
How coverage affects traffic—and when a hit might overwhelm an unprepared site
(Yes, a national feature is great. No, it’s not great if it drops on a holiday weekend and your site can’t handle it. Yes, this happened to me. Darn you, Lester Holt!)How to balance product launches that need to drive customer action and build long-term brand credibility
How PR supports employer brand, recruiting, and internal morale—not just external visibility
How to leverage press coverage on your website, in sales collateral, on social media, etc. (there’s more juice in that squeeze than you might think!)
PR decisions don’t stop at “Will this get covered?” They extend to “What happens if it does?”
How ACC Approaches PR (In Practice)
My approach to PR is shaped by 15+ years across communications, brand, and marketing leadership—in-house and as a consultant, across multiple industries. I’ve built programs from scratch, led high-stakes moments, advised executives, and taught these principles to other practitioners.
I bring broader marketing executive experience to PR. I understand how coverage affects traffic, growth, hiring, partnerships, investor confidence, and long-term brand equity.
And that’s what 100% of people who contact me want: Not press for the sake of press, but brand visibility that actually does something.
If you’re thinking about PR because you want visibility and credibility that actually move the business forward, I understand that. And I can help with that.
Want to chat about how ACC could support your brand? Get in touch via the form below.
FAQ: Hiring a PR Consultant
Is hiring a PR consultant worth it?
It is when the goal is long-term credibility and business impact, not just press hits. Good PR reduces reputational risk, improves media outcomes, and supports growth over time.
What does a PR consultant actually do?
A PR consultant helps shape narratives, manage media relationships, prioritize what should and should not be said publicly, and ensure coverage supports broader business goals.
How should PR success be measured?
Through momentum: reporter engagement, narrative adoption, quality of coverage, and how visibility compounds — not just by logo counts. Read more on how to value earned media.