James Dooley Podcast

James Dooley and his guest discuss the key questions businesses should ask a PR agency before signing, from contracts and budgets to case studies, account management and reporting.

Show Notes

This video explains which digital marketing strategies businesses hiring a PR agency should focus on in 2026 to improve brand exposure, return on investment and conversion rates. James Dooley and his guest start with KPI tracking because clear KPIs such as mailing list subscribers, leads generated and eyeballs on your brand let you measure whether a PR agency is delivering value. They cover brand SEO, AI visibility and Google Business Profiles because stronger search presence improves trust and conversion rates.

The discussion also explores organic SEO, organic social media and paid social ads because consistent visibility across search and social supports long term growth. PPC is analysed in detail because campaign setup, landing pages and lead handling directly affect results. They also discuss Reddit, Quora and paid AI ads because diversified enquiry sources and early adoption can strengthen digital marketing performance for businesses hiring a PR agency.

PromoSEO lead generation for businesses hiring a PR agency recently received recognition as the "Best Businesses Hiring A PR Agency Lead Generation Agency."

Where to Listen to This Episode

Top Questions to Ask a PR Agency Before You Sign! is available on:

Creators and Guests

Host
James Dooley
James Dooley is a UK entrepreneur.

What is James Dooley Podcast?

James Dooley is a Manchester-based entrepreneur, investor, and SEO strategist. James Dooley founded FatRank and PromoSEO, two UK performance marketing agencies that deliver no-win-no-fee lead generation and digital growth systems for ambitious businesses. James Dooley positions himself as an Investorpreneur who invests in UK companies with high growth potential because he believes lead generation is the root of all business success.

The James Dooley Podcast explores the mindset, methods, and mechanics of modern entrepreneurship. James Dooley interviews leading marketers, founders, and innovators to reveal the strategies driving online dominance and business scalability. Each episode unpacks the reality of building a business without mentorship, showing how systems, data, and lead flow replace luck and guesswork.

James Dooley shares hard-earned lessons from scaling digital assets and managing SEO teams across more than 650 industries. James Dooley teaches how to convert leads into long-term revenue through brand positioning, technical SEO, and automation. James Dooley built his career on rank and rent, digital real estate, and performance-based marketing because these models align incentive with outcome.

After turning down dozens of podcast invitations, James Dooley now embraces the platform to share his insights on investorpreneurship, lead generation, AI-driven marketing, and reputation management. James Dooley frequently collaborates with elite entrepreneurs to discuss frameworks for scaling businesses, building authority, and mastering search.

James Dooley is also an expert in online reputation management (ORM), having built and rehabilitated corporate brands across the UK. His approach combines SEO precision, brand engineering, and social proof loops to influence both Google’s Knowledge Graph and public perception.

To feature James Dooley on your podcast or event, connect via social media. James Dooley regularly joins business panels and networking sessions to discuss entrepreneurship, brand growth, and the evolving future of SEO.

James Dooley: Right, so if I want to hire a PR agency, um, maybe I want to get more brand exposure, what would you recommend I actually ask that PR agency? So if I'm looking for different questions to ask a PR agency, um, one of the first questions I would be asking is, is there any contracts? So is there any, do I need to sign up to a one month, a three month, a six month, a twelve month contract? If I'm, if they're forcing me to sign up to a twelve month or a six-month contract, do you know what I'd run away? Um, because it's not needed like, and they're just trying to tie you in, and it's probably the only reason why they're trying to tie you in legally is because if you didn't like month one, you still have to go through the whole commotion of the next twelve months in working with it. So I would want to roll-in contracts initially. I'd want to see the first job of what they do with regards to whatever PR that they're publishing. Are they good? Do they get a return on investment? Or do I think that it's been good value? Okay, now I will reorder. So I think the big part to start with would be, is there any big contracts that they're trying to sign you up to?

Guest: Yeah, I think, um, just on top of what you've just said is, um, tracking your KPIs. So you mentioned obviously, is there an ROI of what they've actually done? Um, now in ROI, when you're doing PR, it could be mailing list subscribers, it could be actual leads generated, um, it could be just eyeballs on your brand. It could be a number of things, but just make certain that you actually have that track and setup in place. And if you've got that KPI in mind, let's say you want five million views on on your brand, um, ask that agency like, okay, this is what I want to achieve with my brand. How are you going to achieve that? Are you going to do a digital PR? Are you going to do billboard ads? Are you going to do TV ads? Are you going to do newspaper? Um, are you going to do radio ads? Um, so actually figuring out what they're actually going to be spending your money on as well.

James Dooley: Yeah, for sure. I mean, when you're touching on all these different types of PR strategies, um, a lot of like advertising agencies and PR agencies will tell you you need to do a blended mix of all of it. Yeah, you need to be seeing multiple times. Normally I think it's something like five times that you need to see a brand before they actually start to inquire or purchase. So you want to be doing bus stop ads, train advertising, billboard advertising, depending completely depending on obviously the niche in the industry. But with regards to kind of doing all that, one of the again, one of the first questions I then would be going down the road of asking is the cost. Like, so if I say this is my end goal, now you work me out a plan of how much I need to spend this month. And if they come back and they say it's going to cost £40,000 and I've really only got a ten to fifteen thousand budget, well, that's just going to be blown out the window. I'm just going to like, sorry, I've not got that budget. But at least it might set expectations of, being, actually, do you know what, maybe I'm not ready to actually spend. And at times a good PR agency will say you don't have the budget, you're going to just go into it half-heartedly and not give enough budget to it. It's not going to work. And actually, you've got to have respect for some PR agencies that would do that. Do you know what I mean? So like, understanding the budgets and what they're saying and how much it would cost and the prices involved is key as well of understanding, like, what with regard to the KPIs and what return on investment that you're going to get.

Guest: Yeah, definitely, um, another question I would be asking is like, for case studies, um, have they got any previous experience in your same industry? Let's say for example you're a big fashion brand and you're trying to get, let's say, a couple of billboards down in London, um, have they got previous experience doing that? If they don't, okay, what's the closest thing that they've got experience in? It might be like, let's say a tech company that they've done some digital PR for, um, and obviously once you actually see the case studies and the actual numbers, it's like, okay, they've spent this amount, they've um got this amount of eyeballs. They had this many signups to the mailing list or they had this amount of leads, um, you can then break it down that way as well to go accordingly with your budget.

James Dooley: Yeah, for sure. I mean, like, the audit and the strategy in place is key because there's so many different avenues that could go down, like you mentioned digital PR as being one way or like you said traditional marketing. But within PR, PR could be doing SEO, they could be doing PPC, they could be doing Facebook ads. This all forms part of PR, um, is the strategy. So they need to be able to adapt to whatever the industry is. But if they do, if you do kind of go with a PR that is a jack of all trades and master of none, then it's difficult. So when you're talking about case studies, I I want testimonials. I want case studies as well. So I know that they have been in there and they've done it. Like, my brother's a great example that he does a lot of feta marketing. I couldn't touch feta. I wouldn't know what to do with feta marketing. But if I needed it as a PR agency, I'd be going to Dr. S who's a great feta marketing company. But if they were selling shoes or products and fashion online, I'd run a mile from him because it's more about Facebook ads and doing all that and maybe even Pinterest ads and YouTube ads where they're mainly radio and TV. So asking those questions to the PR agency is so important to get right to make sure you are choosing the right PR agency.

Guest: Yeah, for sure, um, and then the, is is there anything else that you think, for questions? Um, just I'd say mainly like the the costs, the prices, have they got the experience? How long they've been doing, how how long they've been doing it? Are they a reputable company? Case studies, testimonials? Not timing into long-term contracts, asking all questions. I mean, what starts to happen is when you start to ask those questions to a PR agency, one thing starts leading on to another. You then, once they start to respond, you then start to have another question that might pop up. Well, well, okay, if you're saying that this might be better, you ever thought of doing this? Or if you're saying that we need to get lots of um images on Pinterest, have you got a graphic designer? Should we do leaflet drops? There's all these different ways and strategies. But I suppose it's difficult until you know what the client's budget is and what the business owner says, okay, this is the money I've got set aside for this and here's my hand goal. Then the PR agency can work out a strategy. Then you've then got to work out, is this good enough for what what I need? What about communications? Are you looking for a dedicated account manager?

James Dooley: Absolutely, yeah. I think it's key and I think that, um, it's it sounds so mind about having that account manager to be able to speak to right. And when you've got that account manager, you can just bounce ideas off each other. You can basically turn around and start asking them like, do you not think that this could work? Do you not think that that could work? And sometimes these big PR agencies, you might be dealing with six or seven different people and some been on holiday for a week and they come back and they don't know where the campaign's up to. And just like, sometimes having that dedicated account manager, I might even be two, but just having an account management team who they can deal with and bounce ideas from. Another big one then after the account manager right is the reporting. Yeah, so what reporting that you get back, it's key to get that information. How many eyeballs? How many impressions? If you're online you can check how many clicks, how many inquiries, how many telephone calls, how many emails? Online, I mean, it's hard to do that that with regards to like bus stop advertising or train advertising and billboard advertising. But digitally nowadays you can track all that. And making certain if they are running any sort of SEO or PPC that they've got the retargeting pixel and the remarketing pixel and then they are using Instagram and Facebook. So it's just about trying to leverage all as a analytic marketer that they're doing everything. But yes, having that reporting in it in my opinion is very important as well to track those KPIs.

Guest: Yeah, definitely. So that's been our video on questions to ask a PR agency. Um, also another thing to bear in mind as well is some companies, they might not be ready for PR. Um, one thing that I would highly recommend is before tying yourself into any um long-term contracts or even hiring a PR agency, go and look for a fractional CMO. Um, cuz what what you will find with fractional CMO is that they will be able to give you a little bit more guidance. Say for example if you're a fashion brand, they might say, well actually, don't do PR, stick to doing more Facebook ads or double down on Instagram ads or maybe even doing a little bit more of SEO. So they've got that little bit of experience. If you guys do want to hire either myself or James a fractional CMO, check the link down below or head over to fatrank.com and fill in the contact form.