What is involved in a PR agency onboarding process?

Starting with a new PR agency should feel exciting, collaborative, and organised from day one. A strong onboarding process lays the foundation for a successful partnership, helping both sides align on goals, expectations, and communication from the outset.

We believe the best agency relationships feel no different to working with an internal marketing team. PR works most effectively when there is ongoing collaboration, transparency, and regular communication. Rather than operating as an external supplier, we aim to become an extension of your team, fully immersed in your business, goals, and the day-to-day developments shaping your brand.

Understanding your brand and business

Before we even meet for an initial conversation, we begin by researching your business, brand presence, competitors, and industry landscape. This gives us an early understanding of where your business currently sits within the market and where opportunities may exist.

Once we begin working together, we then move into a more detailed discovery phase, taking the time to understand your business from the inside out. This stage is essential in helping our team gain a deeper understanding of your brand, audience, competitors, industry, and wider market position, ensuring all PR activity is strategic, targeted, and aligned with your business objectives.

This research process often includes reviewing:

• Your website and social media channels
• Existing press coverage and online visibility
• Competitor activity and positioning
• Industry trends and emerging opportunities
• Previous PR or marketing campaigns

The aim is to build a clear, well-informed picture of your business, identify the most valuable PR opportunities, and create a strong foundation for future strategy and campaigns.

The PR kick-off meeting

One of the most important stages of the onboarding process is the kick-off meeting. This is organised as soon as the contract begins. It’s where everyone who will be working and approving the PR comes together to discuss strategy, objectives, expectations, and how the partnership will work moving forward.

It is also where relationships begin to form. PR works best when communication is open and collaborative, so this stage is about creating a strong working foundation from the very beginning.

During the kick-off meeting, Briscoe PR will typically discuss:

• Your business goals and objectives

Understanding what success looks like for your business is essential. Whether your goal is to increase brand awareness, drive bookings, launch a new product, or position your team as industry experts, PR activity should always support wider business objectives.

• KPIs, reporting and measuring success

Clear KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) help measure success and keep campaigns focused. These may include media coverage targets, website traffic, backlinks, social engagement, or brand mentions. Agreeing on these early ensures everyone is aligned on expectations and results.

• Approval processes and key contacts

Establishing approval timelines and key points of contact early on helps streamline communication and improve turnaround times throughout campaigns. Whether there is one final decision-maker or multiple stakeholders involved, having a clear process in place keeps activity running smoothly.

• Brand assets and key information

Your PR agency will usually request access to important brand materials, including:

• Brand guidelines
• Logos and imagery
• Tone of voice documents
• Existing marketing materials
• Key messaging

Having access to these assets ensures all communications remain consistent and aligned with your brand identity.

• Creative direction and brand preferences

Every business has preferences, boundaries, and ambitions they want to explore. The onboarding process is the ideal opportunity to discuss:

• Topics or messaging to avoid
• Preferred publications or audiences
• Learnings from previous campaigns
• Creative campaign ideas and future ambitions

These conversations help shape a PR strategy that feels authentic to your brand.

Developing your PR strategy

Following the kick-off meeting, we will begin developing your PR strategy, typically covering the next 12 months with quarterly focuses and priorities. Individual campaigns will then be built around this strategy, but it acts as the core foundation for building your reputation, maintaining consistency, and ensuring all PR activity aligns with your wider business goals.

This strategy acts as a roadmap for future activity and will typically include:

• Seasonal opportunities
• Media targets
• Content ideas
• Events and launches
• Regional, national and trade awards
• Thought leadership opportunities
• Planned KPIs and activity timelines

The strategy is then shared for feedback and approval before the activity officially begins.

Working as an extension of your team

One of the biggest misconceptions about PR is that agencies simply send out press releases and report back once a month. In reality, the strongest PR results come from ongoing collaboration and staying closely connected to your business.

We encourage clients to treat us as an extension of their internal marketing team. If you would normally update your marketing department on new launches, developments, ideas, or challenges, we want to be part of those conversations too.

The more involved we are in the day-to-day activity of your business, the more opportunities we can proactively identify. Often, the strongest PR stories come from internal conversations that may not initially seem newsworthy.

By staying closely connected, we can:

• React quickly to opportunities
• Identify media angles early
• Support launches and events more effectively
• Align PR activity with wider marketing campaigns
• Keep messaging consistent across all channels

Ongoing communication and reporting

PR works best as an ongoing partnership rather than a one-off project. Most agencies, including Briscoe PR, will schedule regular meetings to review progress, discuss opportunities, and adapt activity where needed.

Monthly reporting meetings

Typically, agencies will provide a monthly report outlining:

• Coverage achieved
• Campaign performance
• KPI progress
• Upcoming opportunities
• Recommendations for the following month

We include this in all of our monthly report meetings, and these help maintain transparency and keep everyone aligned on priorities and results.

Regular catch-ups and campaign updates

For hospitality brands and other fast-moving businesses, more regular catch-ups can be especially valuable. Weekly or bi-weekly meetings allow teams to react quickly to trends, launches, events, and media opportunities as they happen.

These conversations help PR remain agile and ensure the agency is always aware of what is happening within the business.

Building a long-term PR partnership

A successful PR onboarding process is about building a strong, collaborative working relationship.

The more open and connected the partnership is from the beginning, the more effective the PR activity becomes over time. When an agency is fully integrated into your business and understands your wider goals, PR becomes more strategic, proactive, and impactful.

Ultimately, the best results happen when your PR agency feels like part of your team, not separate from it.

Get in touch to see how we can onboard your business and transform its reputation.