To choose a PR agency, a beauty, health or wellness founder should check three things before anything else: whether the agency has real relationships with the editors in your category, whether it can show coverage for brands like yours, and whether it reports on what PR changed for the business rather than only listing cuttings. The 12 questions below turn those three checks into a shortlist you can use on any agency call.
Key takeaways
- The best PR agency for a beauty or wellness brand is a specialist with existing relationships on the beauty, health and wellness desks.
- Ask every agency to show coverage for a brand at a similar stage and category to yours, not its biggest name.
- A PR agency that guarantees coverage is a red flag, because editors, not agencies, decide what runs.
- Good PR reporting links coverage to search visibility, AI answers and sales, not just a monthly file of logos.
Should you hire a PR agency, a freelancer or do PR in-house?
A specialist agency suits brands that want consistent coverage across several titles and channels, a freelancer suits a narrow brief on a tighter scope, and in-house suits larger brands with steady launch volume. The right answer depends on how much PR you need and how fast.
| PR agency | Freelance PR | In-house PR | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Media relationships | Broad, shared across a team | Depends on one person | Built over time |
| Capacity | Team covers holidays and peaks | Limited by one diary | Fixed headcount |
| Specialist knowledge | High, if the agency specialises | Varies | Grows with the brand |
| Extra services | Often influencer, social, SEO | Usually PR only | Depends on the team |
| Best for | Brands wanting momentum across channels | Single launches or narrow briefs | Large brands with constant news |
Samantha Trace, Founder of Samantha Trace Cosmetics, described the advantage of a team over a single person: "An incredible team of talented PR gurus! Jess, Mel and Rosie have been integral to the growth of my business."
What questions should you ask a PR agency before hiring?
Ask questions that test relationships, relevance, process and reporting. A strong agency answers all 12 with specifics; a weak one answers with adjectives.
Search data shows how many founders are asking: "how to choose a pr agency" draws 110 UK searches a month and "what does a pr agency do" 320 (Semrush UK, October 2026).
Relationships and relevance
- Which editors and journalists in my category do you speak to every month?
- Can you show coverage for a brand at a similar stage and in a similar category to mine?
- Which titles would you target first for us, and why those?
- Who on your team will actually pitch my brand?
Process
- What happens in the first 30 days?
- How do you find stories in a brand that thinks it has no news?
- How do you handle product sampling and gift guide deadlines?
- How do you handle claims for skincare, supplements or treatments?
Reporting and results
- What will you report on each month?
- How do you connect coverage to Google rankings and AI search visibility?
- How do you reuse coverage in our ads, website and social?
- What would make you tell us PR is not the right investment right now?
The question "What would make you tell us PR is not the right investment right now?" is the most revealing one to ask a PR agency. An agency willing to turn work down is an agency that will be honest when a campaign needs to change.
Bridget O'Keeffe, Founder of Blush and Blow London, named the test her agency passed: "The team heavily invests in my brand and focuses on their impact on our bottom line, which is totally unheard of with PR."
What are the red flags when choosing a PR agency?
The biggest red flags are guaranteed coverage, vague answers about who does the work, and reporting based on "reach" or "advertising value equivalent" with no link to the business. Each one signals an agency selling activity rather than results.
Watch for:
- Guaranteed coverage. Editors decide what runs. A guarantee is a reason to ask whether the coverage is paid placement, which the UK CAP Code requires to be clearly labelled as advertising.
- Senior people on the pitch, juniors on the account. Ask who pitches you, then ask to meet them.
- Logo slides with no context. Ask when, for which brand, and what it led to.
- No category specialism. A generalist learns beauty, health and wellness on your budget.
- Reporting that ends at cuttings. Coverage is an output. Visibility and sales are results.
How do you compare PR agency proposals fairly?
Compare PR agency proposals on scope, people and measurement, not on the monthly fee alone. Two proposals at a similar fee can deliver very different outcomes depending on who pitches, how many titles are targeted and what is measured.
A simple scoring grid, one to five on each line, keeps the comparison honest:
| Criterion | What a five looks like |
|---|---|
| Category relationships | Named editors and recent coverage in your category |
| Relevant proof | Coverage for a brand like yours, with dates |
| Team | You have met the people who will pitch you |
| Plan | Specific story angles and target titles for the first 90 days |
| Measurement | Coverage plus search, AI and sales indicators |
| Fit | They challenged your assumptions on the call |
What should the first 90 days with a PR agency look like?
The first 90 days with a PR agency should move from story discovery to active pitching to the first coverage, with a clear view of what is working by the end. Founders should expect visible activity from week one, even though coverage depends on editors' timelines.
A typical Glossy PR first 90 days:
- Weeks 1 to 2: brand immersion, story mining, target title list and a visibility baseline of Google and AI answers.
- Weeks 3 to 6: pitching begins, sampling goes out, founder and expert angles are tested.
- Weeks 7 to 12: coverage starts landing, angles that work are doubled down on, and coverage is reused in ads and on site.
James Jardella, Founder of Skin Sapiens, summarised his experience: "Glossy generated great coverage with some fantastic titles from month one."
Frequently asked questions about choosing a PR agency
How do I know if a PR agency is good? A good PR agency shows coverage for brands like yours, names the editors it works with, and reports on what PR changed for your visibility and sales.
Should I choose a specialist beauty PR agency? A specialist beauty PR agency is the stronger choice for beauty, health and wellness brands, because the editors, claims rules and seasonal calendar are specific to the category. See our beauty PR agency London page.
How long should I commit to a PR agency? Commit for long enough for relationships and coverage to build, because PR compounds over months. Ask each agency what it expects to deliver in the first 90 days.
What is the difference between PR and wellness PR? Wellness PR is PR specialised for wellness brands and health experts, with extra care around health claims. Read more on wellness PR.
How to benchmark your brand before you speak to any PR agency
Before you speak to any agency, it helps to know where your brand appears today. Glossy PR is a UK public relations agency for beauty, health, and wellness brands. Part of SugarNova Group, it is the first beauty PR agency built around GEO, turning earned media coverage into the citations AI engines surface when buyers and founders research which brands to trust.
Take the 2 minute visibility check and use the free call to test us against these 12 questions.
About the author: Shayne Williams is Founder and Group CEO of SugarNova Group, the London growth group behind Glossy PR. Since founding SugarNova in 2016, Shayne has built PR, SEO and paid media into one system for UK brands, with Glossy PR serving beauty, health and wellness. Last updated: 23 October 2026.