"How long does PR take to work?" It’s a question we get asked a lot. Unfortunately, there’s no easy answer. It can be minutes or months. We’ve had journalists respond to pitches almost immediately. We’ve also had brilliant pieces of coverage land months after we first pitched them.
That’s because PR isn’t advertising. You can’t pay for a space, choose the date and guarantee your business will appear. You’re earning that coverage by convincing a journalist that your story, product or expertise is worth sharing with their readers.
But while we can’t tell a new client exactly when their first piece of coverage will land, we can tell them what we tend to see. And one thing is very clear: PR builds momentum. Historically, our retainer clients have seen at least a 50% increase in press coverage from their first three months of working with us to their second three months. So, what should you actually expect from your first six months of PR?
Can PR work straight away?
Yes. Reactive PR can move incredibly quickly. If something happens in the news at 9 am and a journalist needs an expert to comment on it, we might pitch a client that morning and see them featured later that day.
The same can happen if you have a brilliant story at exactly the right time. But that's not the same as saying every client should expect immediate coverage. Sometimes good PR takes time.
We once had a piece of coverage go live four months after we first pitched it. The journalist was interested, and the story was right, but it just wasn't the right time for them to publish it. Four months later, it became a brilliant piece of coverage.
Ultimately, how quickly you see results will depend on whether you have the right types of PR stories that journalists want to feature, as well as timing, relevance and a little bit of luck.
What happens before we get started?
Marketing agencies are notorious for spending the first few weeks, or sometimes even months, onboarding a client. We start this process before our official start date so we can hit the ground running.
Before we start shouting about your business, we need to understand it. What makes you different? Why should anyone care? What expertise can we use? What interesting data do you have? What's happening in your industry that you should be talking about? And, most importantly, what will actually interest journalists?
We'll also ask for key assets such as photos, product information and key biographies so we have everything we need to start pitching as soon as possible.
What happens in the first month of PR?
In the first week, we'll develop your PR strategy and find the stories with the strongest potential. Once this is approved, we'll begin working on our first campaign, which we aim to start pitching to journalists by week two or three.
We'll also start reactively pitching, jumping on topical stories through newsjacking and responding to relevant journalist requests on your behalf. These are just some of the different tactics we use as part of our PR services to keep clients consistently appearing in relevant media.
Sometimes coverage can land instantly after the first campaign or reactive pitch, meaning you could be in the press within the first couple of weeks of working together. Other times, it can take another few weeks for the first piece to land. Both are completely normal.
What happens in months two and three?
By months two and three, we're starting to learn a lot more about what journalists respond to. PR involves testing different stories and angles. We can come up with an idea we absolutely love and find that journalists aren't interested, while another idea we didn't expect to be the biggest story takes off. That's all useful information.
Every pitch tells us more about what journalists want from your business and helps us refine what we do next. We're also building relationships with the journalists who are most relevant to your brand. They might not need your founder, product or expertise the first time we contact them, but that doesn't mean they won't be interested the next time.
This is also where persistence comes in. Most journalists won't reply to the first pitch, and sometimes we've followed up six or seven times before securing a piece of coverage. Tenacity is a huge part of PR, and by months two and three, journalists are also starting to recognise your business, founders and experts when they appear in their inbox.
What happens in months four to six?
This is where we tend to see PR really build momentum. We've spent three months learning which stories work for your business, we've built relationships with relevant journalists, and we've got a growing bank of ideas, data and expertise to work with. Journalists are also becoming more familiar with your brand.
Our own client results demonstrate the difference this can make. Historically, Lem-uhn retainer clients have seen at least a 50% increase in press coverage during their second three months with us compared with their first three months.
That doesn't mean you have to wait three months for coverage. It means PR builds on itself. One piece of coverage can lead to another; a journalist who uses your founder for a comment might come directly to us the next time they're writing about the subject, and someone who didn't respond to our first pitch might remember your name when something more relevant lands in their inbox.
Over time, you're not simply collecting individual pieces of press coverage. You're building recognition, trust and a reputation.
What can make PR work faster?
There isn't a magic formula for speeding up PR, but there are definitely things that help. Having something genuinely interesting to say is a big one. Original data, strong opinions, genuine expertise, interesting company news and brilliant founder stories all give journalists more to work with. If you're struggling to work out what those stories could be, our free 30 PR Hooks has plenty of ideas to get you started.
Timing also plays a huge role. If your expertise suddenly becomes relevant to something everyone is talking about, there's an opportunity for us to put you into that conversation. This is why reactive PR can be so effective alongside planned campaigns.
Being responsive makes a big difference too. Journalists work fast. If we message you at 10 am because a journalist needs a comment by midday, sending it over tomorrow isn't going to work. Clients who can respond quickly and are happy to move fast naturally give themselves more opportunities to get into the press.
What can slow PR down?
Unsurprisingly, the opposite can slow things down. If every quote needs to go through five people before we can send it to a journalist, opportunities can disappear before we've had a chance to take advantage of them.
Having incredibly narrow expectations can make PR harder too. If you only want to appear in three specific publications, for example, you're giving your PR team a much smaller pool of opportunities to work with. We always want to secure coverage that reaches the right audience, but being open to a wider range of relevant publications can create opportunities you might not have initially considered.
Sometimes, a business simply isn't ready for PR yet. We've turned prospective clients away before because we didn't think they had enough to talk about or that PR was the right investment for them at that point. We'd much rather tell someone that honestly than take their money knowing we're going to struggle to get them the results they want. If you're not sure where your business stands, our free PR Ready Checklist can help you work it out.
How do you know if your PR is working?
Coverage numbers are an obvious place to start, but they shouldn't be the only thing you look at. We secure a lot of press coverage for our clients, but one brilliant piece in exactly the right publication can be worth more than 20 irrelevant articles.
Look at whether you're appearing in publications your target audience actually reads and trusts, whether people are clicking through to your website, whether you're earning valuable backlinks and whether more people are searching for your brand. We’ve seen this happen dramatically with clients. Our PR campaign for Intotum led to a 1,000% increase in Google searches for the brand.
You might also start hearing prospective customers say they've seen you in the press, or notice journalists approaching you for comments rather than your PR team always having to approach them.
Most importantly, look at whether PR is contributing to your wider business goals. We've seen PR drive huge spikes in website traffic, increases in sales and new business enquiries for our clients. For example, our work with Nurosym increased average monthly website traffic by 153%, while one piece of coverage contributed to a 182% increase in revenue.
That's why we don't think PR measurement should stop at counting the number of articles you've appeared in.
Once you do start securing coverage, you can also get more value from it by sharing your press coverage on social media, using it on your website and incorporating it into your wider marketing.
So, how long should you give PR?
You could get your first piece of coverage tomorrow, but if you're investing in PR to build your brand, credibility and reputation, you should be thinking longer term.
The first three months give your PR agency time to understand your business, test different ideas, learn what journalists respond to and start building relationships. The next three months are when you can really start benefiting from everything you've learned and built, which is why we've historically seen such a significant increase in coverage during this period.
And it keeps growing from there. One article can become five. Journalists start recognising your name. Your Google results begin filling with credible articles about your business. Potential customers keep coming across you in publications they already know and trust.
That's the real power of PR. It's not just about getting your name in the press. It's about consistently putting your business in front of the right people and building the credibility that makes them want to find out more.
Of course, how long you invest in PR also depends on your budget. If you're deciding whether it's the right investment for your business, we've broken down how much PR costs in the UK and what you can expect at different price points.
Ready to see what PR could do for your business?
Lem-uhn is the feel-good PR agency. We work with brands that make people's lives happier, healthier and easier, helping them get the attention they deserve.
If you're thinking about investing in PR and want to know what opportunities we can see for your business, book a free PR strategy call with our team.
