Having a high-powered PR agency or team in your corner is clutch—but only if you know how to collab with them properly. You’re paying for their strategic expertise and media connections, so make sure you maximize the relationship. Treat them like the legends they are.

A dream team alliance takes work from both sides. Expect bumps in the road. But keeping these collaboration principles on lock will have you gliding down the highway, leaving competitors in your dust.

Whether you’ve got an in-house PR squad or aligned with an agency, these tips help you level up. Your campaigns will be fire, word of mouth wildfire. Heads will turn when your brand pulls up. Mad results.

Let’s break down exactly how to partner like champs and build legendary buzz. The clues to collab success are all here. Now it’s time to make it happen.

Set Clear Goals and Expectations Upfront

Before your PR agency starts any work, make sure you align on the scope of the partnership, campaign objectives, roles and responsibilities, processes and measurements for success. 

Having clear goals gives your PR team a defined path and ability to gauge progress. It also ensures the priorities of both sides are understood early on. 

Set expectations around response times, meeting cadences, approvals processes and reporting. Make sure your PR team understands your business, brand and audience inside out. Provide past marketing plans, messaging frameworks, competitor analyses and any other relevant insights. 

The more your agency knows about your strategic vision and what you want to achieve, the better they can tailor their ideas, strategies and tactics.

Outline what success looks like and how it will be measured—whether it’s an increase in brand awareness, engagement rates or sales. Define quantifiable KPIs and align on processes for monitoring and optimizing based on results.

Getting alignment early prevents mismatched expectations and frustrations down the road. It gives your PR team the clarity needed to execute programs tailored to your brand and goals.

Maintain Open and Ongoing Communication

Consistent communication ensures your PR agency understands the latest company developments relevant to their work. An open dialogue allows both sides to discuss what’s working well and what needs adjustment.

Schedule regular check-ins to provide updates, review results and plan ahead. Daily or weekly stand-ups enable course correcting in real-time if needed. Monthly reviews let you take a higher level view of progress and results. 

Outside of scheduled meetings, maintain an open door policy for ongoing discussions. Clearly define who handles what inquiries and how quickly responses are expected.

Provide visibility into your internal calendars so your PR team can plan around important events, announcements or reports. Proactively share any issues that may impact planned campaigns or content.

Encourage your agency to ask questions and bring up any concerns early. Make it clear there are no bad ideas or dumb questions. This fosters an environment of transparency and trust.

Open communication channels prevent surprises, frustration due to lack of context, and delays in making decisions or taking action. When both sides are continually aligned, your PR efforts stay focused and impactful.

Provide Them with Everything They Need

For your PR team to succeed, they need full access to experts, information and resources within your company. 

Connect them directly with senior leadership, product managers, designers, engineers or anyone else relevant to planned campaigns. Schedule interviews and brainstorming sessions.

Give them access to brand guidelines, marketing materials, sales presentations, product specs, customer research—anything that will help them understand your business and audience at a deep level.

Provide assets like high-res logos, product photos, executive headshots, infographics and existing creative. The more they have to work with, the quicker they can develop campaigns and content.

Make it easy for your PR team to access information and experts independently. Empower them to set up conversations without going through multiple approvers. Eliminate bureaucratic hurdles that slow down their work.  

PR teams need rich, relevant internal insights to craft compelling stories and campaigns. Providing complete access and resources shows you trust their expertise and enables greater creativity.

Let Your PR Team Do Their Job

You hired external PR experts for a reason—let them apply their experience and skills to execute programs that deliver results.

Avoid dictating specific tactics or micromanaging executional details. Set the strategy and direction, then step back and let your team determine how to get there. 

If you have agency partners with a proven track record, trust their judgment on how to achieve your shared goals. They are testing and optimizing PR campaigns every day.

Focus your efforts on communicating desired outcomes and success metrics. Provide feedback on overall direction and creativity. But allow your PR experts latitude in putting together the specifics.

Just like you wouldn’t tell your development team which lines of code to write, don’t force your PR agency into overly prescribed solutions. Give them room to apply their expertise.

The more flexibility and ownership you provide, the more creative your PR campaigns will be.

Provide Feedback but Avoid Micromanaging 

While you should let your PR team determine tactical details, you still need to guide overall strategy and provide feedback. The key is giving direction without micromanaging execution.

Review campaign ideas and creative concepts through the lens of your brand and goals. Push back if you feel proposals don’t hit the mark—but focus on why, not the specifics of how to fix it.

Avoid editing press releases and blog posts sentence by sentence. Discuss what story you want to tell and let the writers and editors craft the narrative. 

Offer feedback about the emotional impact of videos and images. But let your creative team determine the technical execution details. 

Providing direction without prescribing every step gives your PR agency room to apply their expertise. The result is superior campaigns tailored to your brand versus fragmented tactics.

Treat Them Like a True Partner

Think of your PR agency as an extension of your team rather than an outside vendor. When both sides feel invested in the others’ success, the relationship thrives.

Include your PR team in relevant internal meetings and planning sessions. Make them feel like part of the team versus an outsider.

Share your company’s vision, values and purpose. Inspire their creativity by giving meaning to the work you do together.

Celebrate your PR team’s wins like they were your own. Recognize great work at company all-hands meetings.

View your relationship as a true partnership. When your agency succeeds, you succeed. Let them know you’re behind them and want to see them at their best.

Foster collaboration between your PR team and groups like Sales, Customer Success and R&D. Eliminate silos so campaigns integrate with every part of the business.

Make your PR agency an extension of your team, not just a vendor. Shared purpose, investment and celebrations enrich the relationship.

Make Yourself Available When Needed

While you should let your PR team work independently, make sure you’re available for input whenever they need you. 

Proactively communicate your availability so they know the best times to reach out. Be open to jumping on calls, responding to messages and providing feedback quickly.

Empower your agency to set up meetings, calls and interviews with internal experts without extensive scheduling. The more access they have, the better their results.

Designate internal reviewers who can turn around content and creative approvals within 1-2 days. Lengthy internal reviews stall your PR team’s productivity.

Efficient approval and feedback loops keep your PR programs moving forward consistently. Being readily available shows you’re invested in your team’s success.

Celebrate Successes Together

Take time to recognize and celebrate major campaign wins, target metrics reached and examples of great creative that performed particularly well. 

Call out standout PR team members by name in internal meetings and company communications. Recognize their work in making progress against top goals.

Send kudos via email or Slack when your PR team achieves results you’re thrilled with. Public praise motivates them to push even harder.

Order lunch for the team after launching a huge campaign or reaching a major milestone. Have leadership attend to congratulate them in person.

When you only celebrate your own internal wins, your PR agency feels like hired help rather than integral partners. Recognize your shared achievements together.

Be Willing to Make Adjustments When Needed

As with any partnership, you’ll experience bumps in the road that require compromising and resetting expectations.

If certain campaigns aren’t generating the desired results, objectively discuss what’s working and what needs adjustment. Don’t jump straight to blame or termination.

Revisit processes that pose challenges on either side. Look for ways to streamline collaboration and approvals.

If resourcing issues arise with accounts, leadership changes or individual team members, address them quickly and work together on a solution.

Have the flexibility to pivot on creative, messaging or positioning if needed to achieve goals. Be open minded to ideas outside your comfort zone.

View challenges as opportunities to strengthen your partnership and results. Adjust together, learn and move forward.

Conclusion

A strong working relationship between you and your PR agency takes commitment from both sides. But close collaboration and trust enables stellar campaigns that drive incredible results.

Set clear expectations, maintain open communication, provide full access and celebrate shared success. Support your PR team while still guiding overall direction. 

By fostering true teamwork, creativity flows freely. When everyone feels invested in each other, seamless collaboration delivers PR magic. The effort pays off manifold in expanded brand awareness, increased engagement and greater sales.

Maximize your PR investment by taking the time to build an aligned, trusting partnership with your agency. With mutual commitment, respect and transparency, your teams will accomplish amazing things together.