Choosing the right PR firm can be both the easiest and the hardest decision a company makes. On the surface, the evaluation often begins with what we might call the “hardware”: the visible, measurable capabilities that are straightforward to assess. This includes things like industry expertise, past clients, media results, and an understanding of specific verticals. These are important, and they should be. You don’t want a team that needs a three month onboarding slog just to understand the basics of your industry, or a PR partner that cannot demonstrate the ability to secure meaningful coverage or elevate your company’s thought leadership beyond simply pushing announcements.

Any firm would take pride in its ‘hardware’. It reflects the accumulated experience of working across different sectors, navigating news cycles, and building relationships with journalists who trust us enough to open emails. It’s the part of the partnership any firm can show you upfront: case studies, references, examples of narrative building, and how they think about your category.

But as anyone who has worked closely with a PR team knows, hardware alone doesn’t determine whether the partnership actually succeeds. That depends on something harder to quantify — the software.

Here’s what we mean by software. It’s the values, the communication style, the way a team responds when a launch shifts or a story angle needs rethinking. It’s the willingness to go beyond the brief, to ask questions that sharpen your messaging, to look for story angles that aren’t obvious, to keep trying when the first round of pitches doesn’t land.

In other words, hardware tells you whether the firm can do the job.

Software tells you whether they will do it well, consistently, and with you, not just for you.

We’ve had partnerships that flourished, not simply because we had the right experience, but because there was a shared rhythm. Meetings were energising instead of draining. Ideas flowed easily both ways. Feedback loops were honest and respectful. We pushed each other in the right ways because we trusted each other. We worked with—not against—each other.

On the flip side, we’ve also seen situations where, on paper, everything made perfect sense: the credentials lined up, the industry knowledge was there, and the results were achievable. But the ‘software’ wasn’t aligned: expectations weren’t aligned, communication styles clashed, or the sense of momentum just never found its footing.

Great PR depends on creativity, curiosity, and persistence. These are qualities that live in the software. That’s what helps a team find a fresh angle when the headlines are dominated by bigger stories. It’s what keeps a pitch alive through multiple rounds of iteration. It’s what makes conversations productive rather than transactional, or sometimes even defensive. 

If you’re evaluating PR partners, absolutely look at the hardware. It matters. It gives you a sense of competence, experience, and capability. However, make sure you also pay attention to the software. Notice how you feel in the conversations. Notice whether the firm is listening and thinking about how they could tweak their approach to align with what you have in mind. Notice whether they’re curious about your business or just walking through a process. Notice whether the energy feels collaborative, not performative.

This is the part that carries the work once the project begins. Hardware gets the engine running. Software keeps it running smoothly. And in PR, where the environment shifts quickly and the work relies heavily on human judgment, the software often becomes the thing that makes all the difference.