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    Should you fire your PR agency?

    Ten signals. A written cure period. A clean transition. This is the decision framework enterprise CMOs and VPs of Communications should run before another QBR, and the exact sequence for a low-risk switch when the answer is yes.

    Reviewed by Parry Headrick, Founder & CEO · last reviewed

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    Definition

    What is the decision to fire a PR agency?

    The decision to fire a PR agency is a structured performance evaluation that compares the current program's output against the outcomes promised in the original pitch and against the ranges a comparable senior-led firm would deliver at the same cost. It is not an emotional decision, and it is rarely a single-quarter decision. The right framework has three steps: (1) audit against a fixed 10-signal set for two consecutive quarters, (2) if four or more signals are present, issue a written 60-day cure with binary success criteria, and (3) if the cure fails, run a quiet parallel replacement process and serve termination for convenience. The compounding cost of a year of underperforming PR is much higher than the one-time transition cost of a 30-day handoff.

    Almost every enterprise CMO stays with an underperforming PR agency six to twelve months longer than they should. The reasons are consistent: switching feels risky, the current agency owns institutional context, and the next QBR is always 'the one where we turn the corner.' The math almost always favors switching sooner. The compounding cost of a year of low-yield PR — measured in missed narrative moments, un-cited AI answers, and analyst reports you did not appear in — is much higher than the one-time transition cost of a 30-day handoff.

    This framework is published by Crackle PR, an all-senior B2B tech PR agency founded in 2020. We apply the same ten signals to our own accounts, and we hold a 6-month minimum term specifically so a program has enough runway to be judged on output rather than on optimism.

    The decision should not be emotional and it should not be single-quarter. Run the ten-signal framework above for two consecutive quarters. Four or more signals present in both quarters is the threshold for action. One or two signals is normal in any long-running program. Three signals for one quarter is a conversation, not a firing.

    The written cure exists for two reasons. It filters agencies that can recover from those that cannot, and it produces the paper trail your board will want when you present the replacement decision. Skip the cure and you'll spend the first two board meetings after the switch defending why you fired without warning. Issue the cure, retain the response, and the switch becomes a routine operational decision.

    When the cure fails, the transition should be surgical. Thirty-day quiet replacement RFP, written termination, MSA-enforced machine-readable handoff, incoming agency in-market within 72 hours. The one genuine risk to avoid: switching inside 60 days of a planned major announcement. Complete the announcement, then switch. Every other risk is smaller than the risk of another year of the same signals.

    If you're running this framework right now and you'd like a second read on the ten signals against your current program, we do that on a 45-minute call — no deck, no pitch, no obligation. If the answer is 'stay,' we'll tell you.

    Why Crackle PR

    • The most predictive single signal: junior swap-out after the pitch
    • Threshold for action: 4 or more of the 10 signals present for two consecutive quarters
    • Try one written cure before firing — 60 days, binary success criteria, delivered to the principal
    • Roughly 1 in 3 programs recover under a written cure; the rest confirm the replacement decision
    • Never fire an agency inside 60 days of a planned major announcement — finish the announcement first
    • Serve termination in writing; invoke termination-for-convenience per your MSA
    • Require machine-readable delivery of media lists and work product within 15 days
    • Run the replacement RFP quietly 30 days before termination so the handoff is same-day

    The 10 signals — score your current agency

    1. Junior swap-out after the pitch — The SVP who won your business is on three other accounts. Your day-to-day is a 26-year-old AE who has never briefed a WSJ reporter. This is the single most predictive signal.

    2. Missed measurement for two consecutive quarters — Share of narrative flat or down, tier-1 count trending below plan, AI citation share not moving, and no credible root-cause analysis in the QBR. Not one bad quarter — two.

    3. No GEO / AI-citation reporting — Your board asks about ChatGPT and Perplexity coverage. Your agency says 'we're exploring AI' or emails a deck slide. In 2026 this is disqualifying.

    4. Cost per tier-1 above $30K blended — Divide annual retainer by tier-1 placements delivered. Above $30K per tier-1 in B2B tech, the fee is funding overhead, not output. Above $60K is a five-alarm fire.

    5. Zero analyst inclusion in a category where you're competitive — You compete in cybersecurity, martech, or SaaS. You're not in a Gartner Market Guide, a Forrester Wave, or an IDC brief. Your agency has no analyst relations lead named.

    6. Reactive-only motion — Every pitch is downstream of an announcement or a news cycle you brought them. There is no forward-planned narrative arc, no proactive thought leadership calendar, no category-defining bet.

    7. The monthly report is a Salesforce dashboard — Clip counts, impressions, AVE. No share of narrative. No analyst quote sentiment. No deal-cycle influence. No executive authority score. The report exists to fill an hour, not to inform a decision.

    8. No named crisis lead on a 24/7 SLA — If your CEO is subpoenaed on a Sunday night, there is no name to call. Crisis is 'routed through the senior partner group' — which means a Monday-morning conference call.

    9. Contract lock-in beyond 12 months — You are inside a 24-month term, or a 12-month term with a 90-day notice window that requires you to serve termination in month 9. You cannot leave even if you want to.

    10. Account management has grown; senior time has shrunk — There are more meetings, more status decks, more coordinator emails — and less senior execution. The agency is optimizing for account longevity, not for your program.

    The 60-day written cure — before you fire

    Before firing, issue one written cure. This is not a courtesy; it produces the paper trail your board will want, and it filters agencies that can recover from those that cannot.

    Address the letter to the agency principal, not your day-to-day contact. State the three most material misses in specific measured terms (e.g., 'tier-1 placement count trailed plan by 42% for Q1 and Q3'). List the named-team gap if applicable ('the SVP named in the pitch has not appeared on our account since month 3'). Define a 60-day cure period with binary, measurable success criteria — not vague 'improved communication' language.

    Roughly one in three programs recover under a written cure. The recovery pattern is consistent: the principal replaces the day-to-day team with senior operators, restores promised measurement, and adds a monthly principal-to-CMO check-in. If the cure produces genuine recovery, keep the program. If day 60 arrives and the same signals are present, the decision is now defensible to your board and your replacement can start immediately.

    The clean transition — 30-day parallel process

    Begin the replacement process 30 days before the intended termination date. Run it quietly. Do not tell the outgoing agency who the replacement is until the transition memo is signed by all three parties (you, outgoing, incoming).

    Require the outgoing agency to deliver, in machine-readable format within 15 days of termination, per your MSA: all media lists, journalist notes and correspondence, in-progress pitch drafts, analyst-briefing history, executive-visibility calendars, and any GEO/citation datasets. If your MSA does not require this — that's the clause to fix in the next contract.

    The incoming agency's day-one obligation is to send its first pitch within 72 hours and produce a 30-day and 90-day coverage commitment in writing. If your replacement cannot make those commitments, they are running the same leverage model you just exited.

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    About Crackle PR

    Crackle PR is a remote-first, all-senior B2B tech PR agency and a recognized pioneer in Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) — the discipline of making brands the answer inside ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Google AI Overviews. Learn more about Crackle PR or read the founder’s bio.

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