How to compare fintech PR companies as a buyer

Agencies with a verified published price

How to run a fintech PR selection

1. Decide which of the three services you are buying. Ongoing media relations, analyst and industry relations, and crisis or regulatory communications are different disciplines with different people behind them. Naming the one you need before the first call prevents a proposal that bundles all three at the price of the most expensive.
2. Ask which journalists the named team has placed with recently. Not the firm, the individuals who would work on your account, and not clippings but the last six months. Fintech beats are covered by a small number of reporters and a team that has not placed a story with any of them recently is selling a network it no longer has.
3. Fix the fee structure and what it excludes. Most fintech PR is a monthly retainer. Ask what hours it represents, whether media training, event support, award submissions and paid placements are inside or outside it, and what happens to unused hours. Exclusions are where retainers quietly become larger invoices.
4. Agree the compliance path before the first pitch goes out. Financial services claims need review, and a firm that has not asked who approves language about returns, security, regulatory status or customer numbers will eventually put something unreviewed in front of a reporter. Name the reviewer and the turnaround in the contract.

What moves the fee

Four things. Seniority, because a partner running your account personally costs several times an account executive doing the same tasks under supervision, and the difference in outcomes is real when the work is relationship based. Scope breadth, since a company wanting consistent trade coverage buys a much smaller programme than one wanting national business press, analyst relations and executive thought leadership at once. Geography, because a US and UK programme means two teams and two media markets. And crisis readiness, which is either a retained availability with an agreed response time or it is not, and the two are priced very differently.

Our index records what firms publish about starting fees, minimum engagements and named clients. Public relations discloses less than most marketing categories, so a firm that does publish a floor is worth noticing, and a disclosed minimum is often the single fastest way to establish whether a conversation is worth having at all.

Claims and compliance, the part most buyers underweight

Everything a fintech says in public about performance, security, customer numbers or regulatory standing is a claim that must be substantiated, and the agency writing the sentence is not the party the regulator will come to. That makes internal review non negotiable rather than a slowdown to be worked around. It also governs the softer material: influencer and creator promotion of financial products requires clear disclosure of any material connection, which the FTC's endorsement guidance addresses directly, and fintech is a sector where the temptation to blur that line is high because the audiences are on social platforms.

Ask a candidate firm how it handles a claim it believes is unsupportable, and ask for an occasion when it refused to place something a client wanted placed. An agency that has never said no to a client is an agency whose judgement you will not be able to rely on at the moment it matters, which in this sector is usually a bad week rather than a good quarter.

Questions people actually ask

How is fintech PR usually priced?

Predominantly a monthly retainer with a minimum term, commonly six or twelve months, because relationship building and story development take time to produce placements. Project pricing exists for a funding announcement, a launch or a specific campaign, and is a sensible way to test a firm before committing to a long retainer.

What should the agency actually be measured on?

Agree this in advance, because it is where most relationships sour. Coverage volume alone is a weak measure. Better ones include placements in the specific outlets your buyers and investors read, share of voice against named competitors, inbound enquiries citing coverage, and analyst mentions. Pick three and report them monthly from the start.

Do we need a crisis retainer?

If you hold customer funds or data, you need a plan and a named person who answers the phone at short notice. Whether that requires a paid retainer depends on your risk and your in house capability. What you should not do is expect a standard media relations retainer to cover an incident, because it does not and the scramble will happen at the worst moment.

Should we hire a fintech specialist or a generalist?

A specialist for the beat knowledge and existing reporter relationships, provided you check those relationships belong to the people assigned to your account rather than to the firm's founder. A generalist with a strong financial services record can work well too, but expect a slower start while they learn the sector's reporters and language.

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