The assessment
Is your business PR ready?
Rush in too quick and get it wrong, and PR will accelerate the burn rate. Leave it too late and play it too safe, and you risk missing your moment. The assessment helps founders judge it right.
I have worked with a lot of startups, scaleups and SMEs over the years and, as anyone who knows PR will tell you, it can take time to deliver results. For companies around Series A, timing it right is particularly important. As the business grows it takes on more cost, and — in the UK at least — runways are getting longer, with Series B rounds taking longer to close.
But it is hard for founders, particularly those less familiar with PR, to judge it right and know what a freelancer or agency will need in order to succeed. Any new partner will require some time for briefing and settling in, but founders can save a lot of time and money by getting PR-ready before they start to invest.
A big part of being PR-ready is, frankly, having scale and brand profile. Small companies with no brand profile find it very hard to earn attention, let alone media coverage. This is why Series A is a good benchmark: the company will have some provable traction and product-market fit.
But of course scale is not enough. Other elements need to be in place. But what?
What it measures
Three things.
Message
What you want to say.
Whether the business has a clear, consistent story — what it stands for, what makes it different, and why anyone outside should care.
Assets
What you have to offer.
Whether there is anything real to work with: proof points, data, customers who will talk, a spokesperson with authority, and news worth putting on the record.
Operations
Can you deliver?
Whether the business can actually feed a PR programme — sign-off, availability, and the internal rhythm that turns activity into coverage.
multiple-choice questions
to complete, no preparation needed
answer reviewed, with practical next steps
I have spent a bit of time boiling it down to just 16 multiple-choice questions, so it can be completed in about five minutes. It requires no preparation — just a little consideration before you answer each question.
I then review each answer, explain why it got the score it did, and offer practical steps and tools that will help you improve in each area. It is designed to be answered by founders, with the score based on their perceptions.
How long does the PR-readiness Assessment take?
It is 16 multiple-choice questions and takes about 5 minutes. It requires no preparation — just a little consideration before each answer.
Who is the assessment for?
It is designed to be answered by founders, with the score based on their perceptions. It is aimed at Series A companies, where timing PR right is particularly important.
What does the assessment measure?
Three things: message (what you want to say), assets (what you have to offer) and operations (can you deliver). Each answer is reviewed, with an explanation of why it scored as it did and practical steps to improve in each area.
Want to run the assessment?
Book a short call and we will walk through it together — or ask me to send you the link.