WholeReach · industry directory
The companies that define the public relations industry, each read on the same nine-check website rubric — a 0–100 score with the exact fixes — alongside the concepts, the developments and the questions that shape the field.
20 companies in the public relations industry, each graded on the nine things that decide whether a buyer or an AI assistant can find and trust them online. Open any name for the full write-up and the specific fixes.
| Company | HQ / region | Site score |
|---|---|---|
| ECPR Texasecprtexas.com | US (Austin, TX) | 100 0 to fix |
| Meltwaterwww.meltwater.com | Norway (global) | 100 0 to fix |
| Zeno Groupwww.zenogroup.com | US (New York, global) | 100 0 to fix |
| Brandwatchwww.brandwatch.com | UK (global) | 92 1 to fix |
| Mighty Citizenwww.mightycitizen.com | US (Austin, TX) | 92 1 to fix |
| Praytellwww.praytellagency.com | US (multi-city) | 88 1 to fix |
| Bursonwww.bursonglobal.com | US (New York, global) | 84 2 to fix |
| Propelpropel.io | US (global) | 82 2 to fix |
| Featuredwww.featured.com | US (global) | 80 2 to fix |
| Method Communicationswww.methodcommunications.com | US (Salt Lake City / San Francisco / New York) | 80 2 to fix |
| PR Newswirewww.prnewswire.com | US (global) | 80 2 to fix |
| Bosparbospar.com | US (San Francisco, distributed) | 76 2 to fix |
| Crosswind Media & Public Relationscrosswindpr.com | US (Austin, TX) | 76 3 to fix |
| Mission Northwww.missionnorth.com | US (San Francisco / New York) | 70 3 to fix |
| Cisionwww.cision.com | US (global) | 68 3 to fix |
| MentionMatch (formerly Help a B2B Writer)mentionmatch.com | US (global) | 66 4 to fix |
| Giant Noisewww.giantnoise.com | US (Austin, TX) | 64 4 to fix |
| Prowlyprowly.com | Poland (global) | 62 4 to fix |
| Highwirewww.teamhighwire.com | US (San Francisco / New York, distributed) | 58 4 to fix |
| Cooksey Communicationscookseypr.com | US (Irving, TX) | 27 7 to fix |
70+ solid 45–69 gaps under 45 costing customers
12 businesses whose website blocked our scanner — common when a site filters datacenter traffic, and not a sign the site is broken. A blocked site is never scored zero.
The firms, funds and institutions that set the terms in public relations — context, not local listings; never scored.
The International Association for the Measurement and Evaluation of Communication's framework, established in 2010 and updated to 3.0 in 2020, defining goal setting, outcome measurement, organisational performance effect, and transparent replicable method — and stating explicitly that advertising value equivalency is not the value of communication. The standard that replaced AVE, and the citation that ends the argument.
The membership community of chief communications officers, whose Page Principles ('tell the truth', 'prove it with action', 'listen to stakeholders', among others) are the standard framing for enterprise-level communications ethics and the CCO's role in corporate character.
Austin's daily newspaper, operating under Gannett after years of contraction. Still the broadest general-audience print and digital reach in the market, with a much smaller newsroom than a decade ago — which means fewer beats and far higher selectivity per pitch.
Nonprofit, reader-supported newsroom covering Austin city hall, council, land use, zoning and local government at a depth no commercial outlet in the market matches. Essential for any development, permitting, civic or public-sector story, and routinely the source other Austin outlets follow.
Boston-headquartered independent focused on creative storytelling, targeted media relations and earned-media campaigns for product launches and brand repositioning. Included as a direct earned-media specialist competitor; despite the similar name it is not an Austin firm.
Independent 'politely pushy' technology PR firm operating a fully distributed model across San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Boston, covering AI, cloud, cybersecurity, fintech and healthtech, with crisis, IR and social capabilities and its own AI-visibility audit product.
Social listening and consumer research platform used for share of voice, sentiment tracking, crisis early warning and audience analysis alongside traditional media monitoring.
WPP's global communications agency, created in 2024 by combining BCW and Hill & Knowlton. Positions itself explicitly around creating value through reputation, with strengths in corporate and financial communications, crisis, public affairs and healthcare.
Newswire distribution with strong regulatory and disclosure workflows, widely used for earnings and material announcements where simultaneous broad dissemination matters under Regulation FD. Site blocks automated fetching.
The incumbent enterprise platform combining a large media contact database, monitoring, analytics and PR Newswire distribution. Broadest coverage in the category and the default for large corporate communications teams.
Annual global survey of working journalists on pitch preferences, what makes them discard outreach, trust in sources, use of AI and the pressures on their newsrooms. Together with Muck Rack's State of Journalism, the primary evidence base for how media relations should actually be conducted.
North Texas strategic communications firm covering media relations, crisis and issues management, stakeholder engagement and branding for public sector, transportation, real estate and economic development clients. Headquartered in the DFW metro, not Austin, but competes across Texas.
Austin-headquartered firm with offices in Houston, Dallas, Amarillo, Los Angeles and Washington DC, combining public relations and crisis communications with its own Texas Pulse consumer research and executive voice coaching. Verified as currently operating; note that its former crosswindmedia.com domain is no longer in use.
Formerly Elizabeth Christian Public Relations, now positioned as a civic impact firm combining strategic PR, advocacy communications, crisis management, coalition building and video. Deep Texas government and civic relationships make it the default choice for Austin work where the audience is policymakers and the community as much as the press.
The largest independent public relations firm in the world, spanning corporate reputation, crisis, brand, public affairs and health communications. Its annual Trust Barometer is the most-cited primary research in the industry and functions as marketing, thought leadership and category definition at once — the benchmark every other network is measured against.
Platform matching subject-matter experts to publisher questions, producing quoted mentions across business publications. Useful for building citation volume, but the output is aggregated Q&A content rather than reported journalism, and it should be evaluated on that basis.
Global network with particular depth in public affairs, healthcare, technology and reputation management, and a long-standing research and planning practice. Frequently the network of record for regulated industries and multinational corporate communications.
The FTC's practical guide for creators and the brands that hire them: when to disclose, where the disclosure must appear, what wording is adequate, and why platform tools alone are not sufficient. The document to hand to any client running creator placements.
The Federal Trade Commission's plain-language guidance on endorsements, testimonials and reviews, revised in 2023. Defines material connection, what a clear and conspicuous disclosure looks like, and the liability of advertisers, agencies and endorsers alike — the controlling reference for any sponsored or influencer placement.
The FTC's guidance on paid content designed to look like editorial, built around the net impression a reasonable consumer takes away. Governs sponsored content, branded articles and paid placements that resemble journalism.
Austin-founded agency past its twentieth year, with offices in San Antonio, Dallas and Houston, working across PR, social, influencer, paid media and experiential for tourism, hospitality, food and beverage, architecture and entertainment clients. The strongest Austin competitor for consumer and lifestyle earned media.
The combined agency formed from Golin and Ketchum and launched in June 2026, bringing together two of the most awarded networks of the past decade. Golin's consumer, brand and creator strengths sit alongside Ketchum's corporate reputation, food and beverage and public affairs practices.
Formerly Hahn Public, Austin's longest-established agency of its kind with roughly five decades of operation and additional offices in New Braunfels and Houston. Sells public relations and crisis management alongside advertising, media planning, creative and digital — the incumbent an Austin client most often compares a specialist PR shop against.
Independent agency serving technology, healthcare and life sciences companies from early stage through IPO, combining media relations with analyst relations, executive positioning and data-driven measurement.
The core craft: building and maintaining a media list, researching what a reporter actually covers, writing a pitch with a real hook, timing outreach, following up without burning the relationship, and knowing when there is no story. The highest-intent pillar because it is what clients think they are buying.
Turning business objectives into a coverage plan — narrative and message architecture, target outlet tiers, announcement calendar, proof points, spokespeople, and the honest assessment of which stories are actually newsworthy versus which need a different channel.
The PRSA Code of Ethics, disclosure of who is paying, FTC endorsement and native-advertising rules for sponsored placements, Regulation FD for public companies, and the emerging question of disclosing AI-generated pitches, quotes and imagery. This is the pillar that separates a professional firm from a placement mill.
Holding statements, dark sites, spokesperson designation, escalation matrices, tabletop exercises, apology frameworks, and the reputation risk register. Buyers usually arrive here first, often mid-incident, and it is the highest-value retainer trigger in the category.
The Barcelona Principles, outputs versus outcomes versus impact, share of voice, message pull-through, sentiment and quality-of-coverage scoring, referral traffic and branded search lift — and why advertising value equivalency persists in client decks despite being formally rejected.
Press release versus media alert versus backgrounder, boilerplate, media kit, executive bios and headshots, fact sheets, image and B-roll libraries, and a newsroom page structured so journalists and AI answer engines can both find and cite the facts.
Message discipline, bridging, handling hostile questions, on-camera and podcast performance, on-the-record rules, and designating and preparing the right voice for routine announcements versus a crisis. Scoped to media performance, not personal brand programs.
Embargo and exclusive structures, briefing sequencing, launch-day tiering, funding and M&A announcements, coordinating with the wire, and what actually happens when an embargo breaks.
Technology, healthcare and life sciences, financial services, consumer and hospitality, real estate and construction, energy, nonprofit and public sector. Each has its own beat structure, regulatory constraints, trade press and definition of a credible source.
Why a trade placement that reaches 4,000 buyers often outperforms a national hit that reaches four million strangers — trade beat mapping, contributed-article programs, and the editorial calendars that let a year of coverage be planned in advance.
Industry awards programs and their entry economics, conference speaking placement and CFP writing, list and ranking submissions, and honest guidance on which recognitions carry weight versus which are pay-to-play.
Briefings and inquiry cycles with industry analysts, vendor evaluations and research placement, and the parallel discipline of working with creators and independent voices — including the material-connection disclosure obligations that attach to paid or gifted relationships.
The pitch targets that did not exist a decade ago: independent Substack newsletters, industry podcasts, YouTube and video creators, and how to evaluate their reach and credibility against a traditional outlet.
Retainer versus project versus performance-based pricing, hours and staffing plans, scope creep, agency-of-record versus specialist rosters, in-house versus agency, RFP and pitch processes, and how to read an agency proposal that promises coverage nobody can promise.
Where AI genuinely helps — research, media list triage, monitoring, first drafts, summarization — and where it damages results, including AI-written pitches that journalists detect and discard, hallucinated quotes and statistics, and the shift toward optimizing coverage so answer engines cite it.
advertising buys guaranteed placement and controls the message; PR earns coverage a third party chooses to publish and controls only the pitch -- the credibility difference and the control difference are the same trade
define the PESO model plainly and note that the boundaries blur in practice -- a sponsored post is paid even when it looks earned, which is exactly why disclosure rules exist
say a release is a record and a distribution artifact, not a pitch; it earns its place for material announcements and searchable record, while a targeted email pitch does more for coverage
release announces news; alert is logistics for an event a journalist might attend; backgrounder gives context that is never itself published -- each has a different reader and a different length
define on the record, on background, deep background and off the record, and stress that the terms mean nothing unless agreed in advance with that specific reporter -- assume everything is on the record until it is not
describe it as an agreed publication time offered in exchange for prep time, note it is a norm rather than a contract, and say the real remedy is future access -- and that an unagreed embargo is not an embargo at all
explain that a journalist needs a reason to publish today; a peg is that reason -- data, a decision, a deadline, a conflict -- and that a company milestone is rarely a peg on its own
say tier-one buys credibility and reach while trade reaches buyers; which matters more depends on the sales cycle and audience, which the reader knows and you do not
byline is expertise published in a trade under an executive's name; an op-ed argues a position for a general audience; both are earned placements with editorial standards, not paid content
define advertising value equivalency as pricing earned coverage at ad rates, and state the industry position plainly: AVE is not the value of communication -- it survives because it produces one big number, not because it measures anything
describe them as AMEC's consensus framework for communication measurement -- goal setting, measuring outcomes not just outputs, no AVEs, transparency and consistency -- and name the current version correctly: AMEC launched Barcelona Principles 4.0 in mid-2025, superseding 3.0 from 2020
describe it as pre-approved language that acknowledges an event, states what is known and what is being done, and commits to an update -- its whole value is that it can go out in minutes
a firm can promise effort, targeting, quality of materials, response speed and specific deliverables; it cannot promise placements, sentiment, or a story in a named outlet -- and a guarantee of any of those is either paid placement or a red flag worth naming
answer no without hedging: the publication decides, and any guarantee means the placement is paid, which then carries sponsored-content disclosure obligations; treat the guarantee itself as the disqualifying signal
explain the three models and what each is good for, and be explicit that performance-based pricing pushes the firm toward volume placements; the actual fee depends on scope and market, so ask for a scoped proposal rather than a rate
require named senior hours per month, deliverable counts, media list ownership, response-time commitments, reporting cadence and what happens in a crisis -- hours and seniority are where proposals actually differ
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