PR costs and charges explained

How much do PR services cost from your public relations agency?

WE KNOW this is the foremost question on the minds of many potential public relations clients.

So here at award-winning Scottish agency Holyrood PR in Edinburgh, we are crystal clear about costs.

Transparency in our PR fees ensures you know exactly what PR services you get for your money, so you can budget accordingly. It also sets realistic expectation levels.

Most importantly, it helps build trust. That’s why our rates are clear, simple and easy-to-understand:


1 – Long term contract work

Holyrood PR charges £90 per hour, plus a separate 8% account management fee (AMF). We also require clients to invest at least £75 per month for media monitoring services via global experts, Kantar

We operate on a monthly payment schedule with 30-day terms.

We prefer to work with our clients on an ongoing contract basis with a monthly schedule of hours.

This builds the strongest rapport, allowing us to understand your business and to develop relationships with the right journalists, bloggers and influencers.

It also allows us to properly develop ideas, stories, imagery and case studies for well-thought out campaigns that will consistently deliver positive coverage over a sustained period.

Long-term contracts also offer the most cost-effective option for our clients, since we offer a preferential hourly rate compared with ad-hoc or project-based PR support.

Our minimum monthly contract is 10 hours, which as an example, would require an investment of £1047, plus VAT per month.
Note – Such contracts are typically for a year with at least a two-month notice period.
Note 2 – Clients can work exclusively with Director-level support, at a rate of £130 per hour.


2 Project Work

Our fees for short term or fixed contract projects are £103.50 per hour, with an 8% account management fee (AMF). In addition, a monthly investment of at least £75 is required for media monitoring.

We offer this dedicated “project rate” because we recognise that some clients prefer to work on a project-by-project basis. This gives clients the flexibility to assign resources on an ad-hoc or “as needed” basis.

Our minimum project fee is for 10 hours and will require an investment of £1192.80, plus VAT.
For any project work we require 50% of the costs to be paid upfront.
Note – Projects requiring exclusive Director-level support, are billed at £160 per hour.


3 Crisis Management Service

For crisis management, as with all our work, the minimum project we undertake is 10 hours.

Our rates for crisis management start at £120 per hour, excluding VAT, during normal working hours. These rates increase to £180 per hour during unsociable hours (8pm-8am) and at weekends.

Director level support starts at £200 per hour, rising to £300 per hour during unsociable hours or at weekends.

All crisis management work is subject to an 8% account management fee and and an additional fee for media monitoring for the duration of any project.

If fair pricing and value for money are important to you, then check out Reboot, Restore, Revitalise – our essential free guide for businesses considering PR. Armed with the right questions on costs, measurement and added value you can make much better-informed choices to find the right public relations agency .

If you choose to work with us we’d hold a PR workshop with you to determine what ideas from our suggestions could work and to identify new opportunities to form a cohesive public relations campaign plan that matches your budget.

Ideally, we’d want to agree a minimum package of hours each month and from this we would be able to confirm the PR delivery. From the initial discussions and the understanding of the scale of PR activity required to meet your business objectives.

PR photographyPR video and third party services including social media campaign support, design, printing, newsletters and cuttings monitoring will be charged separately, and only with the client’s written agreement.

Each week we provide a PR agency update and once a month every client receives a bespoke and fully-detailed contact report which lists activities  undertaken, activity for the month ahead, forward planning and a breakdown of PR coverage achieved and evaluations against the agreed PR objectives.

To protect both parties, the agreement will be subject to a contract, with clear terms and conditions.

Find out the many benefits of working with our award-winning edinburgh pr agency

If you believe your business deserves to have its stories better told or otherwise benefit from PR which improves the bottom line, then feel free to connect with us whichever way best suits you and we’ll be happy to answer any of your questions. If its easier, then quite simply fill in the form below and we’ll get straight back to you: