The 8 Best Digital PR Agencies to Grow Your Brand (+ Costs)

A digital PR agency can amplify your brand’s market share. We did the homework to find 8 of the best digital PR agencies to help you evaluate the best fit for your business. (As one of the country’s top 3% agencies according to Google, we know a good agency when we see one.)

Here, you’ll get a rundown of the top reviewed and vetted digital public relations agencies, plus a recap of digital PR benefits, budget expectations, and questions to ask to find the right fit to advance your strategic goals.

We’ve hand-selected these digital PR agencies because they’ve proven to deliver impressive results. If a client came to us with a problem that wasn’t quite the right fit for our offerings, we wouldn’t hesitate to refer them to any of these deserving agencies.

Let’s look at what makes each a stand-out PR agency.

Top 8 digital PR agencies

Berbay Marketing & Public Relations
Olmstead Williams Communications
Miller Ink
HawkSEM
PANBlast
FINN Partners
Edelman
BLND Public Relations

1. Berbay Marketing & Public Relations

Berbay Marketing & Public Relations is high on this list for a reason — it has over three decades of experience building visibility and revenue growth for professional services firms.

This agency is located in Los Angeles (hi, neighbors!) and specializes in boutique PR and marketing services for law, real estate, and financial services firms.

It’s deeply ingrained in these industries and offers clients the perfect combination of big agency expertise with a personal dedication to businesses, small and large.

If you’re looking for turnkey marketing and PR solutions for your professional services business, we think you’ll be in good hands with Berbay Marketing & PR.

Best for: Law, real estate, and financial firms

Services:

Public relations
Speaking engagements
Social media
Website revitalization
Advertising
Search engine optimization
Marketing materials

Clients:

Hodes Milman Liebeck Mosier, LLP
Kerr & Wagstaffe
Huntley, Mullaney, Spargo & Sullivan, Inc.
The Veen Firm
Laurus Corporation

2. Olmstead Williams Communications

Olmstead Williams Communications (OWC) is a reputation management and public relations boutique firm helping businesses raise their brand profile and capture market share.

OWC takes the time to learn your business and its goals, assessing everything from reputation risk to communication objectives. From there, it elevates key messages and activates those communication strategies across the media, events, and influencers.

If you need top-tier media coverage, business growth, or reputation management services, add OWC to your consideration list. Just look at the results OWC clients have achieved:

More than $1.5 billion in revenue
More than doubled their workforce
Managed dozens of reputation protection initiatives

Best for: B2B, technology, financial services, cleantech, government, healthcare technologies, non-profit, and other professional services companies

Services:

Reputation management
Crisis/issues management
Media relations/media training
Content development
Social and shared media
Speaker, awards, and events

Clients:

CompoSecure
Taskus
Saban Community Clinic
CURE Pharmaceutical
Cubic Motion

3. Miller Ink

Miller Ink is a strategic communications and crisis management firm. It helps businesses tell their story better by building integrated communications programs across earned, owned, and paid media.

Its team members offer media strategy, digital and research capabilities, creative services, and deep PR relationships to amplify brand messages and help businesses navigate reputational crises with ease.

Miller Ink’s unique approach generates big results for clients, and people are taking notice — it’s won dotCOMM, Viddy, DesignRush, Marcom, and Hermes awards, and that’s only a sample of its accolades.

Best for: Professional services businesses across advocacy, education, entertainment, finance, fintech, healthcare, insurance, legal, philanthropy, public affairs, nonprofits, real estate, startups, and technology

Services:

Crisis management
Reputation management
Media training
Executive communication
Research and analytics
Creative services
Media relations
Influencer marketing
and more

Clients:

Community Corp. of Santa Monica
Our Common Destiny
American Friends of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
Jewish Future Pledge
American Friends of Yad Sarah

4. HawkSEM

At HawkSEM, we have decades of experience helping brands create memorable connections with their customers — with the 4.5x average client ROI and 98% retention rate to prove it.

Many agencies have experience in traditional PR and media channels or old-school press release placements, but that won’t cut it in today’s digital-first market.

We offer data-driven solutions for every channel and stage of the customer sales cycle. We build holistic strategic plans, including content ideation, creation, publication, and promotion. And ensure our clients maximize every opportunity to reach their target audience and increase brand awareness.

We’re a full-service digital media agency in Los Angeles with in-house expertise spans the full spectrum of digital marketing services, like:

Content marketing
Performance creative
Landing page design
Conversion rate optimization
Search engine optimization (SEO)
Social media marketing
Conversion rate optimization (CRO)

Plus, we have ConversionIQ, our proprietary marketing technology, helping big brands like Microsoft, Datadog, and Columbia University increase lead volume by 2x, decrease cost per acquisition by over 40%, and improve lead quality by 60%.

At HawkSEM, we bring together the best mix of creative and proven approaches, underlaid by a foundation of clear data, defined measurement plans, AI insights, platform expertise, and technical excellence, to build ROI-boosting strategies that achieve meaningful results.

Our breadth of expertise allows us to achieve more — plain and simple. We cement every decision in data, so we don’t expect you to take our word for it.

We helped:

Honda increase organic sessions by 200%
Microsoft achieve 4,000 new page-one keyword rankings
Merrill Lynch double lead volume

That’s just scratching the surface. Dive deeper into our results to see how we help clients achieve serious ROI.

Best for: B2B/B2C, ecommerce, SaaS, finance, healthcare, education, professional services companies looking for proven past performance, technical chops, industry-leading technology, and big personality

Our Services:

Paid Search/PPC
Digital PR
Remarketing
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO)
Performance Display
Shopping Feed Management
Search Engine Optimization and Local SEO
Content Marketing
Paid Social

Clients:

Microsoft
Verizon Media
Siemens
Nike
Wyndham Capital
Thriftbooks

5. PANBlast

PANBlast(formerly BLASTmedia) is a modern SaaS PR agency helping companies drive consistent brand narrative, differentiate from competitors, optimize marketing performance, and improve sales pipeline for more than 20 years.

Fully ingrained in B2B technology and SaaS industries, BLASTmedia claims to be the only PR agency in the country dedicated to B2B SaaS.

It supports everyone from growth-stage to publicly traded companies, creating thought leadership campaigns and media opportunities to impact investors, employees, partners, and customers.

BLASTmedia also won awards for PR Daily’s Top Agencies, Inc.’s Best Workplaces and Top Agency Campaign of the Year.

Best for: SaaS companies at all stages of business maturity, crossing industries like artificial intelligence (AI), ClimateTech, DevOps, FinTech, healthcare and life sciences, HR tech, legal tech, logistics and supply chain, MarTech, retail and ecommerce, risk and security sales tech, and tech services

Services:

Media relations
Thought leadership
Content creation
Measurement

Clients:

Litmus
Formstack
Vibenomics
Pattern89
Phenom

6. FINN Partners

FINN Partners is a global marketing and communication agency offering an array of digital services, such as advertising, content marketing, crisis communications, and influencer marketing.

Joining together principals of other great agencies to form a collaborative “new” agency model, FINN Partners is now one of the largest agencies in the world. It continues to grow through strategic acquisitions, such as CB&A (C. Blohm & Associates, Inc.) a few years back.

With more than 1,000 team members and dozens of offices spread across three continents, FINN Partners brings together deep industry leadership and extensive past performance across a wide variety of sectors.

The agency has been awarded Best Midsize Agency of the Year (PRovoke/SABRE) and Best PR Firms in America (Observer).

Best for: Mature brands seeking enterprise PR and communication resources.

Services:

Advertising
Brand strategy and development
Content marketing
Corporate communications
Crisis communication
Digital marketing
Employee engagement
Influencer marketing
Investor relations
Paid media
Public affairs
Public relations
Publishing and authors
Research and insights
SEO

Clients:

Jack Daniel’s
Olympics
Meharry Medical College
Margaritaville
Epic Games

7. Edelman

Edelman is a global communications firm and large agency, with 6,000 people in over 60 offices and 30 countries.

Founded in 1952, Edelman has a long legacy of impressive past performance, high-profile clients from some of the world’s most recognized brands, a huge swath of service capabilities, and expertise across a large swath of industry niches.

Edelman is uniquely renowned for analyzing “trust” over the decades. Its annual Edelman Trust Barometer and Edelman Trust Institute provide research and data to help businesses build greater relationships with their stakeholders to inform leadership, strategy, and policy.

Best for: Big brands looking for global expertise and a vast service offering

Services:

Business marketing
Business transformation
Digital
Data security and privacy
Executive positioning
Predictive intelligence
Public affairs, and more

Clients:

Taco Bell
Heineken
eBay
Vaseline
Xbox

8. BLND Public Relations

BLND Public Relations is a boutique company offering full-service PR, branding, web design, influencer engagement, and social media management.

The firm helps lifestyle, beauty, and wellness brands gain greater visibility, customer engagement, and sales, through press placements, social media engagement, strategic partnerships, and events.

It has bicoastal locations and deep industry connections, so if you’re looking for a digital marketing agency with roots in Los Angeles and/or New York City, BLND PR may be right for you.

Best for: Wellness, beauty, and lifestyle brands

Services:

Storytelling
Public Relations
Social Media
Paid Social Strategy
Content Creation
Influencer Marketing
Brand Partnerships
Crisis Management

Clients:

Delara Home
Surrogacy Is
Goldthread Plant-Based Tonics
Emcee
Habitat Home & Garden

What do digital PR agencies do?

Digital PR agencies work with businesses to manage and protect their reputation. They also help companies gain wider brand recognition in the marketplace by sharing strategic communications across the channels, platforms, and press where their customers engage most.

They have deep relationships with publishers and press and proven expertise on how to promote genuine brand stories across channels to get customers to pay attention and motivate deeper brand engagement.

Areas digital PR agencies can help:

Online reputation management: Elevating your business reputation by monitoring reviews and online mentions to mitigate issues and maximize every opportunity to enhance your online presence.
Media outreach: Building relationships, reaching out to publications, securing interviews, finding the right influencers or bloggers to promote link building, and staying top of mind for interviews and other press opportunities.
Social media management: Engaging with connections, sharing strategic messaging, and driving targeted marketing campaigns on social media to grow your audience, drive website engagement, and increase conversions.
Content distribution: Amplifying your brand’s story across popular media platforms by distributing high-quality articles, blog posts, infographics, press releases, and videos to reach a target audience and generate backlinks.
Crisis management: Mitigating damage from negative public perception through strategic advice and communication strategies.
Speaker and event promotion: Securing speaking opportunities, managing events, and generating buzz to elevate your team’s thought leaders as respected industry voices.
Brand monitoring: Keeping a pulse on the state of your industry and competition to ensure you’re taking advantage of opportunities to position your business as a go-to.
Digital marketing and online advertising: Executing digital marketing services across owned, paid, and earned channels to widen your audience and promote your business.
Analytics and reporting: Delivering transparent reporting; sharing results and KPIs from strategic initiatives (like media coverage, reach, engagement, and conversions) to improve and continuously optimize PR performance.

Why invest in digital PR?

In today’s crowded market, businesses must pull out all the stops to differentiate, communicate effectively, and get their message in front of the right audience.

Here are some stats showing the benefits of investing in digital public relations:

Studies show more than one-third of SEOs rank digital PR as their #1 best-performing method.
Experts found that earned coverage often lifts branded search demand by 10% to 40% within 7 to 30 days.
Positive coverage paired with consistent messaging can boost brand favorability by 5% to 18% over just a quarter.

Digital PR acts as an undercurrent to this self-serve research — sharing a business’s point-of-view and value proposition to help consumers make a purchasing decision.

Adding an SEO and digital PR agency to your marketing budget is an investment in amplifying your brand story to the customers most likely to buy. You gain access to deep media relationships, industry thought leaders, traditional communication skills, digital marketing, and optimization expertise.

What’s the average cost of digital PR?

Typically, the average cost for digital PR services will range between $2,500–$10,000 per month. Monthly costs for a digital marketing agency depend on the size and complexity of your PR engagement.

Costs are influenced by the size of:

Media outreach
Geographic targeting
Content creation quality and breadth
Paid advertising, boosted posts
Influencer engagements
Event sponsorships

Ultimately, digital PR is part of your overall marketing and business development budget and a crucial investment.

We couldn’t agree more — a successful PR and marketing strategy gets your customers and industry talking, increases mentions on social media, and gains media coverage. In turn, this grows website traffic and sales for your business.

How to choose a digital PR agency

With a decade in the industry, we know all agencies aren’t the same. In fact, clients have turned to HawkSEM after being burned by agencies unable to tackle and achieve their goals.

When choosing a digital PR agency, consider qualities, like:

Years of experience: Are they too green to handle your business challenges?
Services offered: Can they fill multiple marketing gaps — and do you need them to?
Awards won: Are they recognized in their field?
Client list: Have they helped clients grow, similar to your brand’s needs, size, and goals? Will they share client references and case studies?
Media relationships: Do they have the connection to secure placements and coverage where your target audience engages?
Industry sector experience: Do they have past performance in your industry’s dynamics, target audience, and market trends? Do they have relationships with industry influencers, associations, media, and events?
Agency size: Will you be merely one of thousands of clients? Will you have a single POC or direct access to the PR team for support?
Regional or global experience: Do they have experience in your target audience’s locations or the global connections you’ll need to scale?
Content quality: Is their content high-quality and reflective of your voice, tone, and preferred formats?

These variables reveal an agency’s strengths, priorities, differentiators, and overall fit.

Questions to evaluate a digital PR agency

Let’s review key questions to ask an online digital PR agency to evaluate a good fit for your business:

How will you get to know my audience, brand, and business to develop a strategic PR plan?
What marketing channels do you recommend for my business goals and why?
What’s the budget range you need to achieve these goals?
What metrics will you measure for each of these goals?
Are you experienced in ecommerce?
What certifications do you have?
Which publications do you work with most frequently?
What is your team structure and who would I work with?
How do you prefer to communicate (e.g., Set meetings or asynchronously, tools and platforms, frequency)?
What analytics and reporting do you offer?
What other clients do you work with in my industry and what has been the result?
Who are your technology partners?
Do you outsource any part of these engagements?
What is your view on generative AI, and how do you use it within your practice?

These questions determine how a digital PR agency works with a business from initial planning stages through execution and measurement of digital PR campaigns.

Ultimately, you’re looking for the right mix of services, engagement, reporting, and cultural fit to ensure you’re comfortable with the digital PR strategy and confident with the partnership.

The takeaway

The right digital PR agency analyzes your business goals, industry, competitors, and audience to build effective communication strategies to engage your target customers.

It’s a revenue-driving investment to grow your business. When considering different agencies, look for the right combination of experience, connections, credibility, clients, and size to match your needs and ambitions.

Don’t stress over the many options. A digital PR specialist can help you navigate the dizzying mix of marketing channels and media opportunities to amplify reach, enhance public perception, and grow revenue.

It’ll also free your internal teams to concentrate on improving business operations, product strategy, and customer experience.

Let’s talk about your growth plans — reach out to HawkSEM to schedule a free consultation.

This article has been updated and was originally published in August 2024.