At Faulhaber we believe that 1+1=3. A catchy slogan and fun to say, but more importantly, a message that is forms the foundation of how we approach our work. Every dollar spent on PR and marketing must connect to growth — whether that means new customers, increased brand visibility, or sales. When it comes to PR, the impact can be powerful — but only if the relationship between client and agency is built with intention.

As President and Partner at Faulhaber, I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t when it comes to client and agency partnerships. And more importantly, I’ve seen how the right PR partnership can unlock brand-defining growth. It’s why we developed PoweredPR®— our proprietary framework designed to drive performance PR and deliver measurable business outcomes.

If you want to get the most from your PR investment, here’s how to do it right.

Start with Clarity: Set KPIs That Actually Matter

We’re long past the days when media impressions and vague “buzz” were enough. Today, we work with clients to define KPIs that ladder up to real business goals — brand awareness with key verticals, increased share of voice, or driving qualified traffic to owned channels.

With one of our leading beauty clients, we focus heavily on sales return from influencer partnerships. Together, we built a clear KPI framework tied to best performing organic content, amplifying with paid and creator-specific promo codes — allowing us to measure true ROI from every collaboration. These aren’t vanity metrics — they’re tied to revenue, and they drive smarter decisions about who to partner with, when, and how often.

Great PR can do all of that and more. But only if the goals are agreed upon from the start. That’s why at Faulhaber, every engagement begins with a strategy sprint and deep immersive planning session. We look at your business goals, target audiences, media landscape, and key narrative and work through our comprehensive PoweredPR® strategy framework to build a PR engine that aligns with what success actually looks like for your brand.

Commit to Onboarding — It’s Worth It

Too often, brands rush through onboarding. But onboarding isn’t admin — it’s the foundation of everything.  At Faulhaber, with some of our travel clients, we have offered value-added immersion in market so that are team is fully equipped to understand the brand and story they are sharing.

When you commit time and transparency to onboarding, your agency can deliver faster and more strategically. That means sharing brand decks, sales data, key dates, access to spokespeople, and a full download of what’s worked and what hasn’t.

At Faulhaber, our onboarding process is thorough on purpose. This is how we uncover storytelling opportunities others might miss and get ahead of issues before they become barriers. This is how we can deliver our brand promise of Seeing You, Bigger. Consider it a short-term investment in long-term efficiency.

Trust the Process (and the People)

Here’s the truth: no PR program will succeed without trust. I’ve worked with brands where the internal team had our backs, and others where every pitch or post had to go through five layers of approval. Its not hard to imagine which client team unlocked better results.

The best agency-client partnerships function like extensions of each other – we always say we are part of your team; we just work in a different office. One of our key pillars in how we deliver Seeing You, Bigger to our clients, is to be Fully Committed to our clients. We treat your business like our own. We show up to your wins and course-correct when needed — but we can only move as fast as the trust allows.  For your agency partner to be Fully Committed, clients also need to be Fully Committed to their agency.

Make It Performance PR, Not Passive PR

PR isn’t just about visibility anymore — it’s about driving action. Our PoweredPR® methodology integrates storytelling with performance data, ensuring that earned media is working in tandem with owned and paid efforts.

At Faulhaber we don’t think only about the headline — we think about the action after the headline. Did it fuel social engagement? Did it convert to sales? Did it drive web traffic?

With our beauty clients, we’ve seen a single influencer video convert directly into a five-figure sales spike — because we weren’t just tracking reach, we were tracking revenue. When PR is embedded into your full marketing funnel, it goes from nice-to-have to business-critical.

Stay in It for the Long Game

The most valuable PR results — credibility, reputation, loyalty — take time to build and can’t be rushed. But once they’re in place, they’re hard to replicate and even harder to compete with.

At Faulhaber, we’ve seen brands go from niche to nationally recognized in under a year, but that only happens when both sides are in it together. Growth through PR is real. So is the investment. The smartest brands treat their agency like a growth partner, not a vendor.  We have clients we have worked alongside for over a decade, and this should always be the goal. Growth and success together.

Final Word: Make It a Partnership, Not a Transaction

When done right, PR is one of the most powerful drivers of long-term business value. It is a brand’s reputation, relevance, and relationships. But like any good relationship, it requires trust, alignment, and commitment.

If you’re ready to turn PR into a performance engine, we’d love to show you what PoweredPR®  can do.