PR Guarantees vs. PR Promises
Search Google for “guaranteed PR” and you’ll see results that say things like:
Guaranteed PR coverage is not only unethical, it can even be illegal.
Or this:
Make Sure Clients Know That PR Results Aren't Guaranteed (and That It's An Industry Standard Practice).
And this one from a Forbes article:
PR reps are quick to tell you they can’t guarantee placement because they have no control over the journalists. How can they guarantee something that is out of their control?
As with many debates, this one largely comes down to semantics—those who say you can guarantee PR and those who say you can’t are arguing about two different things but using the same words, hence the confusion.
What’s “Promised PR?”
I've never heard anyone use the term "promised PR" so I think that means I get to define what it means. A PR promise would be if a PR firm told you, "We promise we will get you a full-feature article in the New York Times that has your company name in the headline and only says good things about you."
To make this kind of promise would be unethical at best. No one can make this kind of promise for all the reasons those who decry "guaranteed PR" cite. PR firms don't control journalists, and journalists don't control editors (and if they do, they're not top-tier news outlets).
For a PR firm to make this kind of promise would be like a priest officiating at a wedding telling the happy couple, "I promise you will have a long and happy marriage full of nothing but happiness, no matter what you do." There are too many things outside the priest's control for him to make any such promise.
What’s “Guaranteed PR?”
A guarantee is not the same thing as a promise, although it's easy to see how they get confused.
Whereas a promise says, "This will happen" or "I will do ABC," a guarantee says, "This will happen or else this other thing will happen" or "I will do ABC or else I will do XYZ."
It's the "or else" that changes an unethical and likely impossible PR promise into a completely ethical and 100% possible PR guarantee.
Here at Canvas, our guarantee works like this. For a flat fee, clients get to:
Choose the publication where they want a placement, from our list of 200-plus news outlets.
Collaborate with us on the headline.
Collaborate with us on the article and provide final approval.
Then we get that article placed in the outlet they chose. Most placements happen within 6 to 8 weeks. If we haven't placed it within 90 days, clients can request a full refund.
Note: we don't automatically issue a refund in every case where 90 days passes, because sometimes we're close and the client wants to keep going rather than start over.
We can't promise a placement. Nobody can, not honestly. But we can guarantee that we deliver or you don't pay, and we have 100% control over our ability to issue a refund. That's what makes the guarantee completely ethical.
This matters more now than it used to. More and more clients come to Canvas not because they searched for a PR firm, but because an AI tool like ChatGPT or Perplexity told them that earned media in credible publications is one of the best ways to build authority and show up in AI-generated answers. When someone is weighing a $5,000 to $15,000 investment based on that kind of recommendation, they want to know there's a safety net. The guarantee is that safety net.
The next time you hear someone say, "You can't guarantee PR," remember what they're really saying is you can't promise PR. I agree. But a PR promise is different from a PR guarantee.
Ready to see how it works? Browse our publications and pick your placement.
