Solutions / Public relations firms
The launch week is not in the retainer.
Oct 24, 2026
A retainer buys a cadence. A launch week and a crisis buy nights. The client calls to ask what is running. They will not log in to look.
Hours the retainer did not buy
PR firms sell a monthly fee, then spend it in three days when a launch or a crisis hits. Those hours are real. The fee is still the number in the engagement letter.
The firm absorbs the week, or reconstructs it later from calendars and a group chat. The client remembers the retainer.
The letter and the week
The engagement is the signed scope. A launch or a crisis is either inside that scope or a change order. Time sits on the job either way, so the margin of the week is a number you can see.
Ask AI can draft the client note from that record. An owner sends it. The draft does not go out on its own.
When they call the studio
Clients call to ask what is in market. A known contact hears their own work. They do not get a seat on the bill.
The public line does not read another client’s retainers. It does not dial out, and it does not send paper. Unknown callers hear sayable services and the published price.
Seats and the voice line are on the pricing page. Clients are not seats. Book a demo to see the job on one record.
Questions
- How does a PR firm bill a crisis that blew the retainer?
- If the engagement letter did not include it, it is a change order on that job. Hours sit on the job either way, so the week is visible before the invoice is a guess.
- Can a client check status without a portal account?
- Yes. A PIN link shows the work you put there. A known caller hears their own projects on the studio line. They never create an account.
- Who can send a holding note to the client?
- An owner. Ask AI may draft it from the firm’s record. The send waits for Approve.