Hiring a PR agency?            Start here.

Look past the client logo carousel. Ask about the depth of experience of the people in the room: Who has orchestrated successful launches, navigated business pivots, or managed crises in your industry or an adjacent segment? Who on the team presenting to you has personally handled PR for companies similar to yours? Who’s built messaging for complex B2B sales cycles, skeptical media and analysts, and/or busy potential investors? 

Sterling has focused primarily on B2B tech for decades. Healthtech, cleantech, edtech, enterprise software, fintech, and enterprise AI, to name just a few. Our team’s passion for technology shows in the results we deliver. We don’t dabble. We go deep.

Depends on what you’re solving for. In general, in-house teams excel at institutional knowledge, executive access, and day-to-day execution, whereas agencies provide outside perspective, cross-industry thought leadership expertise, strong media and analyst relationships, and the ability to tell C-suite execs the “kind truth” without having to sugar-coat it.

Sterling works best as an extension of your marketing team, especially when you need strategic counsel during pivots, M&A, major launches, or market-shaping moments of growth. We also work with companies too small to justify a full comms staff but too ambitious to stay quietly in the background. 

We help bring your business strategy to life through integrated messaging frameworks, media and analyst relations, content creation, event and awards support, and customer/partner engagement programs. These efforts validate assumptions, strengthen stakeholder relationships, and enhance not just your reputation, but your revenue growth and profitability.

Unless there is a pressing business issue that must be addressed immediately, the first 90 days should be spent putting together a thoughtful program that will help you punch above your weight for the long term. If an agency promises or guarantees immediate media coverage, be skeptical. Real momentum takes critical thought and executional discipline.

Sterling’s first 90 days focus on message alignment, stakeholder mapping, and identifying the specific moments that matter: funding announcements, strategic partnerships, product launches, policy shifts, etc. We build a roadmap tied to your business goals, not vanity metrics, then we co-create program KPIs to ensure we’re all accountable for results. When we become an extension of your team, we track what’s important, meet regularly, and proactively review messaging to ensure we’re consistently driving positive impact for your business.

Coverage is one signal. But if visibility doesn’t change how deals progress, talent decides, or partners engage — what is it actually doing for the business?

Sterling tracks outputs — placements, bylined articles, podcast interviews, award wins — AND business outcomes. We measure pipeline influence, stakeholder sentiment shifts, and whether visibility actually accelerated cycles or opened partnership doors. We report what moved, not just how we spent our time.

For teams optimizing for noise over business impact, we’re not the right partner. And that’s ok.

Sure. But freelancers can’t scale the way agencies can. If a freelancer is on another big job when you contact them again, you may have to start from Square 1 with someone else. That is a waste of both time and money. When communications have to support business growth, continuity and the ability to scale matter.

Sterling works differently. Most of our client relationships are long-term ones, evolving as our clients grow, pivot, and face new opportunities or risks. We have helped founders move from pre-revenue to successful exits, and we’ve also supported larger, established organizations in public offerings, M&A activity, rebrands, and market pivots. We bring in senior-level teams with cross-functional expertise in comms strategy, stakeholder relations, content development, crisis management, event orchestration, reputation management, and more. 

When you need to move quickly across multiple fronts, the right team member experience is vital.

The agency you hire during good times isn’t always equipped with the experience needed to handle a crisis effectively. Some are, but many aren’t. Ask them: Have you handled regulatory scrutiny? Product failures? Executive misconduct? Data breaches?

Sterling’s leadership has managed government investigations, class actions, customer complaints that threatened reputation, data leakage, and other operational crises that required rapid response. We don’t just have a plan “in the drawer”—we’ve executed under pressure and know how to protect what you’ve built.

There’s no one-size-fits-all approach to building the right communications strategy. And the programs that roll out of that strategy should be bespoke. 

For earlier-stage companies, Sterling designs momentum programs that fit tighter budgets while still delivering measurable impact. You’re paying for strategic counsel, message discipline, media engagement, and hands-on program management. Increased budgets allow us to incorporate additional initiatives and programs that scale as your business does.

What we don’t do is hand you off to junior staff to execute plans after the pitch. Our principals — who’ve managed communications through acquisitions, regulatory challenges, and all kinds of market transitions — work directly with you. Clients have ready access to — and regular communications with — our senior-level experts, because that is what we’d want if we were the client. 

Markets shift. Funding falls through. Priorities pivot. That’s life.

For ongoing PR and marketing engagements in dynamic markets, Sterling demonstrates flexibility. We track what’s important, meet regularly, and proactively review messaging and KPIs, so adaptability comes naturally. We can re-scope work without losing momentum or wasting time. That means you’re never locked into a program that no longer serves your current reality or future direction.