Time Tracking Software for PR Agencies
Media outreach, press release drafting, crisis response, and client briefings happen in unpredictable bursts that are difficult to reconstruct from memory at invoice time. AgencyPro lets PR professionals log time as they work across pitching, writing, and client communication, producing detailed activity records that both justify retainer fees and demonstrate the scope of work that goes into earning each media placement.
Based on self-reported data from AgencyPro customers
Built for PR Agencies
Most PR firms discover their retainer pricing is wrong only after months of untracked media-monitoring hours eat into margins. Media monitoring, journalist follow-ups, press release drafting, and client update calls each consume 15-30 minute blocks that publicists rarely log — yet those untracked slivers represent the bulk of actual retainer delivery.
Time Tracking Built for PR Agencies
Why PR Agencies Need Better Time Tracking
Public relations firms managing media outreach, crisis communications, and brand reputation.
Your publicist pitched 35 journalists this week in 10-minute phone calls and 5-minute follow-up emails — 8 hours of media outreach that shows up as a single "media relations" entry on the timesheet because nobody logs individual calls
A crisis hit at 4pm on Friday and your senior VP worked straight through the weekend managing media inquiries, drafting holding statements, and briefing the client — 20 hours of premium work that got loosely reconstructed from memory on Monday
The retainer covers media monitoring, journalist follow-ups, and press release drafting, but the client only hears about the two press placements — they don't see the 30 hours of relationship building and monitoring that produced those results
Your team spent 12 hours preparing and rehearsing the client's CEO for a keynote media appearance, but "media prep" doesn't have a category in your timesheet system so it landed under generic "client service"
How PR Agencies Use AgencyPro Time Tracking
Smart time tracking with project-level timers, billable/non-billable categorization, and team timesheets.
Media outreach logs each journalist interaction individually — 35 pitch calls become 35 time entries tied to the client campaign, proving the sustained effort behind two earned placements rather than letting the work vanish into a one-line timesheet entry
Crisis management timers activate instantly from mobile and track continuously through weekend response cycles — every holding statement draft, media inquiry response, and client briefing call gets a timestamped entry that supports premium billing for emergency work
Monthly retainer reports break down hours into media monitoring (8h), journalist outreach (12h), press release development (5h), client briefings (3h), and event coordination (2h) — showing the full scope of effort that produces the coverage results
PR-specific activity categories (media prep, spokesperson coaching, press conference coordination, coverage analysis) capture the specialized work that generic "client service" categories miss, making retainer value visible to the client
Key Benefits for PR Agencies
Log Media Outreach Hours
Track time spent crafting press releases, building targeted media lists, pitching journalists, and following up on coverage opportunities. Demonstrate the sustained effort behind every earned media placement and press mention.
Monitor Crisis Management Time
Capture hours dedicated to rapid response communications, media monitoring, stakeholder briefings, and message crafting during crisis situations. Accurately bill for high-pressure work that requires senior-level attention around the clock.
Track Event and Press Coordination
Measure time invested in press conference coordination, speaker placement, media briefing preparation, and event-day press management. Scope and price PR event services accurately based on historical effort data.
Quantify Media Monitoring Effort
Record hours spent on daily media monitoring, sentiment analysis, coverage tracking, share-of-voice reporting, and competitive intelligence gathering that forms the backbone of every PR client retainer.
How It Works
Log each media interaction as it happens
Publicists tap the timer for each journalist pitch call, follow-up email, or media briefing. Individual interactions roll up into campaign-level totals: "Product launch campaign: 45 journalist touchpoints, 14 hours of outreach across 3 weeks."
Track crisis response from the first alert
When a crisis breaks, the first team member starts the crisis timer. Every subsequent action — media monitoring, statement drafting, client calls, journalist responses — logs against the crisis event with timestamps that reconstruct the exact response timeline.
Present activity-level retainer reports
Monthly reports show hours by PR discipline: media relations, content development, event coordination, crisis support, and media monitoring. Clients see the infrastructure of work behind every press mention rather than just the clippings.
Frequently Asked Questions
Our publicists make 30-40 pitch calls a day. Is individual call tracking realistic?
Yes. Each call gets a quick-start timer — tap when you dial, tap when you hang up. A 7-minute pitch and a 12-minute follow-up log individually with the journalist name and outlet in the notes field. At day's end, 35 calls aggregate into "4 hours 20 minutes media outreach — 35 journalist touchpoints." The per-call granularity is what makes your monthly outreach report credible when clients want to see the effort behind their press coverage.
A crisis consumed the entire weekend. How do we capture that accurately after the fact?
Ideally, timers run during the crisis — mobile quick-start makes this feasible even under pressure. If your team was too focused to track in real time, Monday morning reconstruction is guided by the communication trail: emails sent, Slack messages posted, and client calls made all have timestamps. AgencyPro lets you create manual entries matched to those events so the weekend's 20 hours are documented with the specificity to justify premium billing.
Our retainer is $15K/month but the client only cares about press placements. How do we show value?
The monthly activity breakdown shows the full picture: media monitoring (32h), journalist relationship building (18h), press release development (8h), spokesperson preparation (4h), client reporting (3h) — totaling 65 hours of professional effort at an effective rate of $230/hr. Two press placements are the visible outcome; 65 hours of sustained PR work is the engine. That context reframes the retainer as underpriced, not overpriced.
We need to bill a crisis client separately from their standard retainer. Can we split those?
Crisis management gets its own project code within the client account. Hours logged under the crisis code bill at your crisis rate (typically 1.5x-2x standard) and appear on a separate invoice from the monthly retainer. The client sees their $15K retainer invoice and a separate crisis response invoice for the 20-hour weekend response, each with its own activity breakdown and billing rate.
Time Tracking for Other Industries
Time Tracking Software for Marketing Agencies
Digital and traditional marketing firms managing campaigns, content, and strategy for multiple clients.
Time Tracking Software for SEO Agencies
Search engine optimization firms tracking rankings, building links, and optimizing websites for organic traffic.
Time Tracking Software for PPC Agencies
Pay-per-click agencies managing Google Ads, Meta Ads, and multi-platform paid advertising campaigns.
Time Tracking Software for Social Media Agencies
Agencies managing social content, community engagement, and social advertising across platforms.
Time Tracking Software for Content Agencies
Content marketing firms producing blogs, whitepapers, video scripts, and editorial content for brands.
Time Tracking Software for Design Agencies
Graphic and web design agencies creating brand identities, websites, marketing collateral, and UX/UI designs.
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Agency-focused project management with task boards, deadlines, team assignments, and client collaboration.
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Reporting & Analytics Software for PR Agencies
Real-time dashboards and automated reports covering revenue, profitability, utilization, and project performance.
Recurring Billing Software for PR Agencies
Automated subscription and retainer billing with payment processing, dunning management, and revenue recognition.
35 pitch calls. 8 hours of outreach. 2 placements. Zero hours documented.
PR agencies using AgencyPro capture the relationship-building effort that produces earned media. Every journalist call, crisis response hour, and media monitoring session becomes documented, billable work.