“Love what you do and you’ll never work a day in your life.” I do think that from time to time. Running a PR agency has its challenges, but for the most part, it’s a blast. As the founder of a PR agency, I wear many hats: PR strategy wonk, sales guy, quality assurance analyst, recruiter, trainer, social media maven…. It’s always something different.
There are times running this PR agency when another saying comes to mind: “If work was fun all the time, they would have called it play.”
Looking at some notes and transcripts of some of my PR agency client meetings, sales meetings and other artifacts of 2024, there have been moments where I’ve had to roll with the punches. Here’s the top things I heard at my PR agency that I hope I don’t hear again in 2025.
Things overheard at my PR agency right before things went sideways
“I just got some answers for that reporter with ChatGPT. We can use these, right?”
We heard this one a lot in 2024. I’m hoping the high-water mark of this sentiment is behind us.
Nope. We can’t. Not if we actually want a real reporter to use your ideas in their story.
ChatGPT can write your thought leadership, but can't make you seem smart. (Believe me, we tried, when deadlines were short and clients insisted on using whatever the AI could come up with. But every single time, those responses got no love.)
Instead of prompting ChatGPT, take a few minutes to draw inspiration from actual things that are happening at your company. Astounding anecdotes. Sensational statistics. Tell the reporter something only you would know (because you’re the expert). That’s literally what they want.
“I was just thinking… Before this press release goes out, maybe we should show this to our partner over at XYZ Corp.”
This happened with a press release that had already undergone significant review from multiple stakeholders. It was a classic too-many-cooks kind of situation.
What you want to do is use an easy press release editing process to pitch reporters, fast. If you need multiple internal sign-offs, that’s fine. But make sure you’re getting those people’s input right away, not in a round-robin sequence. That goes double if you need approval from a partner outside your company, who may not feel the same urgency for deadlines.
If your press release editorial review process requires weeks (instead of hours, or at most a few days) to run its course, you’ll want to change things up.
Things overheard at my PR agency when we should have been celebrating but stuff got in the way
“The name of this service isn’t correct! We’ll have to get the reporter to change that in the story.”
Well, okay but… That’s the name of your service on the client’s website. And it was the name of the service we discussed in our strategy session before we put together the pitch. Then it was the name of the service that was written into the pitch that you saw before we sent it out…
When we pointed these things out to the client, they let us know that they were working on a name change this week. It was a “top priority.” So we waited for confirmation of what we could send to the reporter to switch out the name and…
The meeting got cancelled. The name change never happened.
This kind of thing just happens in PR. Roll with it.
“The reporter was asking so many questions! I wasn’t expecting that. It was really stressful.”
This came right after an interview between the CEO and a reporter who was on their bucket list of must-have media outlets. We should have been celebrating. Anyway…
Reporters ask lots of questions. That’s kind of their thing.
If interviews stress you out, maybe you should consider taking media training (which is something we offer). Get comfortable with bridging techniques like how to deal with adversarial reporters’ questions and the art of going off the record. Come out of interviews feeling confident and refreshed (versus feeling like you just escaped from a scary situation thanks to your own wits and cunning… because that probably did not happen.)
“Can we get back to the journalist next week? Kind of busy here…”
(But this happened on a Tuesday… following an interview with a kind-of-a-big-deal news reporter at the Wall Street Journal.)
Well, sure, no problem… if you’re okay with losing the opportunity to get quoted in the major news outlet you specifically wanted us to target.
You want to answer the reporter ASAP, before they switch in a different expert source and take you out of their story. You’ve got a few hours, or maybe a day’s grace. After that, you’re taking your chances. That’s one way to get faster results with your PR agency.
Things overheard at my PR agency on sales calls where we wound up not signing a deal
“We’re looking to build our brand up and get out from under all the lies. People lie all the time, you know? They post bad reviews for no reason at all. Liars, all of them!”
Not for nothing… but in my experience, the only people who think that lying is super-common are liars. (Sorry. Projection is a real psychological phenomenon).
It’s not uncommon to have one or two bad reviews mixed in with some good ones. But if you mostly just have a ton of negative reviews, you might not have a problem that PR can fix.
Cover the basics, first. Work on your business’ core deliverables and make sure your customers are happy.
“Don’t be playin’ me, man! Give me a deal! I know exactly what these services really cost!”
Uh, well… we ain’t playin’.
Look, good PR isn’t cheap. (In fact, a strategically-timed PR push, with sufficient resources behind it, can be just the thing to boost your share of voice when your competition is cutting their marketing spend.)
But hey, before you go on the offensive after hearing about our packages and pricing, maybe just clue us in what your budget is? Just be straight with us and maybe we can work something out.
“Our website and main product will be ready to launch in a few months. But what if we start doing PR now, before the launch, to drum up some excitement?”
I hear this on sales calls more than I’d like.
No website? No product? To be honest, maybe it’s too early for public relations.
Work on your product-market fit. Get some revenue in the door. Make sure your marketing engine is working. (Bonus: Check out our starter guide for marketers before a public relations launch.) Then, maybe we can talk about adding PR to the mix as a force multiplier.
“We want to do a lot of advertising so you can get us into the news and build our brand!”
Advertising absolutely can work great for some companies. With advertising, you’re paying for guaranteed placement, with exactly the copy and design that you desire for the ad.
The thing is… we don’t handle advertising,
With public relations, you’re getting quoted and featured in all kinds of actual news stories - where you’re seen as the expert. Placement is not guaranteed, but when you’re in the news and your competitors aren’t, well… that’s a competitive advantage. You’re the credible expert. The trusted leader of the pack. That’s the difference.
“So how does this PR thing work, exactly? We pay you and the reporter takes the article and publishes it under their name?”
Well no. Not unless you’re talking about advertorials or paid article placements, which are just another form of advertising.
We don’t bribe or impersonate journalists. Instead, a big part of what we do is pitch story ideas about your company to reporters.
We're all about getting earned media coverage. If the reporter likes the idea, they might create a story about you (or reach out for an interview and then create a story). If they don't say yes immediately, we might pitch them again later with a fresh angle (but by then we've also moved on to other reporters who might give us the time of day). Creativity plus persistence and good targeting gets PR results.
Got questions about public relations and what it can do for your company? Learn more about our PR agency services in 2025