r/PublicRelations

I work as a Head of Comms for a financial services and tech firm and have been tasked to develop various AI Agents and agentic workflow to incorporate in my roll. I’ve built a “media prep” agent that once you give it the journalists name and publication it will pull their bio, what topics/beat they cover, links to recent coverage, and potential questions they may ask. This is pulled together in a properly formatted document on brand with our company all in about 3-5 minutes.

This is just the start. What other agents do you think would be helpful? What are you guys building??

Just reviewing my media training materials to keep them up to date and putting my latest Substack together and something occurred to me. All this stuff about being reasonable under pressure, not trashing competitors, making sure you're the polite person in the room...and yet Donald Trump has become president of the most powerful nation on Earth.

I don't want to get political about what he says but the way he says it seems to go against a load of what we tell our clients and it's worked for him. Without addressing the issues themselves, do we think he's moved the dial towards a more belligerent manner - and what is everyone advising their clients in the light of this?

Hello :) Hoping that someone may be able to help suggest an idea that I have to present at a company meeting in a month’s time.

I’ll need to lay out what the idea is, how it could improve our client service delivery, and what the challenges might be (only a few mins).

I work in corporate PR in a small agency (and find public speaking very scary hence the request for help!)

Thanks in advance - will appreciate any help

Our head of HR (who works from home) has just announced a mandatory three-day-a-week in-office policy. It’s absurd. I’m not sure how I’ll manage to complete my tasks while losing two hours daily to commuting and then struggling to find meeting rooms and other resources.

I’m currently a 25f and I’m coming from real estate. I thinking of going to school for PR with a minor in finance. I’m curious how people in PR like their jobs and how useful the degree is.

How stressful is it? Is it a 9am-5pm

or are you working all the time on the clock? Something I’m trying to avoid coming from real estate. Are there travel opportunities? Can it be creative!

What’s your favourite part of the job and what’s your least favourite? If someone can walk me through their day, I’d love that.

Cheers ☀️

For context: I recently graduated with a comm studies degree and I really want to try going into PR (which I have little to zero professional experience in), which led me to apply to internship roles for months before finally getting this position. The role that I signed for was for a MarComms intern position in a PR/comms agency, but it wasn’t until literally three hours into my first day today where the hiring manager sat me down and informed me that actually, they really needed a digital intern and are going to be switching me over. This was not something I was informed of, but scrolling through the company chat messages showed that everyone else in the company apparently had known all last week.

It’s hours later and I’m still reeling from this. Social media is something that I’ve done before and am not at all interested in pursuing as a focus (which I have made clear to the hiring manager), and the company itself comes with its own pro/con list that I was willing to ignore for the sake of seeing if PR was something I could do as a full time career. Furthermore, I signed for an 8 month period and the pay is even lower than the average agency internship salary in my area, so the only thing that’s really attractive right now is that they’re part of a larger international firm and the market right now is BAD, so finding another internship would be difficult. The hiring manager says that he might assign me more traditional PR tasks once I’m more settled in, but that won’t be until months later.

My digital lead isn’t even in office for the week so I have nothing assigned and no idea what I would be doing in this role. Should I quit and wait out the 1 week notice period? Should I tell my hiring manager that I really just want to do traditional PR and refuse to resign the new contract? Should I just give it time and try to seek new opportunities? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I’ve recently started doing freelance journalism and have been invited on a press trip by a pr company - they’ve requested a scan of my passport to book the flights and I wondered if this is standard practice? Everything checks out with the company and I have mutual contacts with them but I’m wary of sending this.

Thanks!

Trying to reach B2B influencers (US based) what actually works?

Helping a colleague who’s been trying to get in front of a few big B2B names, and honestly it’s been pretty discouraging.

We’re (I mean the team or the friends I already asked about it) not just spamming DMs. We tried to do it the “right way”:

• engaging with their posts regularly (actual comments, not fluff)
• writing posts inspired by their ideas + adding our own angle
• sharing small proof of work instead of pitching
• reaching out with context (like reacting to something they just posted)
• avoiding the usual “can I pick your brain” stuff

Basically trying to build some visibility before asking for anything.

Still getting nothing.

So now I’m wondering: what actually works at that level?

And more importantly: what do you do when all the best practices don’t work?

Do you:

• just keep going and hope consistency pays off
• switch strategy completely (intros, partnerships, even paid collabs)
• try to reach people around them instead
• or accept that some people are just realistically unreachable

Would love to hear from anyone who’s actually managed to break through here, especially without a big audience or network.

Hey I live in the New England area and I’m looking to relocate what are some good firms in the Atlanta, Charlotte or Dc area?

Continuing my efforts to conquer video with this half-baked stuff about AI in search. So many snake oil sales people around saying what will work to get to the top bit of the page. I think most people are guessing. You'll be ok if you're providing consistent, useful content, delivered with authority, on subjects that your brand can legitimately comment on.

I have a second interview at a film and TV PR company this week in an events role, and want to know what the right vibe is for the interview?

Obviously I know a level of smart dress is required - I won't wear jeans - but wondering what you guys might recommend? Creative industries like film are generally more relaxed and a bit more out there, but I also do on some level want to stand out.

I mainly also want to know if nail polish is a bad idea lol, I've got it into my head that nail polish when not gel looks scruffy

Hello! I might have my first ever interview for PR Intern role in the upcoming week. What all questions can I expect?

I posted this as a discussion, but it's a minor rant - a "drant," so to speak. Here’s another dialogue that I have with prospective clients multiple times a month. I get asked, “Can you write an article for me that showcases my business?” or something to that effect. The prospective client wants me to write and publish an article in the news media (not in a publication that accepts byline articles). I have to explain that things don’t work like that – that I will write a press release and/or media query and pitch them to the press, and that a reporter will write an article about them if they’re interested. This discussion can take different forms. It can be ego-driven and imperious, e.g., “You will publish an article about me in the Wall Street Journal,” or more realistic, e.g., “Is it possible to place an article about me in the media?” In both cases, I need to explain how things work. I start to wonder, though, what the source of this confusion is.

 

Does anyone have any favorite job boards / networks that support hiring people of color in comms + brand marketing (e.g. ColorComm, Hue, etc.)? Also checking Claude/ChatGPT for more suggestions.

Thanks!

Welcome to /r/PublicRelations weekly simple questions thread!

If you've got a simple question as someone new to the industry (e.g. what's it like to work in PR, what major should I choose to work in PR, should I study a master's degree) please post it here before starting your own thread.

Anyone can ask a question and the whole /r/PublicRelations community is encouraged to try and help answer them. Please upvote the post to help with visability!

Hi everyone,

I’m a 26F currently working in academia and I’m planning a pivot into the Luxury Travel industry for the end of the year and would love some advice.

I’ve heard “product knowledge” is everything in luxury PR, so I’m considering starting out in a Luxury Travel Consultant or Operations role to learn the industry from the inside before pivoting to an agency. I’m living at home and willing to take a pay cut if it gets me a foot in the door — I’d also rather earn my way into PR with industry credibility than try to talk my way in without it.

I have some specific questions but would love honest opinions about this pivot and any advice you wish someone had given you earlier in your career in this space.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

- Is a consultancy/operations background genuinely respected by luxury PR hiring managers, or does it tend to pigeonhole you into sales?

- Are unconventional career trajectories or more academic/intellectual backgrounds common in the industry? Will I be seen as a weak applicant without any formal PR training/qualifications? (Would love to hear any non-linear paths into PR!)

- I ultimately want this new career path to take me out of my home country and give me the freedom to build a life and career across different cities — London first, then further afield. Has anyone made a deliberate move into PR specifically to enable a more international lifestyle and did it deliver?

Thank you in advance! 🤓

I joined a very small/boutique agency over a year ago. I was brought in to run a specific division. It has been working out extremely well in that I have full autonomy, have been bringing in new clients (with great percentage), etc. and I love the field I work in.

After having worked in real Corporate PR in the past, where agencies almost felt like PR sweatshops, when I started, I truly appreciated the small team, work hard, cut needless process approach. But...it's at the situation now where I oversee 6 clients, with very very little support. That may be one thing, but more than that I do much more than just the actual PR tasks. I also am constantly involved in new business (I stop pursuing but have been getting incoming, which is really great but also..!!). Always looking to grow relationships with reporters, find new outlets, etc. Involved in industry events, and a lot of other things here and there.

Before I get into too much detail about the help I have (one junior member per account, each with different limitations + sometimes someone on my level/more experienced for some strategic input) and why it's not working, I want to understand what ideal, or almost ideal set up would be.

How many people, and what roles do you think should ideally be on an average client team? 3? 4? More? Including roles of high up/strategy only, etc.
I know there's a lot of variables here, but let's say for example, a small/medium size startup that has two parts to their business, a decent amount of press releases (1-2 a month), a few different people to use for podcasts and thought leadership pieces, and expectations for constant flow of traffic on all fronts?

I am trying to close the disconnect between me not managing and my boss thinking that I need to better trust the junior people (and that when I get two more clients he'll hire someone else.)

I see you all talking to each other about this on this sub from time to time, publicist to publicist. So how about from the journalist side. Should the PR have done this? Is my thinking as a journalist 'too cold' about about this?

I was pitched an event 5 times over the course of 3 weeks, for this weekend. It was something we were not interested in. Too hyper-local for our outlet. I tend to let those go without response, because I get so many pitches in a given day from publicists who don't understand that I'm simply based here, and our coverage isn't community-specific. It has to be a national tour or brand event.

The five emails I received each had different introductions. They started to sound more and more desperate. Going from, "Sharing an alert below," and offering tickets, interviews, etc; to simply, "Upcoming this weekend..."; to on the final, "Hope you can share..." The latter especially came off like this person, who I've never worked with, was struggling to get any hits. Maybe I'm reading into it, but maybe not? And on the last one she didn't offer any access or anything, it just came off as "Pretty please share!" (I get that it may have been past the time that she could grant access since it was this weekend.)

So was she doing too much? I felt like responding nicely after that fifth one, but I don't want to send the message that over-nagging is a successful tactic. Yes, you have to follow up, I 1000% get that. I'm a major follow-upper on my own requests. But bludgeoning an inbox--such that the journalist feels you're starting to beg--is over a line, IMO.

What your take? I always enjoy your perspectives.