May 21, 2025 • 16 mins
On this episode of 1000 Ways to Market Your Business, Samantha Scott, APR, is joined by Lauren Bernaldo, APR, CPRC, current President of the Southwest Florida Chapter of the Florida Public Relations Association.
Together, they delve into the evolving landscape of public relations in the digital age. They discuss the critical role of media relations, the ethics of utilizing AI in PR, the growing influence of micro and nano influencers, and the strategic importance of storytelling.
Have a question or feedback to share? Visit www.getpushing.com or one of our many social media channels. We look forward to hearing from you.
#marketing #business #communication #strategy
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
Hi, welcome to another editionof 1000 Ways to Market Your
Business, a podcast brought toyou by Pushing the Envelope.
I am Samantha Scott, APR, andtoday I am joined by Lauren.
So excited.
We're talking about PR in thedigital age.
Absolutely and it's so nice tobe here.
Thank you so much.
I'm Lauren Bernaldo, APR, CPRC,and I'm the proud president of
the FPRA Southwest Floridachapter.
But I also work as the ChiefCommunications Officer for the
(00:28):
Lee County Tax Collector.
And prior to that I was at theschool district, and prior to
that I was in journalism formore than two decades, and on
the other side of the camera.
So this is new to me and Iappreciate you putting your
trust in me and inviting me heretoday.
This is fun.
Absolutely.
As a past FPRA President, Iappreciate what you're doing and
giving back to our professionalsin this community, but I think
who better to talk about this aswe're talking about going into
(00:50):
the next generation of publicrelations, the digital age.
I mean, I think we can kickthings off by just saying now
it's totally different than itwas.
I've been around for a whiletoo.
And when we started doing this19 years ago you had to work
with your media so closelybecause social didn't exist, and
now there's a whole other way ofreaching people, but I think
media relations is still really,really critical.
So I'd love to get your thoughtson that, on how PR has changed
(01:12):
and kind of where that's going.
Absolutely, and I think you areabsolutely right.
Media relations is critical andreally developing those
relationships with the reportersand not just the reporters, but
even the managers in thenewsroom.
Because they tend to stay longerthan the reporters do.
A lot of times the reporterswill move on.
But when I first started in themedia, it was all about phone
calls and meeting in person.
And now of course it's emailsand social media and all of
(01:33):
those kinds of things.
So we have the ability to getour messages out on our own.
But you're limited to theaudience that you may have on
social.
So really developing thoserelationships with the media
makes a huge difference becausethey can amplify what that
message is.
But they're not going to do thatfor you if they don't trust you
and they don't know you.
And you don't want to be makingthose relationships when you're
in the middle of a crisissituation or in the middle of
(01:53):
something big that's happening.
You want to grow them and youwant to make them way before
then so that you know who theyare and they know who you are
and they trust you and they knowthe information that you're
giving is accurate andtransparent.
Yeah, absolutely.
Great point is start thoserelationships early before you
need them.
And I always like to counselpeople, especially young people
coming into this field is thatmake it about them, it's not
about you.
Right.
And make sure that you're notjust coming to them like, hey, I
need this, I need this.
(02:14):
Because ultimately nobody wantsto work with somebody like that.
Make sure that it's very clear,like, hey, I want to help you,
you cover this, I might have aresource for you, et cetera.
Just the way that you would liketo be collaborated with kind of
the golden rule, I guess, ofmedia relations and PR.
But you mentioned social mediaand even connecting with those
journalists on social as well,because your business might have
your own owned social mediachannels, and that's a great way
(02:34):
to get the word out.
But connecting with thesejournalists on their channels as
well is also a great way becausenow they have to wear multiple
hats.
They're doing the broadcast,they're doing social posts.
So another great way to connectwith them.
Yeah.
And they're writing their ownheadlines and they're shooting
their own stories.
I mean, a lot of thevideographers are the reporters,
so their deadlines are superearly.
And so them knowing that theycan text you or get through to
(02:55):
you on social, through messengeror whatever is really great
because they know that you'regoing to hopefully give them a
pretty quick response so thatthey can hit their deadlines and
all that.
And I think that your point ismutually beneficial
relationships.
So it is about talking to themon the off hours, letting them
know too, like when you see astory that you think is really
good.
I have a person that I work withat one of the local channels and
a lot of times she'll call meand it won't necessarily be
(03:16):
something that is affecting ouroffice or that we oversee, but
to be able to be that resourcefor her to say, hey, here's who
you're going to want to call.
Here's how you do this.
Those are those kinds of thingsthat you're talking about that I
think are very important.
And again, build thoserelationships so that when you
need them, the stories are notalways going to be positive, but
at least you're going to knowthey'll be fair.
Yes.
And so that's what's the mostimportant.
Absolutely.
(03:37):
So making sure you have factualinformation, you're being a good
resource.
I couldn't agree more.
So now let's move into the nextthing that's making waves.
Yes.
AI, artificial intelligence.
Yes.
Don't be scared.
Don't be scared.
I talk a lot about that on thispodcast.
We also talk a lot about it onour TrendTalks Marketing videos.
AI is definitely somethingthat's not going away.
(03:58):
There's a lot of talk, puttingback on our FPRA hat, about the
ethics around AI and publicrelations.
So share your thoughts on that.
We just did actually a coupleweeks ago Public Relations
University and the whole thingwas focused on AI and it was
fascinating because it was thefirst time that I feel like I
walked into the room whereeverybody was like, you need to
embrace it and you need to useit.
And we give you permission to dothat.
And so most of the time it's,don't upload this and don't do
(04:20):
this, and don't tell it this anddon't.
So it was very refreshing tohear from some of these experts
who are like, it's not here totake your job, first of all,
it's here to help with tasksthat are maybe things that you
could free up to do thestrategic thinking and some of
those other kinds of things.
So it's not something that isever going to take away from the
authenticity, I don't think, ofpersonal communication.
It's also not going to take awayfrom strategic thinking.
(04:42):
But it is something that is atool that we need to be very
honest, in my mind, about thefact that we're using.
So I think a lot of theconversation is, how are you
that way?
How are we being transparent?
And one of the things that wasfascinating and I asked the
question was, okay, so if I useAI but then I rewrite the whole
article does it then become mineand I don't really need to say
(05:02):
that it's AI?
And the discussion was reallyrich and robust and where
everybody landed, at least halfof them were you need to tell
people that you're using AIright from the beginning.
Even if you change everything,the bottom line is you're
getting the basis of it becauseof an AI generated prompt or
however you're doing that.
So I did find that reallyinteresting and I think that
transparency and kind of beinghonest out there, whether you're
putting it as guidance on yoursocial media policy that, hey,
(05:25):
AI might assist in writing someof these things.
Or the same thing if you'rewriting an article that this may
have been AI assisted.
I think that those areconversations that agencies need
to have, that associations needto have, and companies need to
have is to how you're reallysharing that information out
there.
And I think that's important,again, back to the ethics of
FPRA and just making sure thatpeople know how those things are
coming about.
Yeah.
Ethics is absolutely critical.
(05:47):
I think in life personally, Ihave very strong morals around
that.
Yeah.
But also in business and weconsulted our attorney about
that.
And we are not attorneys.
We can't give you that kind ofadvice.
But these are some good thingsto be thinking about and ask
your legal counsel.
How can I best go about this?
We have an AI statement on ourwebsite, for example.
We have something in ourcontracts with clients too.
So we want to be verytransparent about that.
(06:07):
But I also can see AI working inhelping with some of the
research.
Yes.
We used to have to do this themanual way of trying to find
things.
Perplexity AI is fantastic forthat.
But also coming up with aids forpitches or different concepts
like, how could I go about this?
Or what's a good idea for how weshould approach this particular
issue or campaign?
But I think to your point,right, is it can't replace the
(06:27):
individual.
It can't replace theauthenticity of humanity and
making sure there's accuracy inthat because it is fallible.
And making sure that you'reusing it the right way and
ethically is so important.
Yeah, I agree.
And I think we go through all ofour processes, right?
We learn as APRs that we doRPIE.
So you're doing your research.
Yes.
Your planning, yourimplementation and evaluation.
And it can be super helpful andvery predictive.
And okay, now that I've done myresearch, how might this play
(06:48):
with this certain audience?
And I think that those thingsare very helpful.
But again it doesn't take theplace of talking out with people
and other people who are in yourindustry, gathering that data.
Being able to talk with clientsand things like that in your
case about what is it that wereally want?
What are their goals?
What are their objectives?
And using it again as a tool andas a support, but not kind of as
the end all be all.
Yeah.
So that is a perfect segue tothe next thing I want to talk
(07:10):
about.
It's like you had this allplanned.
It's beautiful.
Thank you.
So talking about people,importance of people.
Yeah.
Influencers are people, althoughsometimes they may not seem like
it, but they are.
So the way that we communicatewith influencers has changed
over the years.
And I think some of youlistening might think, oh, this
is like, oh, getting KimKardashian or somebody like
that, that's mega to endorseyour brand.
(07:30):
That's not what we're talkingabout.
Those still exist, but that'skind of a, I think a smaller
segment than the other kind ofinfluencers.
Those are people that are thebloggers, the podcast hosts,
those kinds of people who have areally dedicated audience and
I'd love to get your take on howinfluencers are changing the
game as it relates to PR.
I know with the tax collectoryou're not doing a whole lot
with influencers.
(07:50):
No.
But I think we can still have aconversation about where this is
going.
Yeah, for sure.
I think it's fascinating andagain, in the PR that I've done,
the companies that I worked for,we're the only ones that offer
the services and the goods.
So it's fascinating to me tolearn about something that we
haven't used before, but then inmy mind to play out how could
we, and so I really think thatthe idea and the trend of moving
towards these micro and nanoinfluencers where it's a much
(08:12):
smaller following, they're muchmore engaged with their
followers, their followers trustthem, that's a big thing right
now, right?
I think trust is huge right nowthroughout anybody that wants to
buy a product, they want tobelieve in what it is that
they're getting.
And I think that these micro andnano influencers are really
being able to build thoserelationships.
And I think it's a completeopportunity that we should look
at at the tax collector's officeand government entities should,
(08:33):
but also corporations andclients should also look at
those things and they don't haveto have hundreds of thousands of
followers.
They could be very small, but ifthey believe in you, and their
people believe in them, that's apretty strong way to get a
message across.
It's just a new form of word ofmouth really when you break it
down, because now I'm trustingsomeone's advice.
I can ask Lauren like, hey whereshould we go to dinner?
And she could tell me, or itcould be an influencer that I
(08:53):
follow, that I trust.
Yeah.
Who says you should go to thisplace.
And we've used that to thatpoint for some of our clients.
Angelina's Ristorante is a greatone.
We work with some influencersthere because they're people
that are dining influencers andthey're local to this area.
So somebody's following somebodythat's in this region, we want
them talking about thatrestaurant.
Exactly.
And you can apply that, like yousaid, in a lot of different ways
(09:13):
and when you're looking at that,it doesn't have to be a huge
expense either.
No.
Right.
So when we're talking aboutpublic relations we do a lot of
stuff that's earned and we workreally, really hard.
Yes, we do.
It's different than advertisingwhere we just pay and get a
placement.
Yeah.
And so working with influencersis really similar.
There's a lot of ways that youcan do that in trade, whether
it's for a meal or somethinglike that, and you can kind of
create those parameters.
So it's really budget friendlyand can be highly impactful.
(09:35):
And if you've listened to mypodcast before you know it's all
measurable because that's super,super important too, is you can
see what kind of return you gotfrom that engagement and that
connection.
Absolutely.
And I think to your point, whenyou have micro and nano, you can
have multiple.
So I mean, you really canamplify your message but in a
way that you can do it that'sbudget friendly and again, more
trustworthy.
So people really believe theinformation that's being shared
with them.
(09:55):
Yeah.
And that's a great point to kindof elaborate on a little bit
more.
I think trust has always beensuper important.
But especially now in this dayand age with the state of media,
the state of just everythingthat's going on in this world,
people are looking foralternative means of getting
information.
Yeah.
And they want it to be fromsomeone they feel like they can
trust that's genuine.
Not"the man," so to speak.
And I think that this influencerway of reaching out to folks and
(10:17):
even connecting with reallygenuine reporters and people
that have that personalconnection and people feel like,
oh, that's the reporter that Iwatch every day.
Like, I know this person.
Right.
Even though they really don't.
Yeah.
But they have that connection.
But they come into my home.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Exactly.
So yeah, I think it's justreally important to keep that in
mind as part of your PRstrategy, how you're doing that.
Which leads to my last and finalthing that I want to go over
with you, we're there already.
(10:39):
Wow.
Is storytelling.
Yes.
And how you go about doing that.
How we do that in the digitalage.
There's so many more tools inour toolkit now.
Yeah.
You've been in the business fora while.
I've been around for a while.
I like to tell people and freakthem out, especially when
they're in college that I wasaround before social media.
Me too.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It has changed so drastically.
Yeah.
I mean, even just now, theability of I can produce a video
(11:00):
in three minutes and publish it.
The way that we can communicatehas changed so, so much.
So tell me your thoughts onstorytelling in the digital age.
Well, I think storytellingprobably is the key, right?
It's emotion.
I mean, in my opinion.
People want that connection andthey want that feeling, and so
the way to do that is throughstorytelling.
And I remember when I startedback in the early nineties in TV
(11:21):
and you had the three quarterinch tapes and you had the
camera that weighed about ahundred pounds, and you would
carry these tripods that weighedabout another fifty pounds and
you would go out but the waythat you got your story was
really through the media, andnow to your point, you pick up
the phone and you do all that.
But really it is the emotion.
It's the way to build yourbrand.
It's the way to connect withpeople.
And it's not difficult to doespecially with all the apps and
(11:42):
everything like that, that youcan download on your phone and
do.
But it really is making surethat you're living the mission,
vision, and values of yourcompany, executing what those
are, and then letting peopleknow that we're all human.
Right?
Because I think one of thethings for us, again, in the
government sector, and beforethat when I worked at the school
district, it's easy for peopleto not understand.
It's a lot of information.
So trying to delve into what itis, what do I need to bring,
(12:03):
what do I need to do?
It's very difficult.
And so to be able to know of aplace that you can go to be able
to connect with people and thatthey know there's a human being
behind it.
Like that's, people don't expectthe tax collector to call you
back.
When they're connecting with meon social media, I'll pick up
the phone and we'll call them.
I never expected you to call me.
But that's part of your brand.
It's part of your story.
It's that delivering, for us,that five star service.
(12:24):
And so I think that you canreally do that through a lot of
stories and customertestimonials and things like
that.
And it doesn't have to bedifficult.
It doesn't have to be highlyproduced.
You definitely don't want it to,to not look great.
But I do think that there's someforgiveness in there for people
and they just, again, reallywant to connect and they want to
trust.
And I think storytelling isreally the way to go to get
that.
Yeah, I love that you point outit has to be in line with your
(12:44):
brand.
And I kind of translated a bitof what you said of going into
it with intention.
What are you trying to get outof this?
Yeah.
We talk a lot about that andKinfay is one of my friends and
colleagues and he's on thispodcast this season.
He is awesome.
And he talks about storytellingand branding and that you want
to elicit emotion.
Yeah.
And what are you trying toaccomplish and that's far more
important than what you'retrying to sell or the service
(13:04):
you're providing.
That's paramount.
And I think you have to be veryintentional about your
storytelling.
What are we trying to getacross?
What do we want our audience todo as a result of this?
Yes.
Call to action.
How do we best align this, toyour point, with our mission and
vision, the culture, and set usapart?
Because everybody's going tosay, we have the best X, we do X
better than anybody else.
So how do you do thateffectively?
(13:26):
And then who's the best personto tell that story as well?
Absolutely.
Because it's not always theleader of that organization.
A lot of times it's the otherpeople, the people on the
ground.
Yeah.
That are doing the work andgetting them to tell their story
and celebrating them as well isimportant.
So you're kind of wrapping inthat company culture as well and
HR elements too.
But yeah, storytelling I thinkhas changed so much to your
point.
It could be video, it could bephotos.
(13:47):
Yeah.
How you do it.
And just making sure that it'sstrategic I think is really,
really important.
And not just blasting everybodyall the time.
Correct.
Yeah.
There has to be a balance.
And we talk a lot on here abouttesting and measurement, but I
would say as you start buildingyour storytelling, look at
what's resonating with youraudience and try to balance that
so that it's the right amountfor their appetite and then also
(14:07):
matches what you're trying toaccomplish.
Right.
Well, and to your point, thestrategy, it used to be, I think
that people just took everythingand they put it, if you had
LinkedIn, it was going onLinkedIn, it was going on
Facebook, it was going onTikTok, it was going on.
And to really have thatconscious who are our audiences
on these platforms?
Who are the audiences that wewant to reach with our stories?
And then really focusing in onthat and kind of doing that
micro influencing on your own,not necessarily hiring somebody
(14:29):
to do it, but you could.
But again, really making thatstrategic and thinking about it
with intention because if you'rejust kind of throwing it out
there to see what sticks, you'reprobably not going to get that
return on investment that it isthat you're looking for.
Absolutely not.
I call it the spray and pray.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then it doesn't work.
Not at all.
But to your other point.
It's kind of like hope is astrategy.
No, not so much.
Not exactly.
(14:49):
No.
Yeah, but to your other pointabout the influencers and
storytelling, I think that alsotranslates to media too.
Because there are certainwriters and reporters who cover
certain things.
Yes.
And being able to effectivelycommunicate your story, it can't
always just be a news release ora copy and paste pitch.
You've got to make it reallycustom to them.
Hey, Lauren, I saw you wroteabout X, Y, and Z and I've got a
great story that I think wouldhave a good connection and yeah,
(15:10):
of course it's much better ifit's a warm email versus a cold
email because you've neverreached that person before.
But I think you could take thattack too of storytelling in a
different way working withmedia.
Yeah.
Well, and if you set up a lot ofthat stuff, I mean, I think that
COVID changed a little bit ofall of that too with the media
is that now they're coming to usbecause they know we're the
experts, they know that what wedo in our field, hopefully many
(15:30):
of them trust us, so for us tobe able to craft that story and
say, hey, I've got theseresources for you.
Yes.
Obviously they might not want touse all of them.
They may want to have their own,but at least if you can set some
of that stuff up so that theyknow that you're kind of
thinking about them again, thatmutually beneficial
relationship.
Right.
Especially when they only havethose few hours every day to be
able to actually turn a story.
Yeah, make it easy for them.
Yeah.
Have some B roll, have some highquality images, have somebody
(15:53):
lined up.
So don't pitch something andthen they bite and you're like,
oh, I have to scramble now andfind somebody to get on camera.
Yeah.
Make sure you've got all yourducks in a row before you go
doing that.
And yeah, to your point, make iteasy.
They may not always use it,right?
No.
But sometimes they're like, ohyeah, I'll take that, because
that'll make my life easier.
Right.
Yeah, it's a good way to do it.
Well, thank you so much forsharing your insights.
Yeah, this was fun.
Absolutely.
I appreciate it.
If you guys have any otherquestions or thoughts or ideas
(16:16):
about PR in the digital age,please feel free to leave a
comment below.
We would love to hear it.
And thanks for tuning to anotherepisode of 1000 Ways to Market
Your Business.
Hi, welcome to another editionof 1000 Ways to Market Your
Business, a podcast brought toyou by Pushing the Envelope.
I am Samantha Scott, APR, andtoday I am joined by Lauren.
So excited.
We're talking about PR in thedigital age.
Absolutely and it's so nice tobe here.
Thank you so much.
I'm Lauren Bernaldo, APR, CPRC,and I'm the proud president of
the FPRA Southwest Floridachapter.
But I also work as the ChiefCommunications Officer for the
(00:28):
Lee County Tax Collector.
And prior to that I was at theschool district, and prior to
that I was in journalism formore than two decades, and on
the other side of the camera.
So this is new to me and Iappreciate you putting your
trust in me and inviting me heretoday.
This is fun.
Absolutely.
As a past FPRA President, Iappreciate what you're doing and
giving back to our professionalsin this community, but I think
who better to talk about this aswe're talking about going into
(00:50):
the next generation of publicrelations, the digital age.
I mean, I think we can kickthings off by just saying now
it's totally different than itwas.
I've been around for a whiletoo.
And when we started doing this19 years ago you had to work
with your media so closelybecause social didn't exist, and
now there's a whole other way ofreaching people, but I think
media relations is still really,really critical.
So I'd love to get your thoughtson that, on how PR has changed
(01:12):
and kind of where that's going.
Absolutely, and I think you areabsolutely right.
Media relations is critical andreally developing those
relationships with the reportersand not just the reporters, but
even the managers in thenewsroom.
Because they tend to stay longerthan the reporters do.
A lot of times the reporterswill move on.
But when I first started in themedia, it was all about phone
calls and meeting in person.
And now of course it's emailsand social media and all of
(01:33):
those kinds of things.
So we have the ability to getour messages out on our own.
But you're limited to theaudience that you may have on
social.
So really developing thoserelationships with the media
makes a huge difference becausethey can amplify what that
message is.
But they're not going to do thatfor you if they don't trust you
and they don't know you.
And you don't want to be makingthose relationships when you're
in the middle of a crisissituation or in the middle of
(01:53):
something big that's happening.
You want to grow them and youwant to make them way before
then so that you know who theyare and they know who you are
and they trust you and they knowthe information that you're
giving is accurate andtransparent.
Yeah, absolutely.
Great point is start thoserelationships early before you
need them.
And I always like to counselpeople, especially young people
coming into this field is thatmake it about them, it's not
about you.
Right.
And make sure that you're notjust coming to them like, hey, I
need this, I need this.
(02:14):
Because ultimately nobody wantsto work with somebody like that.
Make sure that it's very clear,like, hey, I want to help you,
you cover this, I might have aresource for you, et cetera.
Just the way that you would liketo be collaborated with kind of
the golden rule, I guess, ofmedia relations and PR.
But you mentioned social mediaand even connecting with those
journalists on social as well,because your business might have
your own owned social mediachannels, and that's a great way
(02:34):
to get the word out.
But connecting with thesejournalists on their channels as
well is also a great way becausenow they have to wear multiple
hats.
They're doing the broadcast,they're doing social posts.
So another great way to connectwith them.
Yeah.
And they're writing their ownheadlines and they're shooting
their own stories.
I mean, a lot of thevideographers are the reporters,
so their deadlines are superearly.
And so them knowing that theycan text you or get through to
(02:55):
you on social, through messengeror whatever is really great
because they know that you'regoing to hopefully give them a
pretty quick response so thatthey can hit their deadlines and
all that.
And I think that your point ismutually beneficial
relationships.
So it is about talking to themon the off hours, letting them
know too, like when you see astory that you think is really
good.
I have a person that I work withat one of the local channels and
a lot of times she'll call meand it won't necessarily be
(03:16):
something that is affecting ouroffice or that we oversee, but
to be able to be that resourcefor her to say, hey, here's who
you're going to want to call.
Here's how you do this.
Those are those kinds of thingsthat you're talking about that I
think are very important.
And again, build thoserelationships so that when you
need them, the stories are notalways going to be positive, but
at least you're going to knowthey'll be fair.
Yes.
And so that's what's the mostimportant.
Absolutely.
(03:37):
So making sure you have factualinformation, you're being a good
resource.
I couldn't agree more.
So now let's move into the nextthing that's making waves.
Yes.
AI, artificial intelligence.
Yes.
Don't be scared.
Don't be scared.
I talk a lot about that on thispodcast.
We also talk a lot about it onour TrendTalks Marketing videos.
AI is definitely somethingthat's not going away.
(03:58):
There's a lot of talk, puttingback on our FPRA hat, about the
ethics around AI and publicrelations.
So share your thoughts on that.
We just did actually a coupleweeks ago Public Relations
University and the whole thingwas focused on AI and it was
fascinating because it was thefirst time that I feel like I
walked into the room whereeverybody was like, you need to
embrace it and you need to useit.
And we give you permission to dothat.
And so most of the time it's,don't upload this and don't do
(04:20):
this, and don't tell it this anddon't.
So it was very refreshing tohear from some of these experts
who are like, it's not here totake your job, first of all,
it's here to help with tasksthat are maybe things that you
could free up to do thestrategic thinking and some of
those other kinds of things.
So it's not something that isever going to take away from the
authenticity, I don't think, ofpersonal communication.
It's also not going to take awayfrom strategic thinking.
(04:42):
But it is something that is atool that we need to be very
honest, in my mind, about thefact that we're using.
So I think a lot of theconversation is, how are you
that way?
How are we being transparent?
And one of the things that wasfascinating and I asked the
question was, okay, so if I useAI but then I rewrite the whole
article does it then become mineand I don't really need to say
(05:02):
that it's AI?
And the discussion was reallyrich and robust and where
everybody landed, at least halfof them were you need to tell
people that you're using AIright from the beginning.
Even if you change everything,the bottom line is you're
getting the basis of it becauseof an AI generated prompt or
however you're doing that.
So I did find that reallyinteresting and I think that
transparency and kind of beinghonest out there, whether you're
putting it as guidance on yoursocial media policy that, hey,
(05:25):
AI might assist in writing someof these things.
Or the same thing if you'rewriting an article that this may
have been AI assisted.
I think that those areconversations that agencies need
to have, that associations needto have, and companies need to
have is to how you're reallysharing that information out
there.
And I think that's important,again, back to the ethics of
FPRA and just making sure thatpeople know how those things are
coming about.
Yeah.
Ethics is absolutely critical.
(05:47):
I think in life personally, Ihave very strong morals around
that.
Yeah.
But also in business and weconsulted our attorney about
that.
And we are not attorneys.
We can't give you that kind ofadvice.
But these are some good thingsto be thinking about and ask
your legal counsel.
How can I best go about this?
We have an AI statement on ourwebsite, for example.
We have something in ourcontracts with clients too.
So we want to be verytransparent about that.
(06:07):
But I also can see AI working inhelping with some of the
research.
Yes.
We used to have to do this themanual way of trying to find
things.
Perplexity AI is fantastic forthat.
But also coming up with aids forpitches or different concepts
like, how could I go about this?
Or what's a good idea for how weshould approach this particular
issue or campaign?
But I think to your point,right, is it can't replace the
(06:27):
individual.
It can't replace theauthenticity of humanity and
making sure there's accuracy inthat because it is fallible.
And making sure that you'reusing it the right way and
ethically is so important.
Yeah, I agree.
And I think we go through all ofour processes, right?
We learn as APRs that we doRPIE.
So you're doing your research.
Yes.
Your planning, yourimplementation and evaluation.
And it can be super helpful andvery predictive.
And okay, now that I've done myresearch, how might this play
(06:48):
with this certain audience?
And I think that those thingsare very helpful.
But again it doesn't take theplace of talking out with people
and other people who are in yourindustry, gathering that data.
Being able to talk with clientsand things like that in your
case about what is it that wereally want?
What are their goals?
What are their objectives?
And using it again as a tool andas a support, but not kind of as
the end all be all.
Yeah.
So that is a perfect segue tothe next thing I want to talk
(07:10):
about.
It's like you had this allplanned.
It's beautiful.
Thank you.
So talking about people,importance of people.
Yeah.
Influencers are people, althoughsometimes they may not seem like
it, but they are.
So the way that we communicatewith influencers has changed
over the years.
And I think some of youlistening might think, oh, this
is like, oh, getting KimKardashian or somebody like
that, that's mega to endorseyour brand.
(07:30):
That's not what we're talkingabout.
Those still exist, but that'skind of a, I think a smaller
segment than the other kind ofinfluencers.
Those are people that are thebloggers, the podcast hosts,
those kinds of people who have areally dedicated audience and
I'd love to get your take on howinfluencers are changing the
game as it relates to PR.
I know with the tax collectoryou're not doing a whole lot
with influencers.
(07:50):
No.
But I think we can still have aconversation about where this is
going.
Yeah, for sure.
I think it's fascinating andagain, in the PR that I've done,
the companies that I worked for,we're the only ones that offer
the services and the goods.
So it's fascinating to me tolearn about something that we
haven't used before, but then inmy mind to play out how could
we, and so I really think thatthe idea and the trend of moving
towards these micro and nanoinfluencers where it's a much
(08:12):
smaller following, they're muchmore engaged with their
followers, their followers trustthem, that's a big thing right
now, right?
I think trust is huge right nowthroughout anybody that wants to
buy a product, they want tobelieve in what it is that
they're getting.
And I think that these micro andnano influencers are really
being able to build thoserelationships.
And I think it's a completeopportunity that we should look
at at the tax collector's officeand government entities should,
(08:33):
but also corporations andclients should also look at
those things and they don't haveto have hundreds of thousands of
followers.
They could be very small, but ifthey believe in you, and their
people believe in them, that's apretty strong way to get a
message across.
It's just a new form of word ofmouth really when you break it
down, because now I'm trustingsomeone's advice.
I can ask Lauren like, hey whereshould we go to dinner?
And she could tell me, or itcould be an influencer that I
(08:53):
follow, that I trust.
Yeah.
Who says you should go to thisplace.
And we've used that to thatpoint for some of our clients.
Angelina's Ristorante is a greatone.
We work with some influencersthere because they're people
that are dining influencers andthey're local to this area.
So somebody's following somebodythat's in this region, we want
them talking about thatrestaurant.
Exactly.
And you can apply that, like yousaid, in a lot of different ways
(09:13):
and when you're looking at that,it doesn't have to be a huge
expense either.
No.
Right.
So when we're talking aboutpublic relations we do a lot of
stuff that's earned and we workreally, really hard.
Yes, we do.
It's different than advertisingwhere we just pay and get a
placement.
Yeah.
And so working with influencersis really similar.
There's a lot of ways that youcan do that in trade, whether
it's for a meal or somethinglike that, and you can kind of
create those parameters.
So it's really budget friendlyand can be highly impactful.
(09:35):
And if you've listened to mypodcast before you know it's all
measurable because that's super,super important too, is you can
see what kind of return you gotfrom that engagement and that
connection.
Absolutely.
And I think to your point, whenyou have micro and nano, you can
have multiple.
So I mean, you really canamplify your message but in a
way that you can do it that'sbudget friendly and again, more
trustworthy.
So people really believe theinformation that's being shared
with them.
(09:55):
Yeah.
And that's a great point to kindof elaborate on a little bit
more.
I think trust has always beensuper important.
But especially now in this dayand age with the state of media,
the state of just everythingthat's going on in this world,
people are looking foralternative means of getting
information.
Yeah.
And they want it to be fromsomeone they feel like they can
trust that's genuine.
Not"the man," so to speak.
And I think that this influencerway of reaching out to folks and
(10:17):
even connecting with reallygenuine reporters and people
that have that personalconnection and people feel like,
oh, that's the reporter that Iwatch every day.
Like, I know this person.
Right.
Even though they really don't.
Yeah.
But they have that connection.
But they come into my home.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Exactly.
So yeah, I think it's justreally important to keep that in
mind as part of your PRstrategy, how you're doing that.
Which leads to my last and finalthing that I want to go over
with you, we're there already.
(10:39):
Wow.
Is storytelling.
Yes.
And how you go about doing that.
How we do that in the digitalage.
There's so many more tools inour toolkit now.
Yeah.
You've been in the business fora while.
I've been around for a while.
I like to tell people and freakthem out, especially when
they're in college that I wasaround before social media.
Me too.
Yeah.
Yeah.
It has changed so drastically.
Yeah.
I mean, even just now, theability of I can produce a video
(11:00):
in three minutes and publish it.
The way that we can communicatehas changed so, so much.
So tell me your thoughts onstorytelling in the digital age.
Well, I think storytellingprobably is the key, right?
It's emotion.
I mean, in my opinion.
People want that connection andthey want that feeling, and so
the way to do that is throughstorytelling.
And I remember when I startedback in the early nineties in TV
(11:21):
and you had the three quarterinch tapes and you had the
camera that weighed about ahundred pounds, and you would
carry these tripods that weighedabout another fifty pounds and
you would go out but the waythat you got your story was
really through the media, andnow to your point, you pick up
the phone and you do all that.
But really it is the emotion.
It's the way to build yourbrand.
It's the way to connect withpeople.
And it's not difficult to doespecially with all the apps and
(11:42):
everything like that, that youcan download on your phone and
do.
But it really is making surethat you're living the mission,
vision, and values of yourcompany, executing what those
are, and then letting peopleknow that we're all human.
Right?
Because I think one of thethings for us, again, in the
government sector, and beforethat when I worked at the school
district, it's easy for peopleto not understand.
It's a lot of information.
So trying to delve into what itis, what do I need to bring,
(12:03):
what do I need to do?
It's very difficult.
And so to be able to know of aplace that you can go to be able
to connect with people and thatthey know there's a human being
behind it.
Like that's, people don't expectthe tax collector to call you
back.
When they're connecting with meon social media, I'll pick up
the phone and we'll call them.
I never expected you to call me.
But that's part of your brand.
It's part of your story.
It's that delivering, for us,that five star service.
(12:24):
And so I think that you canreally do that through a lot of
stories and customertestimonials and things like
that.
And it doesn't have to bedifficult.
It doesn't have to be highlyproduced.
You definitely don't want it to,to not look great.
But I do think that there's someforgiveness in there for people
and they just, again, reallywant to connect and they want to
trust.
And I think storytelling isreally the way to go to get
that.
Yeah, I love that you point outit has to be in line with your
(12:44):
brand.
And I kind of translated a bitof what you said of going into
it with intention.
What are you trying to get outof this?
Yeah.
We talk a lot about that andKinfay is one of my friends and
colleagues and he's on thispodcast this season.
He is awesome.
And he talks about storytellingand branding and that you want
to elicit emotion.
Yeah.
And what are you trying toaccomplish and that's far more
important than what you'retrying to sell or the service
(13:04):
you're providing.
That's paramount.
And I think you have to be veryintentional about your
storytelling.
What are we trying to getacross?
What do we want our audience todo as a result of this?
Yes.
Call to action.
How do we best align this, toyour point, with our mission and
vision, the culture, and set usapart?
Because everybody's going tosay, we have the best X, we do X
better than anybody else.
So how do you do thateffectively?
(13:26):
And then who's the best personto tell that story as well?
Absolutely.
Because it's not always theleader of that organization.
A lot of times it's the otherpeople, the people on the
ground.
Yeah.
That are doing the work andgetting them to tell their story
and celebrating them as well isimportant.
So you're kind of wrapping inthat company culture as well and
HR elements too.
But yeah, storytelling I thinkhas changed so much to your
point.
It could be video, it could bephotos.
(13:47):
Yeah.
How you do it.
And just making sure that it'sstrategic I think is really,
really important.
And not just blasting everybodyall the time.
Correct.
Yeah.
There has to be a balance.
And we talk a lot on here abouttesting and measurement, but I
would say as you start buildingyour storytelling, look at
what's resonating with youraudience and try to balance that
so that it's the right amountfor their appetite and then also
(14:07):
matches what you're trying toaccomplish.
Right.
Well, and to your point, thestrategy, it used to be, I think
that people just took everythingand they put it, if you had
LinkedIn, it was going onLinkedIn, it was going on
Facebook, it was going onTikTok, it was going on.
And to really have thatconscious who are our audiences
on these platforms?
Who are the audiences that wewant to reach with our stories?
And then really focusing in onthat and kind of doing that
micro influencing on your own,not necessarily hiring somebody
(14:29):
to do it, but you could.
But again, really making thatstrategic and thinking about it
with intention because if you'rejust kind of throwing it out
there to see what sticks, you'reprobably not going to get that
return on investment that it isthat you're looking for.
Absolutely not.
I call it the spray and pray.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And then it doesn't work.
Not at all.
But to your other point.
It's kind of like hope is astrategy.
No, not so much.
Not exactly.
(14:49):
No.
Yeah, but to your other pointabout the influencers and
storytelling, I think that alsotranslates to media too.
Because there are certainwriters and reporters who cover
certain things.
Yes.
And being able to effectivelycommunicate your story, it can't
always just be a news release ora copy and paste pitch.
You've got to make it reallycustom to them.
Hey, Lauren, I saw you wroteabout X, Y, and Z and I've got a
great story that I think wouldhave a good connection and yeah,
(15:10):
of course it's much better ifit's a warm email versus a cold
email because you've neverreached that person before.
But I think you could take thattack too of storytelling in a
different way working withmedia.
Yeah.
Well, and if you set up a lot ofthat stuff, I mean, I think that
COVID changed a little bit ofall of that too with the media
is that now they're coming to usbecause they know we're the
experts, they know that what wedo in our field, hopefully many
(15:30):
of them trust us, so for us tobe able to craft that story and
say, hey, I've got theseresources for you.
Yes.
Obviously they might not want touse all of them.
They may want to have their own,but at least if you can set some
of that stuff up so that theyknow that you're kind of
thinking about them again, thatmutually beneficial
relationship.
Right.
Especially when they only havethose few hours every day to be
able to actually turn a story.
Yeah, make it easy for them.
Yeah.
Have some B roll, have some highquality images, have somebody
(15:53):
lined up.
So don't pitch something andthen they bite and you're like,
oh, I have to scramble now andfind somebody to get on camera.
Yeah.
Make sure you've got all yourducks in a row before you go
doing that.
And yeah, to your point, make iteasy.
They may not always use it,right?
No.
But sometimes they're like, ohyeah, I'll take that, because
that'll make my life easier.
Right.
Yeah, it's a good way to do it.
Well, thank you so much forsharing your insights.
Yeah, this was fun.
Absolutely.
I appreciate it.
If you guys have any otherquestions or thoughts or ideas
(16:16):
about PR in the digital age,please feel free to leave a
comment below.
We would love to hear it.
And thanks for tuning to anotherepisode of 1000 Ways to Market
Your Business.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!