by Nycole Walsh

Here’s a dirty little secret: a lot of PR programs are a waste of money. Fluffy pitches, vanity hits, no measurable outcomes. It’s no wonder CMOs are skeptical. The game has changed, and most PR programs haven’t.

The truth? PR can be one of your most powerful visibility levers. But only if you rip up the old rules and build a program that actually reflects how influence works today: fragmented, fast-moving, and increasingly decided by algorithms instead of editors. Here’s how to make it work for you — not just your coverage tracker.  

#1  Treat PR Like Product Marketing, Not Just Buzz

PR isn’t the cherry on top of your marketing sundae. It is the strategy. When done right, it shapes perception, builds pipeline, and helps you control how your category gets defined.

But that only happens when PR is wired into your broader GTM motion, not bolted on after the fact. That means:

• Grounding stories in ICP pain points
• Timing them to launches, events, or category shifts
• Aligning them with sales enablement and demand gen

This isn’t about spin. It’s about narrative precision. The closer PR is to your GTM strategy, the more it can actually move the needle.

#2  Know Earned Media Alone Won’t Save You

We’ve seen it a hundred times: a brand lands a major hit in TechCrunch, pats themselves on the back, and then…crickets. No follow-up, no amplification, no connective tissue to the rest of the funnel.

That’s not PR. That’s a dopamine hit.

In a world where visibility is distributed — and zero-click is real — the brands that win are the ones who treat PR like a surround sound system. Podcasts, newsletters, analyst notes, creator posts, review sites, niche blogs. Not just one outlet. Not just one format. Not just once.

If you’re not orchestrating repetition, you’re not building recognition.

#3  Optimize for AI, Not Just Editors

Your brand’s first impression increasingly happens in an AI-generated summary. Not a homepage. Not a headline. That means your media strategy needs to account for LLMs, not just LinkedIn. What does that look like in practice?

• Ensuring your brand is accurately cited across high-authority sources
• Structuring coverage so it’s answer-friendly (think: context + clarity > cute turns of phrase)
• Treating every credible mention as a data point that feeds the machine

If AI is the new homepage, PR is the metadata. Better make sure it’s clean. You’re building a knowledge landscape, not just collecting clips — so your new mandate is to be findable, be quotable, and be everywhere that matters. 

#4  Say Something Worth Quoting

This might be the hardest truth in the whole list: most brand POVs are interchangeable.

“We believe in the power of technology to change the world.” Cool. So does literally everyone else. If you want to be cited — by journalists, by analysts, by AI — you have to say something worth citing. That means:

• Publishing your own research 
• Having a real POV on your industry, not just your product
• Taking a stance when others stay neutral

This is how you go from “we got mentioned” to “we set the narrative.”

#5  Know What Good Looks Like (Even If It’s Evolving) 

Let’s be honest: measurement is murky right now. AI search has scrambled visibility, and traditional metrics like clicks and impressions don’t tell the full story. That’s frustrating, but it doesn’t mean you’re flying blind.

The fix? Get clear on the “why” of your PR program. Are you trying to influence buyers? Attract talent? Build investor confidence? Anchor your measurement there.

Signals like share of voice, brand accuracy in summaries, and consistency across surfaces are worth watching — even if the dashboards lag behind. The key is to keep asking smarter questions, even if you don’t yet have perfect answers.

Coverage Is Cheap, Visibility Isn’t 

The TL;DR? PR isn’t dead — but the old rules sure as hell are. If you’re still running the same comms playbook you were five years ago, you’re not just behind. You’re basically invisible.

Modern visibility takes orchestration, clarity, and more than a little guts. You don’t need a thousand hits. You need the right 20 in the right places, at the right time, telling the right story.

And if you want a partner who knows how to pull that off? We should talk.