This Week in PR Takes - Issue 45

Welcome back TWiPRT! I hope you all had a great holiday season and stayed safe out there. Watch out for the flu, it’s a real doozy this year.

Take of the Week:

This take from Julia is an interesting one.

One one hand, I agree with her in the sense that if a client is working with an agency specifically for media relations, then that agency should be able to deliver.

But, I think there’s something missing in her point.

For starters, an agency cannot simply create coverage out of thin air, and coverage is a two-way street that involves the client. I think a lot of hesitancy to guarantee coverage stems from making sure that said client has something compelling and newsworthy to say. From that standpoint, I would understand an agency’s hesitancy to guarantee results without first having more context.

There were a lot of takes highlighted in this newsletter last year about guaranteeing coverage, and based on my recollection I didn’t see one that pointed fingers to this being a paid model. Painting with a macro brush, the big takeaway that I learned from this community was that at best we can guarantee the likelihood of a reporter opening a pitch/email. That’s really about it.

In a vacuum, the idea of guaranteeing coverage is also a slippery slope. A lot depends on “what kind” of coverage a company is looking to earn and their expectations on who is likely to cover it. Are they an up and coming company looking to dominate the business and mainstream press with their product news? I would certainly not make any sort of guarantee here. But, if they’re looking to see results in their trade(s), that’s a different story.

Personally, I am also weary of anyone that guarantees a certain number of earned media placements without having any data to back that up.

IMO, it’s not so much about the guarantee; it’s about what is being guaranteed.

Resource of the Week:
For those that pitch clients in Europe, Anne posted the editorial beats for Sifted.eu.

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The Rest of the Takes:
 Media Relations
- The disconnect is where good pitches die, according to Simon
- Aaron is spot on with this take about researching what the media is covering vs. what messages a company wants to communicate
- Brandon came in with a similar take on plans, and how 1 > 147

AI and PR
- We should think beyond Tier 1 & 2 and think “LLM Tier” according to Joseph

PR Misc.
- Justin writes about whether the big agency blood bath is a market correction or math
- Local media may be shrinking, Jen wrote about its increasing importance and how her team landed 1,500 local stories in 2025
- Dustin ditches PR talk for C-Suite lingo

That’s it for this week’s takes, thanks for reading.

-Brian
https://www.linkedin.com/in/bkramer/