This Week in PR Takes - Week 34

Week 34

Author

Brian Kramer
October 03, 2025

Take and Chuckle of the Week:
It’s no surprise that always funny, yet on point, Brandon posted a take that really resonated with me. In what I believe is a TWiPRT first, his take on links is actually both a Take and Chuckle of the Week.

It’s a Take of the Week because, well, we’ve all been there; and it’s worth revisiting. He is spot on, “the media has no interest in making your campaigns easy to track.” I would pull the thread a little more on this and say, the media is not an extension of your marketing team. They are not here to provide SEO juice, they are here to inform readers and tell a story. However, I will caveat this with one exception. If a reporter mentions a new product, a study or another piece of news where a link out to said news provides more information for that read, then by all means it could/should be linked out to.

Which is a great transition to the Chuckle portion of his take…the “Frankenstein Tracking URL.” Not only is the timing right of this phrase in line with Halloween, but again - they’re here to inform readers and not to help with clicks.

Resource(s) of the Week:
You’re missing out if you don’t subscribe to at least the free version of Tanya and Emilie’s On Background Substack. They put together a great list of 35 reporters who “ditched” legacy media to start newsletters.

I love Carly’s openess to share what works for her and her team, including this 3-part email sequence to follow up with reporters. One takeaway from this resource, the key element in her sequence is time. This sequence shows that she and her team reach out to reporters about 2.5 weeks ahead of an announcement, which in turn should provide reporters ample time to respond.

The Rest of the Takes:
Media Relations
- Kathryn put it best, “ When media opportunities come calling, you say yes. Every time.”
- Dustin wrote that “spray and pray” isn’t just ineffective, it likely puts your job at risk. - Matt wrote about a reporter backing out of an exclusive, and it’s worth a look into the conversation.
- Jackie put together a take that earned media is not dying, it’s just weeding out laziness.

PR and AI
- Quite frankly, if you’re not following Pete Pachal for his insight into PR and AI, you’re missing out. Here’s a take on how earned media signals become answer signals for LLMs.

PR Misc.
- “Show, don’t tell,” writes Katy with a take on interview tips.
- What does “PR” mean…I’m a hard “yes” on this brief, but spot on take from Michael.
- Dustin with a bonus take, and something I’ve never really considered….your pitches should really be framed in a way to help a reporter earn their paycheck.
- Embargoes…so many embargoes….writes Jennifer Jolly.

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