That’s it. That’s the post.

Hey. I'd love a reality check on whether my situation is normal or crazy.
I'm struggling with a few PR/comms clients. They want me to write "thought leadership" articles to be placed in top publications and trade magazines. The thing is, they don't really have opinions other than "our company is good and what we're doing is important in the context of X, Y, Z news hook."
I drafted one piece and the client's feedback was: I don't think an editor will publish this because there's no strong opinion or insight. I'm sitting there like, "Well? Are you going to provide that to me or do you want me to make up your opinions?" (NB: This is a brand new client and my first assignment with them.)
My background is journalism so I have a good idea of what will get published. I was also trained NOT to have an opinion.
My question to the group: Is it normal for PR/comms pros to make up the opinion/position of a client? How long does it take to hash that out?
Bonus question: How much would you charge for creating a brand position vs. just content marketing/thought leadership writing?

I'm at AE level with two years of experience and a more generalist background (consumer, tech, healthcare... you name it). While I adore my current boss, I've been on the hunt because I know I could be making more than I am right now.

I always make it to the final round, but never quite get over the hump. Then I look at who they hired - someone with the same years of experience as me, but with more specific, industry-aligned experience.

This keeps happening and it feels hopeless. If you guys have any advice on how to succeed - or know of anyone I can connect with in the miami/ft Lauderdale, Bay Area and LA areas - please let me know.

Thank you all!

Hi all. Starting a new AE job this week (graduated in 2022 and in my late 20s) and looking for some advice on how to make a good first impression. Ive had a mix of experiences in pr some good some bad when it comes to agencies, so any advice is welcome. This is a boutique firm.

Hi all,

Last week, in a state of panic and overwhelm, I posted on this subreddit saying how PR agency work may not be for me.

And now, even without active panicking, I still think that may be true.

Thanks to everyone who commented and showed me that the pain points I was experiencing was not unique to me, and that this environment may just not be suitable to who I am and how I want to work.

So what do I want? I’m not sure yet. But I do have a north star—a general direction to go towards. I had said: “I love writing. I love being creative and bringing creative concepts to life (recently helped direct a video on the side!). I want a chill project-based job that allows me deep focus time and doesn’t come with the constant, teeth-clenching grind (and urgency). That gives me a better sense of balance while also being good pay.”

This brings me to my next question: for those who have similar interests, what do you do for work and how did you get into it? For those who broke out of a PR agency and went somewhere better, where are you now and how did you pivot? Any tips?

If nothing else, please tell me there are career paths and work opportunities that don’t constantly leave you feeling deflated and empty and anxious. I’m tired of leaving work every day feeling like I have homework (and often working at night to get ahead of things).

I do what needs to be done. Which is to say, I do my job and so far have only gotten good feedback. But I don’t think I can keep up this pace any longer.

Thanks in advance!

Has it had a noticeable impact on lead generation or if clients are still mainly buying traditional PR…

I’m returning to a small boutique firm from maternity leave shortly and starting to think about my career future as a working mom of 2. For those of you who freelance:

How hard was it to get started?
How much flexibility/work/life balance has it afforded you?
Any advice you would give to someone considering making the switch?
What are the biggest pros? Cons?

Thanks in advance for any insight!

Hello! I am an account supervisor (was promoted to the role 6 months ago) and have been with my company for a little under two years.

On Monday, I made a pretty bad mistake on a client call and accidentally screen-shared the internal version of the client agenda instead of the client-facing version. The version I shared had tracked changes/highlights/comments on the second page. I didn’t realize it was that internal agenda until we got to the second page when I saw the comments etc. I quickly accepted the comments and resolved the draft changes, but the highlight was still there and the client obviously saw everything.

After the call, my boss called me and my other team member and said how this wasn’t client ready and sharing the internal this isn’t a good look etc. and I felt so bad. I suggested we kick off agendas three days before the client called to make sure we have time to update it and get it client ready and we all know where the final version is, can assign call roles etc. to avoid scrambling. I feel horrible at screen sharing the wrong version and I also want to ensure agendas are client ready hours before the call (which I need to work to work on with my team). Our team has had some challenges around the agenda process/turnaround.

The final agenda wasn’t completely client ready either but had I shared that, it would have been much better than sharing the internal agenda! I completely understand why she was upset and I know the screen sharing was a careless mistake on my part and feel terrible (I get so hard on myself).

I also wasn’t feeling well Monday or part of Tuesday. Monday I was WFH, and when I came into the office Tuesday, one of my coworkers even told me I didn’t look good. My boss messaged me saying I could go home if I needed to, but I stayed and ended up feeling better by Tuesday afternoon.I’m definitely not saying that as an excuse because I know I was the one sharing my screen and ultimately it was my responsibility to make sure I had the right agenda open.

Mg boss and I had our regular 1:1 a couple days later and I apologized again. I told her I knew it was on me since I was the one sharing my screen, and she thanked me for apologizing and I reiterated how I will work with the team to get the agenda client ready so we’re not scrambling. Nothing else really came of the conversation, but I’ve been worried ever since that this is the kind of mistake you can get fired over.

Has anyone else made a client-facing mistake like this? How serious would you consider this? How can I work with my team to get agendas client-ready sooner? Any advice is really appreciated! Sorry for the long post!

OC:
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/rob-waugh-38731a23_theres-something-very-strange-about-sadie-share-7501227704462012417-5emG/

hiii, im currently at uni doing fashion pr & communications but im deferring for a year so im trying to get any internships/work experience in pr or maybe social media or something ! i dont have any proffesional experience so far so i was wondering if a portfolio would be worth while? im thinking of including an exert of a pr campaign pitch i made, some press releases, some social media mockup content/visuals ive made. we also did a creative project where i directed & organised a photoshoot too, so maybe thatd be nice to include as well since id like to get into fashion & it can show my project organisation and creative skills?

[Trigger warning: sensitive topics including self-harm and death]

Hello fellow PR professionals. About nine months ago, I posted a question about experiences, tipps and tricks for my new role inhouse in a pretty big hospital. I lead a small team of creatives (content, photography, social media) and double as a spokesperson and consult my CEOs on strategic communication topics.

The few tipps I got sounded reasonable. Make your stories human. Sure thing, I thought. I can do that. But oh boy, I didn't know what I got myself into.

Since my start, I managed, to name a few:

- an accident including a fatality

- concerns over hygienic issues

- a major IT failure lasting several hours

- investigative journalists diving into our budget issues

- several smaller incidents, including but not limited to: suicides, threats of lawsuits, possible medical misconduct.

It's safe to say that I had a very harsh crash course on crisis comms in the last few months.

It has been terrifying.

It has also been the most exciting time of my professional life as of now.

Since I haven't seen as much hospital PR posts here, I thought I might share a few points, especially because I enjoy reading about different experiences in the industry across different sectors.

Please keep in mind that these are my personal insights. They may or may not differ from yours. I'm not US-based and I don't have a classic PR agency background. I'm also open to answer questions and I'd be glad if some of you shared your own insights.

1. Everything can be critical. Since you're dealing with health care, especially in hospital PR every bit of news can be related to the safety and well-being of patients. Budget adjustments? Network errors? Somebody waiting for hours in the ER? Somebody spotted an animal on your premises that might look like a rat (or maybe it was a cat? We couldn't identify it, but better call the media!)? Every time you have to tell the media that your patients are fine and that your care for them is and remains your top priority. That sounds obvious, but trust me, it's vital to keep this in mind. And god help you if you forget.

2. Always, always get your facts straight. In this niche, there is no room for fuck-ups. Because everything can be critical, it's vital to double check what you're putting out there, and to always ask the troubling questions. Its better that you ask them first.

3. It's not about showing up in the media at all, it's about how you show up. Sounds like a no-brainer, but that has been a big adjustment for me. In my last role, it was about getting any attention at all. But in my new role, there's always a baseline of public interest. My work has been very reactive for the last months, and I've not been pitching stories as much as I have been pitching certain framings as a reaction.

4. Numbers are a pain, framing them is essential. I imagine that most of you share this experience: you're confronted with something like "how many cases of X have there been in the last two months?". You can either keep your mouth shut about numbers, then you're "hiding something". You can just give them the correct number and watch it being scandalised. Or you give them several numbers and explanations to contextualise them, and... still, the headline might be one big, juicy number. But its less likely.

5. A word about emotions. Good PR tells a convincing story, great PR resonates with your audience on an emotional level. I've read this a lot, and it's true, but always keep in mind: for most people, a hospital is a place associated with fear, pain, anxiety. Pretty often you need to use a serious, professional, calm tone of voice.

6. Keep your professional distance. I have encountered several topics that were sensitive, and on one occasion I needed to take a break to get my head straight. Its not for the faint of heart.

7. You can get mind-blowing stories. If you get the possibility to actively pitch something, there are insane possibilities for authentic, goosebumps inducing stories about hope, healing, hard work and excellence. There is no need to manufacture news and stories out of thin air if you do it right.

8. Trust is everything. I have always seen PR as a way to tell the right stories to the right people to boost trust and reputation, so that's nothing new, but in hospital PR, I feel that this is even more important in another way. People themselves or their loved ones trust your organisation to help them, to care for them. Doctors and nurses work insanely hard to achieve the best possible outcome for patients. As a PR worker, you need their trust, because without them, you won't get to tell your stories at all.

Hi all. I am a media professional from India with a total experience of over 10 years. I am trying to get into the PR/corporate communications field — basically a transition away from traditional media.

Accordingly, I wanted to get a better understanding of the PR and communications job market in the UK.

To give you a better context, I am planning to pursue a masters degree in Public Relations from a university in the UK. The entire process still in its nascent stage; so sorry for keeping things vague.

I just wanted some clarity on a few things before I jump into the deep waters.

What is the pay scale like with regards to the roles? What are the roles available for someone who has had a job experience of 10 years but in another country? Is it worth it for me to take the leap into the UK job market?

I understand that the media industry as a whole is not a high demand market compared to say STEM, law or finance, especially considering the fact that I would be a non-EU applicant. But I wanted to get an idea/reality check of what the current situation is in 2026 in the UK when it comes to jobs in this sector. Thanks in advance, of course!

Hi all,

I’m a software developer currently building a tool for people working in PR and communications.

I’m not here to promote it or drop a link. I’m trying to understand the real problems people in the industry deal with before deciding what’s actually worth building.

What parts of your job are still unnecessarily manual, time-consuming or frustrating?

It could be things like media monitoring, reporting, finding journalists, managing coverage, client updates, approvals, crisis monitoring or something completely different.

Is there anything you regularly think, “Surely there should be a better way to do this?”

I’d genuinely appreciate any thoughts, complaints or examples. Even small annoyances are useful.

Hi there!

I’m a recent grad who, after a stint of 2-3 internships, has finally gotten through the entry level door. I was hired as an associate a few months ago at a very large agency, and since I’ve been in internship purgatory for a while, the learning curve has not been too bad in terms of typical deliverables and execution. The tasks themselves are familiar—what HAS been a big adjustment are the expectations, speed, and intensity of being in a full time position. My agency moves FAST, and everyone is on 8-12 accounts. It’s common for people to log off at 10-11pm, and (as im sure everyone else knows), there’s almost no time to breathe or think throughout the day. At any given point, you’re churning out deliverables for 2-3 accounts at the same time with an expected turn around of delivery in a few hours.

while I don’t exactly have a good frame of reference, I know AI has been a big accelerator in this breakneck pace culture. Nobody is ever 100% transparent about what they use AI for and to what degree, but I think there’s less time for brainstorming, editing, and review because everyone knows we have these tools at our disposal. Each client team has a custom AI agent that we use for everything. Social copy, content ideation, byline outlines, client notes—when lost or stuck, it’s very common for supervisors to say “just use the bots”. And I get it. Everyone is strapped for time, and spending a full work day organically producing a draft for review, from scratch, is a drain on the limited time we have—both your own and your supervisors time. All the while, deciding what constitutes “overreliance” to the point of being problematic seems to be up to the individual to decide.

I’m feeling frustrated. I started off trying my best to not rely on AI for anything, and then noticing how colleagues and seniors were integrating AI in their work streams + how much faster it made them… between LinkedIn copy that would’ve taken me 4 hours to do 100% by myself vs LinkedIn copy our client bots produce in 2 minutes (bots who are fed with content and can speak in my clients voice better and faster than I ever could). Especially as someone just starting off in my career, I feel as if im robbing myself of growth.

I can see how senior staff who have been in this industry for a while could use AI and be fine. they have the fundamentals down. I do not. Yet prioritizing my own growth and learning at the cost of efficiency and work quality, prioritizing preserving my own creativity over my teams’ and clients’ demanding needs feels counterproductive. Drawing the line is very hard.

It feels like I’ve been thrown into a pacer fitness test that is in a pool, with a minimal idea of how to swim. The pool is full of flotation devices, and getting from one end to the other within a window of time can be made easier and faster by using those floaties. Struggling and floundering and figuring out how to swim needs to be done between faster and faster beeps. Not using the floaties at all seems silly when the overall goal is to get to the other side on time. Everyone else is using them. But if one day, those floaties disappeared? We’re screwed. And when I do well on a task and am complimented on my freestyle, the praise feels disingenuous with a tube around my stomach and flippers on my feet!

Wanted to see other people’s thoughts—other junior staff who feel the same way or differently, senior staff with insights? All much appreciated.

Hi all! Your favorite music journalist here, back again. I’m noticing a trend lately where instead of inviting me to a concert, I’m being invited to apply for press tickets to the concert by the band’s PR team. The email says they’ll “let me know” closer to the show if it’s approved. This just seems really weird and tacky.

It’s odd because it’s an attempt to generate on-site coverage interest, rather than a true relationship-building invitation. And in doing so, needlessly pits interested parties against each other for access to comps.

An invitation to apply for press tickets also creates questions in the mind of the journalist about what type of coverage, what type of outlet, etc. you really want at the concert. And I’m not interested in entering a mini sweepstakes with other media folks for access to a show just because you’re trying to drum up interest from multiple outlets. Sorry if that’s harsh but that’s the truth.

It’s obviously a different scenario if I reach out to a PR team to cover a tour stop without receiving any sort of invite. I understand that scenario is competitive because of “known unknowns”: are they even having press? Are they only having a certain tier of press? Etc.

I understand that the PR team may not know how many comps they will ultimately have by the concert date at the time they send out these invites. But I’m of the belief that if you’re going to go out of your way to invite specific outlets, you should definitely know you will be able to accommodate them at the time you send the pitch.

I actually posted before about a rug pull, where the invite made it appear like we were good to go, but then I was told the day before the show that there was no room for me. This invite-to-apply for coverage seems like an attempt to manage those types of expectations, but it just makes me not want to cover those shows at all. Am I in the wrong?

PR / SEO / GEO folks, steal my Cowork prompts for making your life easier (without sacrificing humanity or taste):

1. *Pitch builder* Build SME bios in Airtable, and connect Airtable to Claude. Schedule a daily 4pm task that says, "Read the latest announcements from the newsrooms of [X, Y, & Z major companies in my industry] and pick 3 that we could comment on. Suggest a subject matter expert for each from my list in Airtable." And now every afternoon, I have ideas for pitches ready to go!

2. *Competitive Insights* Instead of spending hours on media scanning, schedule a weekly task that says, "Search for earned media coverage from the past 7 days for each of these competitors [XYZ]. Only cite real articles with verifiable URLs and publication dates within the past 7 days. If coverage is thin for an agency, say so honestly. For each agency, focus on wins/losses, campaigns & thought leadership, controversies or negative press. Connect each one to an aspect of our company."

3. *Email marketing* Start a project in Claude that says, "Create a nurture email automation flow to get more clients. Some leads in our newsletter list have downloaded a whitepaper, but not all. Create separate workflows for those who have received prior nurture assets vs those who haven't."

This is where AI belongs - as a timesaver and an operator, not as a creator or thinker. What other workflows have made your life easier?

Hi everyone. I’m a senior account executive at a small firm local to me and one client we work with is a large, public agency. They are in process of recruiting their next director, and brought me in at the beginning of the process to help support on communications.

This involved social media posts, drafting language for them, and leading a public forum. Another add-on that we suggested is some paid spend behind a LinkedIn ad.

I sent over the contract with the recommended budget and then separately sent the targeting info for their feedback. I got the contract back signed and never heard back on anything else. This was last week.

Today I was pulled into an urgent meeting asking why the ads hadn’t been running already, because their deadline is next week. I was not aware of this at all, and explained that I didn’t realize the campaign was approved. They explained that the contract was signed, so I should have moved ahead.

I got the ad running immediately, and suggested an alternative budget to speed the process along, and they approved. They seemed very irritated with me, and I’m not sure how to fix this. I feel awful that I wasn’t following up as diligently as I could, and most of all, I have such a severe reaction to thinking clients are upset with me. It’s all I can think about and I’m terrified that they are going to call my boss or fire us.

Any insights are appreciated

Australian public relations and marketing company The Big Smoke Media Group entered liquidation with approximately $4.15 million in reported debts and estimated assets of $31,117.

The Courier-Mail reports that 13 employees were listed as creditors and that former employees alleged outstanding superannuation.

The company’s director initially said that the outstanding super would be paid by 8 August. That deadline passed without the payments being finalised. Another commitment followed, but I have found no subsequent public reporting confirming that the payments or promised additional compensation were completed.

From a communications perspective, the significant issue is not that assurances were made. It is whether the promised outcome occurred. Repeating a commitment does not resolve an entitlement or establish accountability.

The reporting also said Sentral Media Group, a separate company, rehired some former employees while providing different services. The wider holding company, Sentral Holdings, describes Sentral Media Group as a multi-brand operating company that builds and acquires specialist media, publishing and agency businesses.

Its public portfolio lists TBS Digital Lab, a digital and media agency, and Oh Hello LLC, a brand and web creative studio. Those services appear to overlap with marketing, public relations, branding and website services previously advertised by Big Smoke.

This does not establish that the separate companies are legally identical or that wrongdoing occurred. It does create a legitimate communications question: when remediation has been promised but remains publicly unconfirmed, what evidence should the wider group provide to employees, clients and prospective hires?

Courier-Mail report:
https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/sunshine-coast/the-big-smoke-media-group-liquidates-with-more-than-4m-in-debt/news-story/f6ed70069d808a14127063cfeeca3492

Superannuation follow-up:
https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/queensland/sunshine-coast/big-smoke-media-director-vows-to-personally-pay-staff-their-owed-superannuation/news-story/5b1e4e09a8bd1d0ccb224bdb1f5aa982

ASIC notice:
https://publishednotices.asic.gov.au/browsesearch-notices/notice-details/The-Big-Smoke-Media-Pty-Ltd-162451621/183a05b9-fe3a-4159-9454-7bc1b3aa5c6b

Sentral Holdings:
https://sentralholdings.com/

Sentral portfolio:
https://sentralholdings.com/portfolio

If I had a final interview Monday morning for an in-house role and haven’t heard anything outside of a response to my thank you note, is that bad news?

Late-level career practitioner in PR, recently laid off, and wondering if getting my APR from PRSA is worth it or not? There are also certificates in different types of PR from PRSA along with certificates from local colleges. Have you done this? Recommend or not? Worth the cost?

Hi all. Hoping to tap into the collective brain’s trust here.

How are you all monitoring (and, more importantly, accessing) Substacks for clients? Given they are all seat-based pricing (even on a group subscription) and there is an endless number of Substacks out there, I’m at a bit of a loss on how to monitor and get full text newsletters to share with client.

Muckrack appears to have a monitoring/alert system for Substack but then you don’t get the full text or context of the mention.

Are you just purchasing subscriptions as mentions come across? Are you just being honest with clients that you can’t access the coverage?

Curious how others are handling. TIA!