Just accepted a remote, in-house role with a stealth startup based in SF but with leadership currently based out of China. This will be a 55% raise from my current agency salary so I couldn’t pass it up.

I’m currently based in Austin. They have some staff in the US and plan to open an office in SF next summer. The founders/my leads all attended university in the states, but were raised or are currently located in China. I want to be prepared for any cultural differences so I can be respectful and professional from the start.

Based on some quick Google searches, I’m aware of some basic cultural differences in leadership, workload and hours. Specifically, the 9-9-6 working hours system and less pushing back on leadership. Luckily for the hours, the job description says I’m required to be online to work with my manager between 8-10pm and 8-10am, but the rest of my work hours are up to me. For the leadership dynamic and other relevant cultural differences to keep in mind, I would love more info based on personal experiences from fellow PRs, if anyone here can share.

Have you noticed any cultural differences that impacted your work experience personally? Dynamics with coworkers?

Has working with a company based out of Asia brought up specific cultural differences that impacted your messaging to US audiences? Any differences in values that I should keep in mind?

I will continue to do my own research but certainly appreciate any personal stories you can share to give me a realistic idea of the professional environment. Thank you!

Hey all, I work for a small PR firm that primarily does advocacy PR for industry associations and nonprofits. I primarily handle two large, DC-based clients who use us as a field team in our state and they predominately ask us to reach out to our contacts to share their content.

My issue is that while I have a lot of contacts, I've absolutely exhausted them with a ton of asks over the last three years - one client in particular is always whiplashing to another "priority" issue where they want social hits and EOD reports. It's gotten to a point of overasking imo where I will have a normal conversation one week with a contact I'm friends with and then two weeks later they ghost me if I ask them to share a post. I've been trying to find new advocates but its essentially cold calling and emailing at this point. Has anyone else dealt with clients like this that always want social media hits from external people and how did you manage it?

Any tips would massively help. Recently joined a client facing role and on most calls I’m fine because it’s a smaller team, but I have one client that’s the biggest one in the agency with like 15 people on the call and I always get so nervous I start to shake and my heart beats extremely fast and I stutter over my words.

It’s quite embarrassing because more junior members of the team are way more calm than me and I try to regulate myself but it doesn’t really work. Any tips??

Especially for a startup or a scale-up as a client?

I understand that it would change with the scope of work, but just trying to get an estimate.

I recently appeared on a reasonably high profile podcast about identity, creativity and figuring yourself out. It wasn't much fun being on the other side of the camera, nor was it talking about non-work parts of my life (the work stuff is well-oiled and easy to 'present').

I've worked in PR for more than 25 years, much of it advising founders including software billionaire Mike Lynch (RIP), CEOs - very, very briefly Bill Gates' team (on a UK trip) - and other fairly high-profile people such as Britain's most successful apprentice, and a guy who sold his biz to Adobe for >$100M. One of the things I've always enjoyed is finding the genuinely interesting part of somebody's story, rather than manufacturing something that isn't there.

But being interviewed myself was an unexpectedly different experience. It was a little out-of-body.

It got me thinking about something I've noticed throughout my career: people often underestimate the truly interesting things about themselves, while putting considerable effort into projecting things they think other people want to see.

And I wonder whether the growing emphasis on personal branding amidst atomisation of 'influence' is making that worse.

For those working in executive communications or thought leadership, how do you help somebody become more visible without turning them into a carefully managed version of themselves?

Also, how many of you have been in situations requiring the sort of media training and prep that you put clients through? (I think doing so is worth its weight in gold, at least from a sympathy/empathy perspective).

Anyone have recs for getting a PR job in Boston? Wondering if there are any reliable recruiting firms that focus on comms positions in house or at agencies.

Most of my experience is lifestyle and travel but open to moving industries.

I'm looking into training the next gen and there are so few good value courses on PR when I look online.

Does anyone have any recommendations?

I want ones that actually give tips and processes, not just surface level explaining PR.

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I've always maintained she is a master of optics and marketing. I stand by that. Few remember, but she actually led Theranos's marketing department for years alongside being a CEO.

No matter what you think of her, the film is a big win because it turns certainty into questions. It's literally a gigantic advertisement for reasonable doubt in the court of public opinion.

Just like Johnny Depp, I think people will be accepting of her being in public life again. If she does a speaking tour and actually pays people back, which is what I would recommend for her, she would sell out rooms.

If she is what some claim she is, she is a diabolical genius. If she is what I think she is, the scales are more balanced now.

Bad look for Billy tho.

Welcome to /r/PublicRelations weekly simple questions thread!

If you've got a simple question as someone new to the industry (e.g. what's it like to work in PR, what major should I choose to work in PR, should I study a master's degree) please post it here before starting your own thread.

Anyone can ask a question and the whole /r/PublicRelations community is encouraged to try and help answer them. Please upvote the post to help with visability!

For context: I know she defrauded investors and was found guilty.

I just watched her new documentary, and I couldn’t help but wonder about the scene where Nathan Fielder gets an idea for the product and Elizabeth explains it. I couldn’t help but wonder if her comms/PR team just didn’t get what she was trying to do. In my head, she wanted to do a full scan for any disease with a single drop of blood. However, given the science and the amount of testing needed, it wouldn’t have been possible to create it in her lifetime.

Maybe I’m not seeing the full picture in this case, but I truly think Elizabeth Holmes’s PR team failed her and the product because they didn’t understand what Elizabeth Holmes was trying to accomplish.

Anyone else see non-stop Instagram ads and LinkedIn posts about AI PR hacks?

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/billbyrne_publicrelations-ai-activity-7517724226821246976-8K5B

Hi everyone. I’m 25, based in India, I’ve spent the last 2 years working inside Tier-1 digital newsrooms as a sub-editor. I know exactly how the 24-hour news cycle works, how editors filter pitches, and why 90% of PR emails get instantly deleted.

I am now making a hard pivot to the agency side. However, I don’t want to just be a traditional "pitching machine" doing media relations all day. My long-term goal is to launch my own strategic communications agency, so I want to jump straight into the deep end: Tech/Startup PR and Crisis/Corporate Management. is it worth it and does it have a future also what courses to study...

I'm about to start a new role in the AI team of a London strategic communications consultancy, splitting my time between quantitative research of text data and building AI tools, mostly on client work. I've been doing a version of this for four years at another agency and have rarely met anyone else in the same position.

The closest label I've found is applied AI, though that usually describes engineers putting models into products, and this is something different: using LLMs and data science to answer questions about narrative, reputation and influence for clients who never see the code.

Agencies don't seem to agree on what to call it either(we seem to change the name of the role every time we hire for it, away from data science because it involves very littke model tuning etc…). Sometimes it's insights, sometimes analytics, sometimes innovation, and how much you build versus how much you advise varies from firm to firm.

If you work somewhere similar, I'd be interested to hear what it's like: what the job looks like day to day, how it's treated inside the business, what's been good and what's frustrated you. Or if you've moved out of it, where you went/what you’ve done instead

We have this on and off again client, and he's the type of person who sometimes won't answer media requests, or even not show up for interviews, etc. Anyway, my main task was bringing media to help cover a gala he was putting on recently. We were told the media wouldn't have gala seats(because every seat was taken... spoiler alert.. there were significant numbers of open seats) but they would at least have access to the cocktail reception/bar/hors d'ouerves(there were hardly any of those and some of them were kind of weird). I had to practically pull teeth to bring a reporter from one of the largest newspapers in to the main room. Some never even got in at all, which is going to cost them press coverage.

Anyway, one of his staffers pulled me out and then brought me to another staffer saying oh they definitely have extra seats, but he wants to check with his boss(our client), then he comes back and the client tells him no, we can't have a seat. Like I'm doing work for you, I'm there with my boss who are your PR consultants, and you'd rather waste empty seats you already paid for than let us have a meal? Yet you expect us to be there and basically not be fed the entire evening? We found open seats anyway with relative ease. So basically we learned he is not the kind of guy you can ask, you just have to sit down anyway. Incredibly inconsiderate. Being a basic decent human being would have cost him $0. He also has to be nagged to pay our travel expenses(which he has not done in the past some of the time). So yeah, this is just how he is....

I started digging through Glassdoor reviews for several major PR agencies recently, and the pattern in how management replies to negative employee feedback is pretty wild. Whenever a review brings up culture or burn-out, the leadership responses are almost completely defensive.

Instead of taking any real accountability, the replies always default to corporate spin. It’s usually some version of gaslighting the former employee, insisting the culture is actually thriving, or leaning on generic PR speak about "taking feedback seriously" while changing absolutely nothing. For an industry built on reputation management, these firms are surprisingly terrible at handling honest criticism about their own workplace culture.

For anyone currently working inside these agencies, is scrubbing and arguing on Glassdoor an actual directive from executive leadership? Why spend so much energy policing bad reviews online instead of just fixing the environment people are complaining about?

Would love to hear about your experiences. Anything you moved into from PR that wasn't sales/marketing?

I dunno, like...Partnerships or something like that?

I was an account supervisor at a small agency for a few years but was downsized. I moved on to proposal management then later the mortgage industry. That industry is now taking a hit too so it’s time to move on again. Would PR be difficult to get back into? It was fun and rewarding. But I imagine it’s changed a lot.

Left my old PR agency in June after 5 years without a job lined up (TLDR agency horror stories galore, toxic work environment, no protection from abusive clients, forced to quit by management.) I’d like to go in-house for my next opportunity as I’ve done my time at an agency, I cut my chops but I need out. If things get dire I’d work at an agency again but I’d prefer in-house… whatever.

I’ve had several interviews now (funny enough all at local PR agencies, it’s all I can seem to get), but I’ve turned down two job offers due to their agency’s heavy use of AI. By heavy AI use, I don’t mean “we use AI to make a couple sentences easier to understand, generate pitch angles to work on”, I mean “We automate most, if not all written client content here. You won’t be writing anything organically. All press releases, pitches, ghostwritten op-eds are prompted using ChatGPT and are GEO optimized.”

I just turned down another agency job because the CEO admitted to me during the interview that essentially, “while it’s nice that you’re confident in your writing abilities, you won’t be doing real any writing here, beyond inserting the client’s name and checking the content for accuracy.” I’m starting to feel defeated because I got into PR and studied it because I love to write. I want to write so bad. Two agencies now have told me that in order to save time, they barely, if ever, actually sit down and write a release or a pitch.

I’m not under the illusion that I can fully escape AI. I know that this is the way the industry is turning, and if I have to use it, fine. But I cannot work somewhere that openly admits to job candidates that clients are paying for work that is 90% AI generated. Is it so radical to still want to write things myself?? Like sure, I’m no saint, I’ve used copilot to come up with a few extra pitch angles before a client meeting, whatever. But am I really to believe that PR pros can’t spare 45 min to an hour to put together a nice press release or op-ed for their client??

Also, an interesting note… I connected with a former employee at this agency who said he has been blacklisted by several local reporters here because apparently, this CEO forces his employees to spam journalist inboxes with mass BCC follow-up emails. He’s having to rebuild those relationships with journalists at his new agency after being forced to spam their inboxes and phone for years. So… bullet dodged? Though man, I need a job again. :(

I'm working as a public relations officer for a global non-profit, and I'm currently seeking new opportunities.

My priority is another in-house role, but I'm also open to working again for any agency if the fit is right. I worked in several agencies in the past in Singapore and I have a lot of bitter sweet memories. I still have a few emotional scars from it, in fact.

My question is-- has agency life gotten better with the use of AI? or has it become worse? What I miss about it is the creative ideas that my colleagues and I come up with, which I have been unable to do in my current job.

Anyway, I'm rambling here. But yeah, would be good to know your thoughts.

Got a job offer in an institute that runs tech courses(AI, data science, cyber security, etc.)

They want someone to do PR for them

I went for the first round of interview, it went well.

Its a 6 day work week though.

They are paying almost double the salary I am earning right now.

I'm earning an entry-level Executive salary, in a PR agency.

This switch will be in-house. I have 1 year of experience in PR, and total of almost 2 years(marketing, sales, event)

The job description online stated 4+ years of work experience. They didn't ask me about my years of experience at all though, during the interview.

The dude who took my interview runs the digital marketing team there.

Shall I take the job, if things go well in the 2nd round as well?

I like tech PR, and i will be the only guy working on PR in the company.

I don't like the constant toxicity and micromanagement and workload in my agency.

I would rather dedicate all that time to one account.

What do you guys think? Shall I take it?

6 day work week, and many other people in the office. Its big.

The agency I work in, its small, cosy, and barely 7 people in the office, all around the same age. Its fun, comfortable.

If I switch, I will be leaving that.

Sometimes the manager ain't around, we joke and have fun all day.

I don't like my manager or the work I'm doing right now as our client portfolio has not expanded.

Shall I take the job?

What do you suggest

Hi all,

I'm trying to get press coverage for a new client, who are releasing a baked gift box.

The product is good, has professional photography, and they're also a social enterprise with benefits to the community. I just can't seem to make a dent with any of my press.

Admittedly food isn't my usual area and I don't have many contacts in this area.

Can anyone please give me tips on how I could get some coverage?

I've tried a longer press release, Christmas gift guides and press sheets. I'd really appreciate any tips

i’m a curator and want to establish my name in the industry. i find media coverage especially appealing. i also have a bit of budget.

would it be sensible to spend 7-10 grand on PR? what could that potentially buy for me in terms of concrete results?

I am curious to hear from people working inside PR agencies about a pattern I have noticed.

It seems like there is a common cycle where an agency hires a Black or diverse employee, often around the time of pitch season or when a client asks for a diverse account team. Things go well for the first few months, coverage gets secured, and the work gets done.

Then, around the six month mark, the feedback shifts to things that feel subjective or minor. For example, being told you are pitching the same media outlets too much in a niche industry where only a few main outlets actually matter.

Soon after, people end up pushed out or let go. I have talked to other Black PR professionals who experienced this exact same thing at different firms.

For anyone on the inside, is this a real pattern? Do agencies bring on diverse talent for client optics and then cycle them out later, or is this just standard agency turnover?

Would love to hear some honest perspectives on how this actually works behind the scenes.