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AI is changing the way we do business, including PR. Here are our six do’s and don’ts for effectively using AI in your PR:
As AI increasingly becomes an integral part of business, PR is becoming more important than ever before. According to recent industry research, 85 percent of links cited in AI responses come from earned media such as what is generated by PR. Follow these tips, and you will be on your way to making sure you and your company are cited! As we conclude 2025, many experts are sharing their thoughts on the top trends we will see in PR in 2026. AI, personalization and the need for authenticity often lead the list.
While these are major trends, they don't necessarily address what’s important for PR success in the upcoming year. As such, we’ve put together our top three tips for PR success in 2026 and beyond:
We’ve said this to clients and prospective clients more than once. Timing is everything in the world of PR.
From when you make an announcement to allowing enough advance lead up time prior to your announcement, timing can make all the difference in getting you the coverage you deserve. For example, did you know that what day of the week you issue a press release can affect your media coverage? There is a reason why celebrities and other high profile organizations pick Fridays to announce negative news. Issue a press release over the wire on a Friday, and the odds are that your coverage of your release will fizzle. On the flip side, making sure you allow enough advance lead time to build up an announcement like a new product is critical too. A common misperception is that all there is to a new product announcement is to write and issue a press release. It isn’t. PR for a new product launch is a carefully orchestrated program that begins weeks, if not months, before a press release goes out. Smart companies include advance outreach to the media under embargo well before their new product announcement. Skip this step, and your new product announcement will fall flat. As with most things, timing is everything. Including with PR. We regularly speak with startups who are getting ready to announce a new product. Many are new to the PR process, and one of the biggest pieces of advice we often give them is this: allow yourself enough time to do the necessary PR required for a successful launch before you formally announce your product.
Why? Because the PR launch of a new product (or service) is more than just a press release. It is a carefully orchestrated program that begins weeks, if not months, before the actual announcement. If you don’t allow yourself enough time, your product launch won’t give you the results you deserve. For example, in whatever market you serve, you will find that many of your industry trade publications are open to being briefed on new product announcements before a press release goes out. Conducted under embargo (which is similar to an NDA), an embargoed advance briefing means that they will hold the story for publication until the official announcement date; in fact, many media prefer this. By engaging key media in advance of issuing your press release under embargo, the resulting media coverage is generally greater and more in-depth than if you wait to give it to them when the release goes out. Engaging the media under embargo is also a common launch tactic of industry leading companies, and something that startups should take advantage of as well. For startups, this is generally four to six weeks prior to issuing your press release. For a successful PR launch of a new product, the number one tip we can share with startups is to allocate enough time to do the PR launch right. If you do this, not only will you be doing what the industry leaders in your market are doing but you will get better results too. AI offers enormous benefits for businesses, both large and small. One of the biggest questions many businesses have in relation to their PR efforts is this: how much can they use AI in their outreach, and how much of their PR effort requires PR professionals?
In particular, startups, early stage and small businesses especially can be drawn to AI as a tool that enables them to do more PR themselves. With agency costs often out of their reach, tools that let them do their PR themselves can be quite tempting. If you simply need a checkbox for investors that you sent a press release out, then using the plethora of AI tools out there to help you do it yourself can be fine. However, if you’re trying to actually get media coverage, it is generally better to utilize PR professionals, even if it is just on a part time or consulting basis. The media has always been inundated with more press releases and story ideas from companies than they possibly can cover. With the growth of AI, the number of releases, story proposals and media queries that the media receives have skyrocketed. Making your outreach standout in this climate is both key and a challenge. A key to success is personalization - and not the kind of personalization of AI. AI, at best, can provide mediocre PR writing, from press releases to story proposals. As AI-based PR tools proliferate, it is personalization and knowledge that can get your company in the news. Like knowing that a certain magazine is interested in one type of story, that a TV station could be interested in a live remote broadcast for another, and that a certain trade magazine might be interested in a contributed article from you. And then being able to write the story proposal, segment proposal, press release or other PR idea specifically for them. That’s how you break above the noise and reach the media in a time of AI. Real personalization. Real PR storytelling. Not AI generated PR. Social media posts, blogs and SEO - all are an important part of helping create a public image. While they contribute to building market awareness, they are not a substitute for proactive PR.
One of the biggest pitfalls for organizations, especially startups and emerging companies, is to embark on a single PR campaign, with no follow up campaigns. The companies that invest money into a single announcement, then stay silent for six months to a year or more, never to be heard from again. PR is a process that builds gradually over time. Regular, consistent outreach to the media lets them know about your activities, that you are a serious player - even if they don’t cover every announcement. Social media and blogs aren’t a substitute for the multi-layered outreach of a professional PR campaign. An example in point: one of our clients spent a year of regular, PR outreach before garnering an interview (and ultimately a story) with a major business publication. What the editor told them was this: that while they had a good story, they wanted to see if they were going to be around long term. After the one year mark, they had their major feature story. Social media, blogs and SEO are great. So is proactive PR. Regular, consistent media outreach via proactive PR is an important key component. Personalization has always been important to successful PR. And now even more so, in a time of AI.
Reaching the right contacts in the media has been and most likely always will be critical to getting results in the media. Making sure the information gets to the correct reporter, producer or editor makes all the difference on whether your company gets a story. Although AI can offer a certain level of personalization, it doesn’t really achieve this when pitching a story to the media. Especially when you are reaching out to your top media targets, you need to know who the particular contacts are at a media outlet, what it is that interests them, and then tailor your outreach to them based on this information. You need to think like the successful freelance journalists do. Pitch your stories tailored to the media outlet, and make sure you have the correct contacts too. Taking this personal approach is critical to the success of your PR outreach. It can be time consuming, but it will pay off in results. AI can be a revolutionary force in business. It can also be a hindrance.
Certainly, AI is changing many aspects of how we do business. For your public relations voice, it is important to tread carefully. Yes, AI can speed up your writing process. Faster press releases, faster articles, faster blog posts. You get the drift. But they can also sound at the very least “canned.” Worse, automated. Which is an antithesis to what you need for PR. PR is about telling your story. About sounding authentic. While AI can help speed up the process of writing, they are at best creators of average writing. Not tools that necessarily will help you stand out from your competition. PR is all about telling your story, in your voice, to the media. To differentiate yourself from your competition and make you stand out. While AI can help out, it is the personal human touch that can make all the difference. And as we’ve said in the past, just like with the news media, not all PR practitioners have the same abilities to tell the story. Finding the ones that can tell your story in a compelling way that resonates with the media is critical to sounding authentic, and to finding a receptive audience. BYPR founder Belinda Young will speak on “Building an Effective PR Strategy” at the TiE Seattle Entrepreneur Institute, a webinar for aspiring and early stage entrepreneurs, on June 25, 2025. Also speaking at the event will be Geekwire Managing Editor Taylor Soper.
The TiE Entrepreneur Institute is a program by TiE Seattle to help aspiring and early stage entrepreneurs understand the fundamentals of building and launching a startup from successful entrepreneurs, seasoned executives and domain experts in interactive sessions. For more information on the Institute or to sign up you can visit: https://events.tie.org/TiEInstituteModule1TiENurtureMentoringProgram2025#/ PR is an important part of the marketing mix for any business. More so for early stage startups, where a single media story can propel them to the national or even international spotlight. We’ve seen this happen more than once with our clients over the years.
With early stage startups, budget can be a big factor and looking for more ways to save money by doing it yourself is a big temptation especially with the rise of AI based PR platforms that promote eliminating the PR professional or agency to do it yourself. Yes, there are many ways you can maximize your PR by doing things yourself. However, it needs to be done judiciously. We recently saw a post on one of the freelance websites, where the startup had purchased a high end PR platform subscription. But they weren’t getting results with their media pitches and outreach, and wanted someone to consult with them (briefly) to tell them how to get results. The job was closed rather quickly, without being awarded. The point is, just because you pay for the tool doesn’t mean you will get the results. Most agencies and PR professionals require that you allow them to handle all the PR for you. For early stage startups who want to save money and do some of it themselves, finding an agency or PR professional who will work with you in a hybrid manner is critical. It isn’t impossible, but it takes time. And more than posting a job listing for someone to write a press release for $100. |