In a trilogy of Cracking the Comms Code episodes, we convened industry experts and thought leaders to explore how PR professionals can level up their skillsets to drive the greatest possible impact. Here’s what they told us.

Elevating your PR skillset

Our panelists agreed that although sector knowledge can be a genuine advantage in specialized fields, core skills matter more than narrow experience. PR professionals with strong fundamentals — writing, storytelling, media relations, audience awareness — will always be in demand across industries. What matters is whether you’ve handled similar challenges, not whether you’ve worked for an identical company.

Bringing the right mindset is just as important. That means showing up curious, coachable, and prepared to ask the right questions so you can learn quickly. Understanding how your client’s business works is critical. PR professionals need to know what leadership cares about, how the company makes money, the challenges it faces, and how communications can move the needle.

When speaking with decision-makers, avoid slipping into jargon. Translate your value into business language. Tactics like placements and outputs are only part of the story — what matters is how they connect to a broader strategic goal. The role of a strong PR advisor is to guide leadership and speak credibly to the C-suite. Dig deeper into this conversation with Amanda Coyle of Resilere Partners, Ted Merz of Principals Media, and Executive Communication Strategist Trish Nicolas.

Getting it right from the start

Too many PR campaigns fail before they’ve even begun. Teams build in isolation, protect the “big reveal,” and then wonder why nothing lands. The smarter approach is simple: Test early. Float ideas with a small group of trusted reporters, gather real feedback, and refine before committing.

Relationships matter here. They won’t save a weak story, but they do provide signal — faster replies, honest reactions, and a clearer sense of what will resonate.

Execution then becomes about removing friction. Make the reporter’s job easy. Offer your spokesperson, but also offer multiple angles. Package assets in a way that works for the particular reporter you’re courting. Coverage is far more likely when you’ve laid the groundwork.

It’s also important to think beyond attribution. Getting your client named could be “a good start” instead of the victory. Shaping the broader narrative — and being included as a credible voice within it — often matters more.

None of this works without a clear understanding of the client’s business. PR decisions should reflect commercial reality, internal politics, and leadership priorities. Talk to senior stakeholders early, and make sure your ducks are in a row before you make a push. Many “PR problems” are, in reality, internal clarity problems.

When engaging media, keep it sharp. Pitches should be brutally concise. You don’t need to be comprehensive to garner interest, and you don’t need company boilerplate. If the first line doesn’t land, nothing else matters.

Finally, operate in the world as it is today. There are fewer journalists, with more noise and tighter competition. AI is accelerating output, but the quality isn’t keeping up. That makes targeting, relationships, and judgment more valuable. Chris Piedmont of Slide Nine, Adam Brooks of Candor, and Chase of METATHEORY break-down some of their tips and tricks for PR practitioners here.

From activity to outcomes

The shift PR agencies need to make is straightforward: stop obsessing over doing things, and instead obsess over accomplishing things.

That sounds simple, but it’s harder in practice. It means validating ideas early, aligning internally, executing cleanly, and focusing on influence over volume. Clients won’t be impressed if you tell them nothing but how busy you are. They care about what changed.

The starting point is clarity. Define success upfront in plain terms — revenue, reputation, influence — and work backward. Explain your impact in business language, or else you won’t make the case.

From there, strip out the noise. Drop jargon and long reports. A clear one-pager linking actions to outcomes will outperform any bloated deck. And remember whom you’re really serving: not just your day-to-day contact, but the C-suite above them. If your contact can’t easily explain your value internally, the chopping block is just down the road.

Execution works only when it connects to the wider business. PR amplifies marketing, sales, and positioning. Or at least it should. When it doesn’t, results will always fall short. In this panel discussion Lynda Carlisle of CS-Effect, Melissa Havel of Turnitin, and Ashley Dennison of CommsConsultants.com share their expertise on driving real client outcomes.

Truth-telling and meaningful metrics 

It’s also critical to be honest about what PR can and can’t do. You can’t guarantee coverage — and pretending you can erodes trust. What you can guarantee is consistency, direction, and a steady build of presence over time. That shift from chasing hits to building momentum is where many teams founder.

The same applies to targeting. Reach is easy to inflate and largely meaningless. Relevance is more elusive, and far more valuable. A small, engaged audience that reacts is worth more than a large one that barely knows you. Step away from the vanity metrics and measure what actually matters: message pull-through, meaningful engagement, and inbound signals.

At a higher level, the role itself needs to evolve. Strong practitioners act as partners. They push back, refine ideas, and stay close to the market. They provide activity, certainly, but the real value lies in their judgment.

That becomes even more important as AI accelerates output. Everyone is tied now in the race to see who can produce the most, but there’s still competition for who can think the best. Used properly, AI helps you move faster, not think less. Average content is now abundant. Insight is not.

In the end, everything comes down to one question: Did this PR campaign change anything that matters? Unless the answer is yes, clients have every right to be unhappy.

Watch each panel below.

Communications leaders know this because they’ve watched in horror as their carefully crafted LinkedIn posts are mocked in the comments or inadvertently sparked a social media pile-on after sharing what seemed like an innocuous, brand-safe message.

(Just ask McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinksi, whose simple effort to chow down on his company’s food didn’t sit well with a lot of observers.)

With trust so hard to win and massively easy to lose, creative communicators aren’t just looking for spokespeople on the board, in the company’s Slack channel or through an Indeed job posting. Instead, they are finding the right people whose voice will resonate with ordinary people: physicians who spend their days saving lives, parents whose sick kids are made sicker by bad policy decisions, entrepreneurs who have built – or rebuilt – their businesses brick by brick. 

These individuals can tell stories that customers understand and believe. But they aren’t easy to find, and their message isn’t as simple as a Yelp review or a corny ad. 

Elevating third-party voices is a powerful way to build trust while reducing the risk of turning C-suite executives into lightning rods. Here’s how to do it.

1. Pressure-test the narrative

Before seeking outside voices, make sure the story itself can withstand scrutiny. That means clarifying objectives, challenging internal assumptions, and, at times, telling clients or leadership that their preferred message will not land.

Start with alignment: What is the goal? Who needs to be persuaded? What evidence supports the case?

When we helped place everyday Americans in national and top state outlets in 2025, campaigns did not begin with pitch emails. They began with difficult conversations, rigorous research, and refining a narrative that an independent person could stand behind without compromising their integrity. 

If the story only works when delivered by a paid executive, it is not strong enough.

2. Find voices with real standing

The most effective outside voices are not mouthpieces with clean-cut success stories. They are people whose lived experience aligns naturally with the issue and who hold credibility with the intended audience.

That might mean individuals directly affected by policy, business leaders with firsthand market experience, or someone with a relatable human story. A plainly told account from someone without a grand title often carries more weight than commentary from someone with the letter “C” in their job description, because audiences assume they are less self-interested.

Sourcing these voices requires a disciplined search process. Identify individuals whose backgrounds genuinely support the narrative, conduct thorough interviews, and confirm alignment before drafting anything. The aim is credibility rooted in reality, not over-orchestration.

3. Build for multiple audiences

Once you have the right voice, approach the process like a journalist, not a marketer. Conduct an in-depth interview with the person to ensure they are on board with:

• The organization behind the curtain.
• The narrative you’re pushing.
• Their story’s alignment with the narrative.
• Putting themselves into the public eye.

Record the conversation, then transcribe it. Identify the emotional core and supporting evidence, before shaping the media content to work for four audiences: your organization, its stakeholders, the author, and the media gatekeepers (op-ed editors, reporters, producers, etc.) who will decide whether to feature this voice.

This is where many efforts fall short. Content may please the client, but ignore what editors actually run. Or it may lean heavily on data while flattening the author’s voice. Strong placements require disciplined editing, revision, and fact-checking. The same rigor applies whether targeting a national newspaper or a trade outlet. And remember that, often, regional publications deliver meaningful impact with lower reputational risk.

4. Train for discipline, not performance

A credible third-party voice is powerful, but unmanaged authenticity creates the risk that someone will fly off the handle, take advantage of their 15 minutes of fame, or have a tangential point of view that undermines the entire narrative. 

This is why media preparation is so important. Clarify the core message. Define off-limit topics. Rehearse responses to difficult questions. Align on key facts. In a crisis, independent validators can counter misinformation more persuasively than paid representatives – but only if they are properly prepared.

Preparation ensures that authenticity strengthens your position rather than undermining it.

5. Build relationships before you need them

Third-party credibility should be treated as infrastructure, not a one-off tactic. Develop relationships with experts, community leaders, and customers well before controversy emerges. 

After campaigns conclude, review what worked, be honest about what didn’t, and refine your approach.

In today’s information environment, narratives move quickly. Organizations that perform best can mobilize trusted voices without hesitation. That only happens when the groundwork is already in place.

This article was originally published as part of a sponsored partnership between Proven Media Solutions and Meredith & The Media.

Proven Media Solutions explored how AI is altering the media landscape and driving the emergence of a new answer economy across two episodes of Cracking the Comms Code, featuring:

• Five Blocks CEO Sam Michelson, Scale Without Chaos founder Samantha Riel, and Zen Media founder and PR strategist Sarah Evans on AI’s impact on the PR industry.
• Meredith & The Media founder Meredith Klein, Friday Reporter Public Affairs founder and host Lisa Camooso Miller, and Sources of Sources founder Peter Shankman on what’s next in corporate comms. 

Here are the most important takeaways.

Visibility is being rewired

Perhaps the most counterintuitive insight was also the most commercially important. Despite widespread industry assumptions, the sources shaping AI-generated answers are often not traditional earned media.

Practitioners tracking thousands of prompts across major large language models are finding that owned content, such as corporate websites, structured brand information, and even open press releases, shapes responses the most. Earned media still matters, but it is operating more as a reputational validator than the primary informational input.

This distinction changes how communication value should be sold and measured.

If audiences are asking AI tools to synthesize recommendations or explain markets, they may never click through to coverage at all. It might not be enough anymore for an organization to be mentioned in a piece of earned media. Instead, the organization needs to be “front of page” as the answer to the question searchers are asking.

In practical terms, strategy must evolve from media placement to something closer to answer engineering, which means mapping the questions stakeholders ask and ensuring authoritative brand content exists to address them.

Productivity gains are buying back time

AI is making certain work faster and more efficient. What’s good about that is the time communicators now have on their hands to take care of higher-level tasks. But it also means higher expectations.

On the one hand, teams are already using AI to turn live conversations into content pipelines, transform messy strategic thinking into structured plans, and accelerate operational decision-making. On the other hand, an employee who once generated $120K of annual value may soon be expected to deliver multiples of that. 

On both hands, the takeaway is that AI amplifies the need for human judgment. Used well, it gives thinkers and doers the bandwidth to think and do, with good results up and down the company. Used badly, it takes over uniquely human functions and industrializes mediocrity at every level.

The most effective practitioners treat AI like a junior colleague – training it, correcting it, and refining outputs. Organizations expecting one-line prompts to replace expertise may find that AI-hallucinated strategies are simply fancier ways to put themselves at the back of the line.

Corporate crises now burn hotter and faster

Attention cycles in corporate communications are collapsing, meaning crises can erupt and disappear within minutes — or go on a long rampage, and someone has to know which kind we’re dealing with from moment to moment.

In a media environment where a geopolitical conflict, a viral customer complaint, and a celebrity meme can appear in the same social feed, audiences process outrage differently. Often, they move on fast — even before corporate responses clear legal review. This creates a paradoxical new discipline: knowing when not to respond.

Strong organizational values remain the most reliable compass. Companies grounded in consistent messaging and clear principles are better able to weather episodic storms. Preparation is therefore less about predicting specific events and more about stress-testing core positions in advance. 

Clarity is still king — both in how crises are handled and in how organizations present themselves both to outside consumers and inside team members.

Trust is fragmenting – again

Perhaps the most provocative shift involved in the AI answer economy is social rather than technological.

Audiences are increasingly bypassing institutional voices in favor of smaller, more familiar ones: local journalists, niche creators, subject-matter experts, and micro-influencers embedded in real communities.

Research and practitioner experience both suggest that local media retain disproportionately high trust. A recommendation from a neighbor or respected specialist may drive more behavior than a national campaign reaching millions. Meanwhile, mega-influencer credibility has eroded as it’s become harder to hide that the big guys are just trying to sell something.

For communications buyers, this creates a difficult recalibration. It’s cheap to reach the masses but more expensive than ever to persuade them.

The craft is still everything

One important point to remember is that the same skills that drove success in the 20th century remain relevant today. Narrative still matters. So do third-party validation and consistent positioning. What has changed is the mechanism through which these strengths are discovered and acted upon.

AI-mediated discovery will reward organizations that carefully and thoroughly stock their content libraries. Corporate volatility will reward those with pre-agreed value frameworks and faster internal decision pathways. Fragmented trust will reward communicators who cultivate authentic advocates rather than chasing vanity metrics.

Above all, the impact of communications must increasingly be demonstrated in business terms. Board-ready metrics like visibility in AI outputs, influence on purchasing pathways, and contribution to revenue will shape future budgets — so professionals need to be prepared to chase these numbers and prove their achievements. 

A new brief for buyers – and the industry

For organizations investing in communications services, the takeaway is not that PR has become obsolete, but that the definition of effective PR has expanded dramatically. We need more than just coverage, more than just speed, more than just scale.

Buyers should now demand strategies designed for how information actually moves: integrated owned-and-earned ecosystems, measurable visibility in AI discovery, influence rooted in credible voices, and productivity models aligned to real business outcomes.

For communications professionals, the message is sharper still. AI is exposing where the discipline was never applied rigorously enough. The opportunity ahead is enormous, but only for those willing to stop optimizing for impressions and start competing to become the answer.

Dive deeper into the full conversations in the videos below.

I learned this when I watched pointless rules and petty bureaucracy nearly put a skilled man out of work. Francois, a master barber from the Ivory Coast, had been cutting hair for more than a decade. Overzealous regulators in Iowa required 1,000 hours of training for a barber’s license — even for professionals like him who had already proven their craft.

Francois didn’t need his skill rubber-stamped. He needed the government to get out of his way.

So he joined a coalition of barbers, small-business owners and community advocates who believed the system was holding talented people back. They told their stories at the state capitol. They argued that licensing should protect consumers, not trap workers. And earlier this year, the governor signed their bill into law.

Now his sons watch their father do what he came to America to do: cutting hair, building a business and contributing to the community he calls home.

Nationwide, people are proving that they don’t need a permission slip from bureaucrats to feed their families. It is a reminder that American federalism still works, and that when government gets out of the way, people do what they’ve always done: work hard, build a life and turn dreams into reality.

Arizona stepped up when it adopted universal licensing recognition in 2019, allowing professionals who hold a license in one state to work in another without having to start over. More than 8,000 workers have already benefited, including engineers, nurses and electricians.

California opened the door for home cooks, many of them women and immigrants, to run small food businesses legally from their kitchens. By setting clear safety standards and removing unnecessary red tape, the state allowed thousands of entrepreneurs to participate openly in the economy.

Georgia modernized cosmetology rules this year so new stylists and salon owners can enter the field more quickly while maintaining strong consumer safeguards. For many, it means turning a dream into a livelihood in months instead of years.

None of these reforms needed permission from Washington. They happened because state leaders saw how their occupational licensing systems were out of date, acting as barriers that hurt real people. 

That is the quiet power of federalism. Smaller coalitions move faster, decisions remain close to the people affected, and good ideas spread because results speak for themselves.

In the past decade, nearly 30 states have reduced unnecessary training hours, expanded license portability and eliminated bureaucratic mazes for skills like braiding hair and cooking.

Critics warn that letting states act independently creates inconsistency. That diversity is what allows innovation. One state tests a reform, another refines it, and others follow — not because they were ordered to but because better outcomes are hard to ignore.

Ordinary people building a life without waiting for permission is what made America work in the first place. We were built by rule-breakers, risk-takers and free-thinkers who believed opportunity belonged to anyone willing to reach for it. They didn’t wait for Washington to bless their dreams. They worked, they built, they pushed past the gatekeepers.

States still carry that torch. And if we want a future rooted in real-world solutions, we should trust the places where freedom still lives closest to home.

Today, Francois’s barbershop is full. He is training young apprentices, supporting his family and offering the kind of service that keeps a neighborhood connected. His success did not come from a federal directive. It came from a state willing to listen to the people living with the consequences of outdated rules.

His story is more than a victory for one barber in Iowa. It is evidence that the American system still works as intended: bottom-up, community-driven and grounded in everyday experience.

Jordan Banegas originally published this piece at Inside Sources.

As technology and science editor for two of the United Kingdom’s largest media brands – The Sun and Metro – Hamill spearheaded global teams whose stories reached tens of millions of readers. His work has also appeared in Forbes, The New York Post, and other international publications. As a consultant, Hamill has created content for global consultancies such as McKinsey, Accenture, and EY, and contracted with British agencies like Eclat and Code Red.

At Proven Media Solutions, Hamill will lead all content and media operations – from crafting and editing op-eds and press releases to pitching journalists, securing interviews, and building long-term media relationships.

“Jasper has worked on the front lines of journalism and content strategy for decades,” said Dustin Siggins, founder of Proven Media Solutions. “He knows how to turn ideas into stories that win coverage, change perceptions, and make real differences in the world. He’s the right person to elevate our entire media operation as we continue to serve clients across industries.”

Hamill added: “I’ve spent my career telling stories that matter for global media outlets and other companies shaping the future. Proven Media Solutions has built something special: a team that truly understands how to bridge the gap between what brands want to say and what their audiences need to hear. I’m excited to be part of that mission and looking forward to turning clients’ big ideas into impactful headlines.”

Proven Media Solutions is a public relations and public affairs firm that specializes in putting people in the press.

A former political director for then-New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez, Banegas brings more than a decade of experience running influence and multi-media campaigns, including leading Hispanic outreach initiatives in 33 states. 

“The intersection of politics and business is becoming more complex by the year,” said Dustin Siggins, founder of Proven Media Solutions. “Our clients need to be ready not when something happens, but weeks and months in advance. Jordan’s experience helping governors, businesses, and grassroots advocates win in the court of public opinion and in the halls of government will help our clients understand what’s coming and how to capitalize on opportunities presented.”

Banegas began his career as Regional Political Director for New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez, the nation’s first female Hispanic governor, where he oversaw operations in 18 counties. After relocating to Washington, D.C., he spent nearly eight years at Stand Together Communications and The Institute for Justice, directing multi-state campaigns that reduced regulatory burdens for small businesses, expanded educational opportunities for families, and advanced economic liberty across the country.

In addition to his political and policy work, Banegas co-founded an NIL collective at the Division I (FBS) level, where he and his team oversee relationships with hundreds of student-athletes. 

“I’m excited to bring my experience building coalitions and running campaigns to Proven Media Solutions’ clients,” said Banegas. “From small business owners to national nonprofits, the key to success is the same: creating a clear narrative that aligns stakeholders on a single objective. My job is to create that streamlined client communication no matter what vertical or outcome.”

Banegas will help lead account management at Proven Media Solutions, focusing on client strategy, content development, and operational efficiency.

Proven Media Solutions is a public relations and public affairs firm that specializes in putting people in the press.

It’s a breath of fresh air for the industry, which has been pummeled for years by the fast-changing media environment.

But it’s only that—a single breath—because it can’t be assumed that those who make the decisions to hire and empower PR firms will a) see Smith’s article and b) understand its implications.

It’s important to translate this good news into the C-Suite’s language: how it will drive sales. Otherwise, it’s just shouting into the wind about “brand awareness” and “media coverage” instead of driving the value and earning the respect PR deserves.

Wait…talk about sales?

When Aaron Gouveia left sales for journalism and public relations, he was relieved. “I hated sales,” he said. “And I despised the idea that the new job had anything to do with it.”

That was almost 20 years ago. But just two months ago, Gouveia—now PR director for Mass Audubon— said he had to eat his words.

“We had a dream month in April, with placements ranging from a state-based newsletter that reaches state and local policymakers all the way to NPR and CBS,” he explained. “By working with the business development and marketing teams, those placements were put on all of our social platforms and newsletters. And thanks to the partnership of placements and newsletters, the Mass Audubon Society got tens of thousands of donations.”

Of course, not everyone can apply PR success to a direct bottom-line impact. Sometimes, you just have to admit that media coverage won’t pay dividends for years—or even that there won’t ever be a linear relationship between the placement and profit.

That’s when it becomes important to take a page out of the marketing handbook. Many CMOs have ditched technical language and begun analyzing data from management’s perspective. That analysis is then issued in reports that are customized to management’s language.

“When we secure coverage, we don’t just report on outlets and impressions,” says Sarah Evans, Partner and Head of PR for Zen Media. “We break it down by business function. For one client, we included a section dedicated specifically to their CMO, translating what the earned media means for their goals, KPIs, and reporting language. We also tied the coverage to generative search visibility and brand narrative reinforcement.”

It’s a lot of work. But according to Evans, it turned media coverage from “just a placement” into “a strategic asset” that achieved several goals.

“Our internal champion looks good to their boss, the CMO looks good to theirs, and we’re aligning PR with broader business objectives,” she said.

Want more respect and authority? Get coffee with the sales folks

With the amount of bifurcated, niche content consumers absorb every day, nobody can see every piece of media content. That’s why most PR professionals work with their marketing colleagues to repurpose content. It can be called surround-sound marketing—you can call it whatever you want, as long as it drives the types of outcomes Evans and Gouveia described above.

The key here is to integrate PR and marketing from the start to drive more value for both. But before that, you’ll also want to grab coffee with the sales team—the frontline, customer-facing teammates who are hearing concerns, successes, fears and pains in real-time.

“Public relations is not about getting coverage for its own sake,” says Sage Communications President Julie Murphy. “There cannot be silos—everything must work together like a symphony, especially when the vast majority of customers aren’t getting their information in a sales call—but through online research, friends and trusted advisors.”

“I might be biased,” Murphy continued. “A lot of our customers are in the government contracting space, where our biggest internal champion is often a sales leader. But that also validates how much PR can, when used as the proper strategic resource, truly impact corporate growth and revenue.”

Proven Media Solutions founder Dustin Siggins originally published this piece at PR News Online.

As reasonable as it might seem to vent steam, it’s best to keep this bad habit confined to the occasional happy-hour private gripe. Otherwise, we’re courting toxic company culture, reduced brand reputation and trust, and clients and staff running for the door.

Constructive criticism is good – gossip is bad

My friend Lee Densmer, a marketing agency owner, says, “Badmouthing your clients publicly, even anonymously, does nothing to make you look good, and it may even signal to clients what you’re like to work with.”

Sure, you might get some sympathy or have a viral post when you relate a particularly juicy client tale of woe – but remember that potential clients are also seeing that story. And they’re wondering if you’ll spread their flaws all across social media, too.

Constructive criticism is part of client management. If they aren’t uncomfortable, they aren’t going to learn.But there’s a huge difference between constructive criticism and hurling abuse at the people who enable you to put food on the table every day.

People want to work with forward-looking leaders

Nobody wants to work with negativity. It makes for a toxic culture that dumps team members in the meat grinder, creating short tenures, worse outcomes for clients, and issues for the company.

And if you vent online – the 21st-century version of airing your dirty laundry – you can guarantee that the best people will shy away from your job openings.

“People are looking to agency leaders for cues about navigating challenges and handling frustrations,” said Candor President Ally Glavas. “Turning challenges into learning opportunities for the team sets a positive tone and helps people do great work. By focusing on the positives, agency executives will be seen as mentors and partners – rather than merely ‘bosses.’”

We all need to vent, but doing it privately – or quietly, or even with a bit of an eye towards self-awareness – builds a culture where people know that the boss is looking forward to a bright future, not backwards with a cynical and self-destructive eye.

Bashing clients means missing profit

You can’t always fix ignorance. (Just ask my wife when she tries to explain why the couches should be moved just the right way.) But most of the time, ignorance is an opportunity for education, leading up, and campaign success.

Even better, in business, that repair work can blossom into new, renewed, and bigger contracts.

“Clients hire PR teams to be experts – it’s not just about getting them media coverage,” said The Colab Cofounder Lizzy Harris. “When you dig into most problems, you find that it’s firm, not the client, that failed to set expectations and transparently manage up. If clients are peppering you with questions – maybe they’re getting pressure from higher-ups. If they are frustrated, maybe they were expecting different outcomes.

“Agency leaders must get ahead of this by providing constant communication and by understanding what’s going on beneath the client’s hood,” Harris concluded.

Think about it this way: Which PR partner will a client prefer to return to? The one who plodded through the contract (and grumbled about it the whole time, privately and publicly)?

No, you want your clients to think of your agency as the invaluable partner that taught them PR and created successes they didn’t know were possible.

Does public griping drive value?

Comms people always talk about the value we drive. I guarantee we drive more value through positivity than griping and complaining.

“Bashing or complaining for the sake of complaining is a bad look,” said Strategic Global Media President Scott Merritt. “Instead, challenge yourself to find the silver lining in that dark cloud of experience to turn a complaint into an opportunity to educate others. You’ll come out the other side having bolstered your brand by demonstrating the wisdom and insights you bring to the table.”

We’re already facing an uphill battle, where PR is often seen as a “nice to have.” Those who publicly complain do themselves and the rest of us zero favors, because negative mindsets mean:

• Spending mental energy criticizing instead of educating.

• Viewing clients who are paying you money as the enemy instead of allies.

• Building resentment instead of trust.

And none of that is going to drive profit.

Bashing clients violates a core tenet of Comms 101: don’t make unforced errors.

The simplest way to avoid a crisis is to not create one.

Every comms person knows this. Yet complaining publicly online is the definition of an “unforced error” – that is, a mistake nobody had to make. And it can impact:

• Partners

• Vendors

• Employees

• Prospective clients

• Actual clients

• Themselves

Like any rule, there are exceptions. Sometimes we can use a client story to educate the wider world (though always obscure the client’s identity). And people who flat-out operate unethically, or oversee a harmful work environment, sometimes need to be publicly taken to task.

But most of the time, it’s best to keep it private when clients make mistakes – even big ones. And instead of complaining, focus on how to fix the problem. This strategy may even clue you in to where the real fault often lies: the person in the mirror.

This piece was originally published with Strategic HQ.

Heck, even Meta is going back to its social media roots.

Recently, CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s company announced the return of “OG Facebook” features like options to see content from only your “friends” along with promises to bring back more functionalities that users historically enjoyed about the platform. This pivot back to what made the original Facebook so successful in its early years comes in the midst of a massive investment to develop AI tools that enhance the user and advertiser experience.

Meta isn’t the first to leverage new technology in re-capturing what made it a household name. Iconic brands like Apple, Starbucks, Barnes & Noble, and Domino’s have also found that when the focus is a return to the core value customers expect, the most powerful rebrand can actually be a “retrobrand.” It’s a dance of taking a step backwards on the surface while taking progressive action – even if it’s behind the scenes – to take two steps forward.

Meta parties like it’s 2004

When Facebook first launched in 2004, it was an engagement and connection platform for college students, but the versatility of function and global appeal of online community helped it become one of the largest companies in the world. Seventeen years later, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the 2021 brand and product shift to Meta made sense for a world where suddenly digital connectivity was less an indulgence and more a necessity.

However, the initiative to build an immersive virtual world never materialized in the way Zuckerberg envisioned. In 2023, he quietly shuttered the Metaverse in favor of harnessing AI to improve the advertiser experience and create user-oriented features like new photo editors and voice response. While other tech companies in the global AI arms race have struggled to find a market for their massive investments, Meta’s platforms and user base were ready-made outlets for these development efforts. By late 2024, the company announced record-breaking profits as advertisers capitalized on the new AI-driven tools and users increased their engagement due to AI’s algorithm improvements.

That’s why Wall Street loved Meta’s mid-January announcement of impending layoffs alongside Zuckerberg’s warning that teams should expect an “intense year” pursuing the new goals. Despite some bad press and complaints on social media, investors could see where this was going – Meta was all-in on its AI-fueled retrobrand – and bounced the stock price nearly 20% to all-time highs.

These recent moves and the reaction bring Zuckerburg’s decision to roll back Meta’s third-party fact checking program into focus. While certainly an olive branch to the Trump Administration, it also aligns with promises to reinstitute “OG Facebook” and the original branding as a platform for communication and connection.

Apple always thought differently

Half a decade before Zuckerberg enrolled at Harvard, Steve Jobs was illustrating what a retrobrand could be as he returned to Apple in 1997. The company he had co-founded in the 1970s with a funky, counter-culture identity was floundering, even though then-CEO Gil Amelio had saved Apple from collapse by securing financing, slashing expenses, and painstakingly reorganizing internal structures.

But Amelio wasn’t able to turn his operational expertise into a visionary growth strategy that would take Apple to the next level. Re-enter Jobs, his turtlenecks, and the “think different” mantra that would become Apple’s marketing slogan for the next five years.

Jobs believed that strategic product differentiation had been Apple’s major brand identity advantage in the market since its founding. The company’s first product, the Apple I, was simultaneously novel and customer-oriented because it came preassembled and was more affordable than home computer kits at the time.

That was the starting point for the Jobs-led retrobrand. On the surface, he was scaling back offerings to eliminate 70% of new product lines – a strategic move to no longer just be an alternative to Microsoft. But behind the scenes, “think different” was a missional foundation for developing the technology that would make Apple one of the biggest companies in the world. Jobs was turning the NeXTstep operating system that Amelio had purchased into OS X, which eventually would become the basis of iOS, the iPhone’s operating system.

Jobs once said, “It’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” In other words, you have to think differently to conceptualize a smartphone interface and how its apps will integrate across systems before your customers even understand what an app is. For Apple, this way of thinking led to a product line that achieved near-global adoption while still maintaining that dressed-down, plucky upstart brand image… on its way to becoming a $3 trillion company.

Starbucks CEOs share retrobrand goals

Like Jobs, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz was a personality synonymous with his company’s brand. While his leadership created a global coffee empire, he cautioned that expansion also risked “watering down” that brand value of being a premium coffee experience – a challenge current CEO Brian Niccol is attempting to meet.

When Niccol took the helm in late 2024, sales at Starbucks had been falling for three straight quarters. Customers who were already squeezed by inflation reported long waits, rushed and impersonal service, and a dysfunctional mobile app that led to an overall empty and “transactional” experience instead of a welcome respite.

Recognizing that customers want the Starbucks of the 1990s, Niccol has launched a campaign to refocus on the brand’s “enduring identity” of a “welcoming coffeehouse where people gather.” He’s reintroducing handwritten notes on cups and having baristas hand simple drip coffee orders over the counter rather than making customers wait in the queue behind a dozen more time-consuming frappuccinos.

Older and newer generations of customers are sure to appreciate these back-to-basics touches, but the foundation of Starbucks’s retrobranding strategy is definitely 21st-century. Back in May, Schultz called for updates to Starbucks’s mobile ordering app to give customers an “uplifting experience” rather than chaos at the pick-up counters. Sharing the old boss’s vision, Niccol has made order sequence optimization a priority: he’s modifying the app so that “dine-in” customers can sit down and enjoy their coffee sooner while giving their to-go counterparts more time to arrive to a drink that’s still hot.

Of course, neither tech improvements nor the return of free refills in ceramic mugs will be an instant cure for Starbucks’s recent woes as higher supply prices continue to squeeze the margins. But this past January’s better-than-forecasted financials do signal that Niccol has the company turning (back the clock) in the right direction.

Pandemic social media got readers back in Barnes & Noble

Speaking of ’90s nostalgia, you can’t talk about Starbucks’s historical brand without a nod to  Barnes & Noble, the bookseller that put Starbucks on the map for a large part of the United States. The strategic coffee shop-in-bookstore partnership that started in 1993 was a natural fit, and each company benefited from access to the other’s customers. However, the rise of e-commerce was devastating for in-person book-shopping, and by 2018, Amazon was writing Barnes & Noble’s epitaph.

Surely the Covid-19 pandemic would be the final nail in the coffin, right? Actually, the company is experiencing a renaissance of growth since CEO James Daunt kicked off a bottom-up retrobrand after assuming his position in 2019.

Daunt quickly identified a huge problem: the shelves weren’t full of books that mattered to the consumer. Items better suited for drugstores or convenience markets like batteries, trinkets, and gifts were taking up space, and big publishers dominated optimal floorspace and display areas. According to Daunt, Barnes & Noble should be a bookstore first and foremost — and even more, operate like an independent bookseller, where local tastes and interest determine layouts and inventory. His solutions included ending the promotional payment schemes that favored the big publishers, granting local managers more autonomy, and organizing book sections by subject matter instead of alphabetically by author name to encourage more browsing.

This new attitude had Barnes & Noble ready to capitalize on an unexpected TikTok trend that emerged during the Covid-19 pandemic. Reading enthusiasts stuck at home had developed a digital community known as “BookTok,” where they would share book recommendations and videos of their… wait for it… physical book collections.

It was the perfect opportunity for communicating brand identity through a new medium. Barnes & Noble embraced the trend with new BookTok feature sections, both online and in stores, while also engaging through its own TikTok account, which now boasts nearly 300,000 followers. This focus is helping the brand attract Gen Zers who are actively seeking “third space” environments – like a Starbucks location – as places to go in person.

That’s a big part of why monthly foot traffic at Barnes & Noble locations is on an upward trend, even surpassing pre-pandemic levels. Just seven years after many thought Barnes & Noble would die, business is thriving, with 57 stores opening in the U.S. last year and plans to add another 60 in 2025.

Domino’s is a delivery company with a pizza problem

Business has also been thriving for the Domino’s pizza chain since the company went public in 2004. In fact, investing in Domino’s IPO has generated a better return than the same investment in Google’s IPO later that year – an impressive feat when considering that Domino’s hasn’t always been known for great pizza.

Indeed, Domino’s brand is all about delivery speed. This core principle started with the “30 minutes or less” guarantee in the 1980s and remained a priority when Domino’s became the first in its industry to offer mobile ordering in 2007. However, the pizza itself was a punchline. Market research revealed customers saying it tasted like “cardboard,” and Domino’s eventually launched a total recipe revamp in 2009.

The marketing push for the “Domino’s Turnaround” would become one of the most successful food industry rebrands of all time. Customers appreciated the honesty – and, apparently, the results, because profits doubled within months of the new release.

But sixteen years later, Domino’s is still wowing investors. And it’s not just on the back of pizza, it’s the secret sauce of remaining ahead of the curve of mobile ordering trends because of its best-in-the-business mobile app, which has earned praise for its intuitive design and patented “pizza tracker.” The app became the point of sale for 35% of Domino’s online orders by 2013 and has been a key ingredient in increasing both carryout and delivery orders.

In a way, Domino’s is still chiefly a delivery company that also now serves a better product, and this duality makes Domino’s a great retrobrand example.

Two components to a retrobrand

For each of these companies, there are two common threads. First, they all deliberately sought to emphasize attributes their customers had always associated with their brands – speed of service, a “3rd space” to gather, or unique approach to facilitating both personal and digital connection. For the most part, it wasn’t really about a flagship product, either, but what customers wanted from their brands and how they felt when engaging.

Secondly, from an operations standpoint, not one of these companies acted as if it were opening a time capsule to the “good ol’ days.” No one turned off the mobile apps, Barnes & Noble didn’t stop online book sales, and Meta didn’t spin off Instagram. They all introduced major upgrades to their marketing and development protocols, and especially to their technological infrastructure, so that they could deliver on what their brands promised.

A controversial influencer or a peculiar ad campaign might make a one-time marketing splash, but that’s about all a rebranding gimmick will get you. A smart retrobranding initiative, on the other hand, gives long-term customers concrete reasons to increase engagement with a brand, while simultaneously introducing the historical quality of that brand to a new generation.

Robert Kuykendall originally published this piece at TabbFORUM.

What do you mean?

For years, communications officers have advocated for more meaningful roles in corporate leadership structures. They’ve had a front row seat to a dynamic consumer becoming more engaged in 2-way communication with brands and a penchant for basing trust and loyalty on overall brand perception – beyond just product and service quality. For years, communications professionals have advocated for a spot in the C-Suite, especially as consumers’ decisions to pay more attention to corporate practices has resulted in challenges to brand trust and loyalty.

A viral June 2024 study shows that corporate boards are beginning to understand this, and are responding by finally giving communications teams seats at the C-Suite table. But this new class of Chief Communications Officers aren’t just being tasked with messaging strategies and media relations. They’re now also responsible for helping guide interdepartmental synergy and are accountable for overall organizational success.

“I think you’re seeing a greater recognition that communications has a bottom-line impact,” said Jeff Berkowitz, founder of political and reputational risk advisory firm Delve. “C-Suite executives are realizing that every part of a company impacts stakeholder reputation. Unless you have a lead communicator at the decision-making table, there won’t be someone in the room who understands how sales and operations tie into brand management. And that’s a mistake in an era when a single wrong step can cost a company sales and brand equity in one fell swoop.”

The growing emphasis on communications as an indispensable part of business planning and growth will certainly impact senior and mid-level in-house teams. And while many are slammed with short-term Q4 tasks, they need to be looking ahead to Q1 2025 to catch up with the trend that will undoubtedly mean more responsibility.

More respect…and responsibility

Culture and policies roll downhill, and more respect for comms from the C-Suite means more respect commanded and assumed throughout an organization. It’s a significant opportunity to be integrated into the different departments and functions of the broader corporation.

“Many corporate public relations teams already seek this integration – but a Chief Communications Officer makes it easier for it to happen,” said Nick Lagalante, a B2B corporate marketing and communications executive who has led global teams for technology companies. “This creates more opportunities for a higher quantity and quality of brand storytelling that impacts markets and drives the business forward.”

It’s easy to see where this is all leading: in-house comms teams will suddenly have twice the workload.

Casually skimming an engineering report’s Executive Study to prep answers for a “general business” beat reporter or new product press release is no longer going to cut it. Spokespersons will now need a comprehensive understanding of technical specifications to hold their own in interviews with top-tier trade outlet journalists who know every three- and four-letter acronyms in industry parlance. Gaining this mastery will require extensive new training and more rounds of technical editing on content, all while conducting outreach to a wider swath of media outlets.

Stephanie Roberts is Head of Global Communications for Hitachi Industrial Equipment Systems, a company with over two billion dollars in annual sales and 9,000 employees. She said that this increased responsibility is the natural consequence of a business landscape that radically changed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“External stakeholders have greater expectations about transparency and how a company functions,” she said. “Senior executives expect to share thought leadership and company news on social media, through SEO, and via webinars and conference speeches. Instead of being its own silo, communications now demands knowledge of operations, sales, finance, etc. as well as working relationships with those department heads to ensure alignment.”

Public relations department and team leads, therefore, must take advantage of the boss’ new seat at the C-Suite table. Alan Shoebridge is Associate Vice President of National Communication for Catholic healthcare system Providence, which has 51 hospitals and a presence in seven states. He says communication leaders must build “a solution reputation and good relationships” to successfully advocate for a bigger team, more budget for outside help, and greater operational freedom.

“It’s critical that leaders understand what resources the communication team needs to keep the lights on, continue the current level of service, or elevate to an even higher level,” said Shoebridge. “Effectively advocating for more resources – budget or people – requires showing a vision, clear goals, and a measurement plan to elevate the communications function and impact the business.”

CCO integration can make you indispensable today – and for the rest of your career 

Integration comes with another benefit: whereas once upon a time, comms people were viewed as mere guards at the branding gate, now we are designing Central Command’s design and strategic choices.

This means that comms gets to be a part of making the decisions that determine how the PR soldiers will carry out their battle plan. But those soldiers will also become more embedded into the organization – and therefore indispensable and hard to fire or lay off. This means both short-term job security and opportunities for career acceleration because of the in-depth knowledge gained about corporate operations, sales, finance, HR, and other key aspects of business.

“Being seen as a primary guardian of reputation instead of a mere order-taker has major implications for PR team leads beyond their current roles,” said Jeremy Tunis, a fractional PR advisor to start-ups, conglomerates, and nonprofits who has worked in-house at Edelman and Amazon. “The more that CEOs integrate communications into everything the organization does, the more that PR team members will be tasked with complex matters like bridging internal communications friction between departments, and managing the inevitable crisis.The tactical skills of PR are important; applying those unique skills as a company-wide trusted business counselor is far more difficult and valuable.”

Start preparing now for the brighter future

The authors of Four Disciplines of Execution pointed out that growth happens when leaders take 20% of their time to focus on one critical area of improvement. PR leaders are in Q4, with all the last-minute goals, holiday vacations, and other stresses associated with it. They can hardly stay ahead of the news cycle, never mind look a few months down the road.

But you must, or you’ll miss the CCO opportunity that’s going to deluge your department with opportunities and responsibilities.

This piece was originally published by Dustin Siggins at PR Daily on November 8, 2024.