Stories and Strategies for Public Relations and Marketing

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AI that Maps the Mind

What if the most powerful tool in public relations isn’t a pitch deck or media list, but your own story? In this episode, we’re joined by technologist-turned-storytelling-evangelist William Welser IV, founder of Lotic, a platform that uses artificial intelligence to help people uncover the data hidden inside their own narrative. From his days building satellites to his unexpected pivot into behavioral science, Bill shares why he believes personal storytelling isn’t just therapy, it’s strategy.

The most powerful communication connects the head and the heart, the human and the machine and yes, the PR and the AI.

Listen For

4:36 Why Story is the Richest Data Set
6:34 What lotic.ai Actually Does
12:15 Why PR Pros Need Self-Awareness Tools
17:28 How lotic.ai Makes Money (Hint: It’s Not Your Data)
21:09 Answer to Last Episode’s Question from Guest Brett Farmiloe

Try lotic.ai for yourself, FOR FREE

Guest: Bill Welser, Lotic

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When the Media Quote isn’t Human: Fake Quotes – Real Damage

What if the expert quote you just read in a news article wasn’t written by a human — but by AI?

That’s already happening.

A PR tool called Synapse is selling agencies the ability to fire off automated expert pitches to journalists, complete with research, personal-sounding anecdotes, and polished email copy — all with minimal human input. It promises one person can do the work of five and crank out twenty media pitches an hour.

But is this innovation, or is it a warning sign for the future of public relations?

In this episode, we’re unpacking what Synapse means for PR and media. We’ll explore why this kind of automation raises ethical alarms, how journalists are likely to respond, and what PR professionals need to do right now to protect trust, credibility, and the real value we bring to the table.

Listen For

6:12 Creepy or Clever? How Synapse Targets Reporters

7:48 Fabricated Experts: Ethical Red Line Crossed

10:35 Should the PR Industry Be Regulated?

11:16 How Journalists Will Fight Back With Closed Networks

22:40 Don’t Blame the AI—Blame Ourselves

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HARO Reloaded: How to Pitch Like It’s 2025

In today’s media landscape, journalists are drowning in pitches while PR professionals scramble for attention—often missing the mark entirely. But what if the problem isn’t the story, but the way it’s being told—and the tools we’re using to tell it?

In this episode, we sit down with Brett Farmiloe, the revivalist behind Help a Reporter Out (HARO), to unpack why this once-iconic platform fell off the radar, how he brought it back to life, and what it now takes to genuinely stand out in a journalist’s inbox.

Listen For

5:56 Why Journalists Are Still Drowning in Spam
7:05 The HARO Pitch Formula: Helpful, Authentic, Relevant, On-Time
10:20 Is the Definition of “Journalist” Changing?
14:05 What Journalists Really Want from PR People
20:15 Answer to Last Episode’s Question From Guest Graham Goodkind

Guest: Brett Farmiloe

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Selling our Value – Not our Time

What if everything you’ve been taught about pricing your work—tracking time, logging hours, justifying effort—was wrong? What if the real value of what you do isn't how long it takes, but what impact it has?

In a world where generative AI can draft press releases in seconds and churn out strategy decks before your coffee cools, PR professionals face a crossroads: race to the bottom by charging less for faster work—or redefine what clients are actually paying for.

In this episode, Graham Goodkind, founder and chairman of Frank, one of the UK’s most creatively disruptive PR agencies challenges how we think about pricing, pitching, and protecting our creative value—because if you’re still selling time, you’re selling yourself short.

Listen For

3:25 Why Time Is Not Your Currency in PR

4:49 Building Frank PR on Selling Ideas Not Hours

7:57 Frank PR Revenue and Profitability Stats

10:37 AI’s Role in Creativity and Workflow

17:42 Answer to Last Episode’s Question from Lauren Passell

21:17 Graham’s Best Advice for Starting in PR

Guest: Graham Goodkind, Frank PR

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Authenticity Isn’t a Buzzword, It’s a Business Model

What if the smartest pitch you ever sent didn’t sound smart at all—but sounded real?

In a world where inboxes are flooded with AI-polished messages, Lauren Passell makes a strong case for going the other way: writing like a human, listening like a fan, and leading with a story—not a sales hook. This episode unpacks how to stand out by showing up differently, not louder.

Listen For

6:44 Authenticity: Real or Just a Buzzword?
9:43 The Empathy Wake-Up Call for PR Pros”
10:59 Pitching as Love Letters, Not Spam
12:00 Tink’s Radical No-AI Policy
18:34 Why PR Has a Reputation Problem
21:53 Answer to Last Episode’s Question From Guest Bradley Davis

Guest: Lauren Passell, Tink Media

Podcast the Newsletter

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Name, Blame, and Damage Control

Your reputation is your most valuable asset — but also the most fragile.

In today’s world, a single tweet, leaked email, or bad headline can trigger a crisis faster than you can hit "refresh." But reputation isn’t just about avoiding scandal — it’s about building trust, culture, and resilience before anything goes wrong.

In this episode, we speak with Emma Woollcott, one of the UK’s top legal experts in reputation protection, about what organizations need to know now to prepare for the headlines they hope they never make.

Listen For

4:42 Reputation Redefined: It's About Feeling, Not Thinking

7:54 Avoidable Crises: Most Disasters Don’t Come Out of Nowhere

9:38 Simulate the Storm: Why Crisis Drills Are Gamechangers

12:56 Crisis Command: Cutting Through Chaos and Ego

17:19 Rise of the Newsfluencers: The New Media Landscape

20:23 Answer to Last Episode’s Question From Guest Mark Burey

Guest: Emma Woollcott

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Media Literacy in the Age of Misinformation

Is your media diet making you smarter? Or just more stubborn?

In this episode, we sit down with senior communicator and former journalist Mark Burey to explore how the collapse of shared truth is reshaping public relations. From the erosion of local journalism to the rise of AI-generated content. What does media literacy really looks like today? And what role do PR professionals play in rebuilding trust?

Listen For

7:33 What media literacy means in 2025

10:13 The decline of local journalism and its ripple effects

11:08 How PR has absorbed the watchdog role

13:39 What to do when misinformation feels like fact

15:43 Appreciative inquiry: changing minds without confrontation

21:23 Answer to Last Episode’s Question From Guest Bradley Davis

Guest: Mark Burey

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Public Relations: Independent Function or Marketing Tool?

Are public relations and marketing two distinct disciplines—or is PR simply one piece of the broader marketing puzzle? It’s a question that stirs up strong opinions in boardrooms, agencies, and comms teams alike.

Some argue PR is strategic storytelling aimed at building relationships, while marketing is focused on driving sales. Others say that in today’s world of integrated messaging, the separation is outdated.

In this episode, we take on the debate head-on, exploring how the roles overlap, where they diverge, and whether the modern media landscape has blurred the lines beyond repair. Is PR still its own function—or has it become just another lane on marketing’s highway?

Listen For:

:10 Fyre Festival The Luxury Mirage
4:02 Influence vs Image Showdown
6:25 PR Is the Pie
10:14 The Sad Fate of Local Media
13:02 Metrics KPIs and the Dashboard Wars
18:54 Who Owns the Message
25:10 The Final Prediction Marketers Report to PR

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