The Public Relations Blog

Data breaches no longer just threaten your systems; they threaten your reputation.

In today’s real-time digital environment, companies must be ready to communicate quickly, clearly, and credibly when cyber incidents occur. What you say (or don’t say) in the first few hours can either protect or permanently damage your brand’s reputation.

Here’s how to respond when a breach hits and prepare your team before the next one.

In this solocast, On Top of PR host Jason Mudd discusses the ethical and practical differences between exclusives, advances, and embargoes and how to use them correctly in media relations.

Tune in to learn more!

Learn how to spot red flags and take action when online reputation management is failing to protect trust, visibility, and brand credibility.

Online reputation management sounds simple on the surface: Watch what people say about your brand online, and keep it positive. In real life, it is more like caring for a garden. When you stop paying attention, weeds grow quietly. By the time you notice, they are everywhere, blocking the healthy parts you want people to see.

Discover why social channels must be part of any public relations crisis plan and how to prepare response protocols, roles, and monitoring upfront.

Public relations crises do not wait for your team to get into the office. A quick video on TikTok, a frustrated thread on X (formerly Twitter), or a sharp comment on Instagram can turn into a roaring public fight before your morning coffee cools. Once it spreads, screenshots and stitches keep the story alive long after the original post is deleted.

Imagine this: You see a news story or social media post about a service you actually need. You click, inquire, and within a day you’re talking to a sales representative. They’re responsive, professional, and even follow up with a detailed proposal.

Then, silence.

No call to confirm you received the quote. No follow-up to answer questions. No effort to build rapport. A week later, you get the same quote resent from their system with no context.

Find out if ChatGPT reads your blog or relies on news coverage and how PR mentions shape what AI tools surface about your brand.

Your team publishes thoughtful blog posts, shares smart insights on social media, and keeps your website fresh. Then a leader asks ChatGPT or another AI tool a simple question about your company or even your category, and the answer barely mentions you or gets your positioning wrong. That disconnect is frustrating, especially when you have invested so much in content and SEO.

1. Dr. Pepper’s influencer jingle becomes PR gold

2. Learn from “protein-washing” trends

3. 60-second close: Build trust and keep it real

Learn how a top public relations firm builds on-camera credibility, from local news segments to national TV, with a clear PR roadmap and tips.

Marketing leaders often ask how to land their CEO on CNN or Good Morning America. The truth is that national TV almost never starts with a cold pitch and zero on-camera proof. Network producers are not trying to be gatekeepers. They are trying to protect their shows from awkward, off-message, or frozen guests who damage credibility in front of millions of viewers.

Learn what the Google leak suggests for PR teams and how to improve SEO for PR with content, links, and reputation-driven visibility tactics.

The recent leak of internal Google Search API documents pulled back the curtain on how the world’s dominant search engine may actually evaluate brands, content, and media coverage. For PR and communications leaders, this is not just an SEO story; it's a reputation story. When stakeholders, journalists, investors, and future employees search your brand or your category, what they see shapes trust long before they ever land on your newsroom or read a press release.

Most press releases don’t earn media coverage. That’s not because “the media is broken.” It’s because most press releases aren’t written for journalists or their audiences.