In this episode, Pragya Dubey, Agility PR’s VP of Global Services & Analytics, joins host Jason Mudd to discuss how AI is reshaping PR, media intelligence, and measurement for smarter, data-driven strategies.
Tune in to learn more!
Listen to the episode here:
5 things you’ll learn during the full episode:
- How AI is changing the media intelligence landscape and how we can measure it
- Ways PR professionals can use AI to make smarter, data-driven decisions
- What the emerging AI landscape means for PR professionals
- How to use AI to enhance productivity and creativity in PR
- How press releases are regaining power as vital tools for AI-driven search visibility
About Pragya Dubey
Pragya Dubey is Vice President of Global Services and Media Analytics at Agility PR Solutions, where she leads strategy and client success for media monitoring, measurement, and insights. With over 20 years of experience across Canada, the U.S., and India, she specializes in turning complex media data into actionable narratives that demonstrate ROI and drive smarter decision-making.
Since joining Agility in 2006, she has helped clients — including Fortune 500s, governments, and nonprofits — align media analysis with strategic goals. Pragya is a passionate advocate for using meaningful metrics to elevate the role of communications.
Watch the episode here:
Quotables
- “AI is really reshaping the way we are accessing information and our need for information.” — Pragya Dubey
- “PR teams can be empowered with more data-driven decisions as opposed to basing their decisions on anecdotes, or an impression, or simply instincts – that’s the biggest shift.” — Pragya Dubey
- “AI is the assistant that PR never had that can help public relations professionals work smarter.” — Pragya Dubey
- "The question to ask is how AI is getting its information. AI is getting that information from the web, from Google, Yahoo, all those aggregator websites and media. So if you're not putting yourself out there more and more, you're missing out on that opportunity to be read and analyzed by AI.” — Pragya Dubey
- “The press release that we all thought was on life support and losing credibility year after year is suddenly the new sexy PR tool that everybody's talking about again and getting excited about.” — Jason Mudd
If you enjoyed this episode, please take a moment to share it with a colleague or friend. You may also support us through Buy Me a Coffee or by leaving us a quick podcast review.
Resources
Guest’s contact info and resources:
Episode Resources:
- Axia’s AI Relations Service
- How generative AI uses earned media coverage (fueling PR’s resurgence)
- Do news releases influence AI visibility?
- Google’s AI Mode and the rise of reputation-driven visibility
- What sources feed generative AI answers?
- AI in PR: Transforming communication strategies
Recorded: July 18, 2025
Our On Top of PR sponsors:
- Production sponsor: Axia Public Relations, one of America’s Best PR Agencies, according to Forbes Magazine
- Coffee sponsor: Fans like you fuel our efforts through Buy Me a Coffee.
About your host Jason Mudd
Jason Mudd is a nationally recognized public relations expert featured by CNN, Entrepreneur, Forbes, NPR, The New York Times, PRWeek, and The Wall Street Journal.
Named North America’s top PR leader by the World Communication Forum, he serves as CEO of Axia Public Relations — recognized by Forbes as one of America’s Best PR Agencies.
Jason has advised some of the country’s most admired and fastest-growing companies, leading campaigns for iconic brands including American Airlines, Budweiser, Dave & Buster’s, GE, H&R Block, Hilton, HP, Miller Lite, New York Life, Pizza Hut, Southern Comfort, and Verizon.
He’s also a professional public speaker, accredited PR practitioner, published author, entrepreneur, and host of On Top of PR with Jason Mudd — a podcast ranked among the top 3% globally by Listen Notes and a top 100 marketing podcast on Apple Podcasts. His guests have included leaders from Disney, Mall of America, Priceline, Southwest Airlines, Tyson Foods, and Wells Fargo.
Find more On Top of PR episodes on:
Transcript
00:01:17:20 - 00:01:27:19
Announcer
Welcome to On Top of PR with Jason Mudd.
00:01:27:19 - 00:01:38:03
Jason
Hello and welcome to On Top of PR. I'm your host, Jason Mudd. Today we've got a special episode. I'm joined by Pragya Dubey. She is vice president of global services and media analytics at agility PR solutions.
00:01:38:03 - 00:01:59:27
Jason
Agility PR helps companies with media monitoring, measurement and insights, and she leads strategy and client success there for more than 20 years of, she's been working in Canada, the US and India, specializing in turning complex media data into actionable narratives that demonstrate return on investment and drive smarter decision making.
00:02:00:02 - 00:02:20:14
Jason
Since joining agility in 2006, she's helped clients including fortune 500 governments and nonprofits align media analysis with strategic goals. Pragya is passionate, is a passionate advocate for using meaningful metrics to elevate the role of communications. Pragya. Welcome to on top of PR.
00:02:20:17 - 00:02:25:25
Pragya
Thank you so much, Jason. Thank you for that lovely introduction and my pleasure to be here.
00:02:25:28 - 00:02:47:09
Jason
Yeah, I'm glad to be here to thank you for the opportunity and, you know, we had some technical difficulties getting started. So we really appreciate your cooperation during this, and I'm excited to talk any time I have an opportunity to talk about artificial intelligence, generative AI, PR measurement, and strategies to help improve, the profession and give back to the profession, which I.
00:02:47:09 - 00:02:49:12
Jason
Since we're going to be doing a little bit of today.
00:02:49:12 - 00:03:09:16
Jason
So Pragya, let's start this off by talking about how is AI changing media intelligence landscape and how we can measure it, because everybody wants to talk about AI, and I think it's really important we give our audience actionable steps that they can take to improve their media intelligence, as well as their media measurement.
00:03:09:18 - 00:03:39:03
Pragya
Absolutely, Jason. And really, no doubt, it is a very, very hot topic and everybody's talking about it. I would say that AI is really reshaping the way we are accessing information and our need for information. So traditionally, media monitoring, media analysis, in terms of it being a decision, useful information has always been a very, complex.
00:03:39:03 - 00:04:13:00
Pragya
So, I would say, complex and time consuming, resource intensive process. As a result, many teams would either not undertake it or limit themselves to a post event view of by volumes. And you know, those traditional vanity metrics as we know them today. However, now with AI powered tools and AI technology, PR technology, the excessive ability is there for everybody.
00:04:13:00 - 00:04:52:05
Pragya
So you can now actually have real time analytics, real time information quality and depth of insights that you need to make better decisions. What that means is, in general, PR teams can be empowered with more data driven decisions as opposed to basing their decisions on anecdotes or an impression or, or simply instincts, from there. So that I think is the biggest, biggest shift in how we are approaching and how it can impact a PR professionals day or job.
00:04:52:07 - 00:05:09:02
Jason
Gotchu. So if someone is listening to this podcast and, you know, they kind of fall into three categories, right? Those that have embraced AI and have been using it for years now, those that are just starting to dabble, maybe, and those that are just I'm not even going to touch it. Right. I don't want to be involved.
00:05:09:02 - 00:05:35:10
Jason
I don't want to train it. You know, I don't think it's ethical. I hear a lot of excuses out there in the marketplace, from fellow colleagues who just aren't embracing AI the way I think they should. So, you know, thinking of those, individuals and professionals and respecting their position, you know, their personal preferences, you know, what are ways or what what kind of questions could they be asking internally?
00:05:35:12 - 00:05:46:00
Jason
To identify ways that they could be leveraging, generative AI for either public relations or for, you know, measurement and analytics?
00:05:46:18 - 00:06:12:29
Pragya
Yeah. I think the biggest question are and and actually that's I would preface that and say you raise a such a good point and, and I think one of the biggest shift also needed is for the PR professionals themselves in terms of that mindset shift and that mindset shift, whether you embrace AI or not, embrace or trying or advanced is really the mind shift is, some could have it.
00:06:12:29 - 00:06:36:01
Pragya
Not to say that people currently don't have it, and it has nothing to do with AI per se, is to be curious, is to be experimented. And so when you approach it with that perspective, the biggest question you will ask yourself is how am I making the decision and how can ensure the outcomes of my decision? I have more control over it.
00:06:36:08 - 00:07:03:26
Pragya
I have more predictability over it. That's the holy grail of any decision that you make. Can you, you know, what kind of visibility or outcomes can you predict from your decision making? Now, a key part of that decision making is how good is the information you are using to make that decision. Now, with the traditional way of approaching public relations, it's always been a rear view mirror.
00:07:04:01 - 00:07:26:03
Pragya
So you look back at the month, you look back at the quarter and you say, okay, how did that go? What did we do? Good. What did we not do good. And that is if you had that bandwidth and capacity to assess and evaluate. But now we have that information in real time. And not only you have that information in real time, you have it in on your fingertips, literally.
00:07:26:03 - 00:07:53:03
Pragya
It's a click of your buttons or moving your mouse around. And you can now get better insights into what are, for example, what is the conversation growing around my brand, around my competitors, around my industry? Could it impact me if it is affecting competitors or the industry? Today, could I be, in that conversation tomorrow? Should I proactively jump into that conversation?
00:07:53:06 - 00:08:27:25
Pragya
So having a better basis of that decision making is going to create better outcomes for your company, your organization, and of course, for you as a professional. So that's one thing. And then the second question you would want to ask yourself is and a very, very basic question, is that a choice basically. So if every product out there is incorporating AI or even if it is not, if you choose to not use it, are you being left behind arbitrary?
00:08:27:26 - 00:08:45:02
Pragya
Are your colleagues or other companies doing better because we are able to equip and empower themselves with better information and hence better outcomes. So I would say those would be the two big questions you need to ask yourself and go from there.
00:08:45:08 - 00:09:09:19
Jason
Okay, I like that. And I do think that a lot of people do have a little bit of analysis paralysis when they've got so many different tools. And, you know, ideas or options and, platforms being put in front of them, on a regular basis. So, one key trend that we talked about before we press record was, increased customization of insights and tailoring.
00:09:09:21 - 00:09:28:08
Jason
What surfaced for executives versus, you know, frontline, team members, and that I enables faster or more precise information of what matters to whom and when. Is that a solution that your organization has developed, or talk a little bit more about this?
00:09:28:11 - 00:09:58:20
Pragya
Absolutely. So 21st of all, has been a leader in developing AI powered solutions. We were the first ones to come out with products for media outreach, media analysis. And but at the core of every time we are innovating or developing new product, there is one driving philosophy. And that philosophy is are we providing decision, useful information to the audience in a timely way?
00:09:58:22 - 00:10:24:24
Pragya
So those three criterias, decision in useful, audience and timely is very, very important in every aspect of product development that we do. So obviously we understand, you know, somebody in C suite or different department is looking at information differently than, say, your front line sales workers or even your middle management for that matter. And our product allows you to customize it.
00:10:24:25 - 00:10:54:02
Pragya
The way we share information from everything from gathering information to the vehicle through which it is shared, the timeliness of information and the gist of information. So if you are, you know, more frontline stuff, you need the details, you need to get very granular. You need to have all the information so you can, participate those conversations or use that information more effectively in those situations that you have to face every minute of the day.
00:10:54:05 - 00:11:25:16
Pragya
Whereas if you're a CEO or a C-suite professional, you need to get that high level information in terms of what does that mean at the industry level, at the company level, from our long term objectives and those pieces. And also you have literally 2 minutes or 5 minutes of your time to quickly digest that information. So how it is that information is delivered to you, and what are the nuances of the information that is delivered to your CEO is going to be very different from what is delivered to a frontline workers.
00:11:25:16 - 00:11:38:08
Pragya
So having a product that gives that flexibility without putting a lot of manual effort into it is is absolutely critical. And something definitely that agility part, that's.
00:11:39:09 - 00:12:08:25
Jason
Perfect. Yes. We also talked a little bit about AI. Is the assistant that PR never had. And that I can help, public relations professionals work smarter. And I think what you said was, there's no need to be a jack of all trades when you can master them all. But as we think about that, right, AI is becoming, you know, our, our AI tools are becoming everyday collaborators for the PR professional, whether that's in-house or even agency side.
00:12:08:28 - 00:12:33:19
Jason
And sure, I mean, people are using AI to draft, news releases, analyze messages and break stories, researching media and informing strategy to inform strategy, surfacing key takeaways and recommendations. So, you know, what are you seeing from your clients and your own practice? Perhaps, of how artificial generative artificial intelligence is helping PR pros work smarter?
00:12:34:01 - 00:12:57:02
Pragya
Yeah. Good question. I'll actually answer that with an example, and I'll, I'll give a couple of examples. So just a couple of months ago I, one of the clients approached and they said they, you know, it was just before the more like in the spring actually. And they were planning to put together their strategy for how they'll approach the summer season.
00:12:57:04 - 00:13:27:09
Pragya
They were in the business of, you know, sort of being in that summer festivals, utilizing these summer festivals towards enhancing their product visibility. And, and it was a big vehicle and medium for them. But so they came to us and asked us this question that I'm in the middle of putting this strategy together, but I would really like to know how did the last summer season went or overall in general, when it comes to festivals, what are the conversations around the festivals?
00:13:27:09 - 00:13:51:28
Pragya
What is media focus on? What are some of the positive aspects of it? What are some of the negative aspects of it? What? Who are the people? Who are the influencers that are quoted and talked about and and go to resources, for the media. Now that's something like in the pre AI era, that would have been a huge undertaking.
00:13:51:29 - 00:14:19:07
Pragya
Days of undertaking going through thousands and thousands of articles. And even then you would just be skimming the surface with the manual, work that would be put into it. But with her using our product, she could play around with some prompts and, you know, look at the look at the data, which was in thousands and thousands of volumes from all types of media types, social, traditional.
00:14:19:13 - 00:15:00:15
Pragya
It doesn't matter what the source of the data was, as long as the data was there. And within a couple of hours, she was able to get such good insights into all of those aspects that I just said, at no additional cost, she was able to leverage the AI tools built into our platform. So it's this is, you know, when I always said access, but accessibility, something like this, information like this would be inaccessible to 80% of the PR professionals because they would just not have the, the resource or the budgets to, deploy that kind of team to get those insights.
00:15:00:15 - 00:15:49:03
Pragya
But now it's at your fingertips. So that's one example of how it can be leveraged so effectively, so quickly to inform better decision making and then share another example with another client. Very different use case. She was actually putting together a weekly report, and it took her 2 to 3 hours every week to put that together. So we took her product output, looked at it, discussed it, improved it little bit to make it even more useful and helpful for the audience that she was looking at it and created, reverse engineered a prompt for her, which when we fed that prompt into our system, she got literally in five minutes the output that she was spending
00:15:49:03 - 00:16:16:29
Pragya
three hours, otherwise when she looked at it. And I'm not kidding or I'm not lying or exaggerating, she literally had tears in her eyes looking at that, and she was like, oh my God, this will save me so much time. So it was it was amazing. And I, I when our team gets that reaction from our clients, it feels amazing to to see that how it's, helping professionals.
00:16:17:24 - 00:16:39:00
Jason
I can relate to that. You know, I know exactly what you're talking about. I love it when that feeling happens and, you feel like you've added a lot of significant value to your you. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Well that's great. Let's talk, also about upskilling for the AI era. And that most critical skills aren't technical.
00:16:39:00 - 00:16:47:05
Jason
As you said earlier, they're about curiosity, adaptability and asking the right questions. So, yeah, I'm curious to talk more about that.
00:16:47:07 - 00:17:09:18
Pragya
I think the, you know, ones like the market mindset, mindset shift, of course, is a big one to to be more open, to be more curious. As you I said, you said and and we would all agree to that. That's not a debatable aspect of it. But there is always a barrier. There is always an inertia to get into it and a common one.
00:17:09:25 - 00:17:51:18
Pragya
We all say to a narrative, we all say to ourselves is if and when we get the time, I would definitely want to look into it. I mean, and that's the biggest one, I feel one of the biggest variants and progressing it. So I think the AI, the advice or the recommendation I would have is that no matter how small or no matter how wrong you start, you should take that first step towards that, basically towards learning whether it is, you know, a standalone PR project or whether it is in a PR software, if it if you're not incorporating it, you are the one holding yourself back.
00:17:51:21 - 00:18:13:12
Pragya
So it's really bringing that and especially wanted to when I was talking to you earlier, Jason, when I said it's not about technology, it truly is not about technology. It's not about the technical stuff. It's about logic. It's about what do you want and how does that fit logically into that game plan is how you have to think about it.
00:18:13:17 - 00:18:31:16
Pragya
So if technology is a barrier, if I'm thinking or using or not, having the time is a barrier. Go from the perspective of logic. This is the output I want. What are some of the back steps I need to look at and use this to? My advantage is what I would recommend.
00:18:31:19 - 00:18:58:21
Jason
Okay, yeah, I really like that. So embracing experimentation is key to staying relevant and ahead. And then I love the curiosity, adaptability and asking the right questions of course. So going back to agility, PR, AI innovations, you know, it seems like, your brand is doing a good job of aligning itself. In the forefront of the AI and PR conversation.
00:18:58:23 - 00:19:03:16
Jason
You know, tell us a few points about that.
00:19:03:18 - 00:19:35:10
Pragya
Yeah. So first of all, in terms of, I, we were just when this whole I remember that big, winter, December when it, OpenAI released and it suddenly became the craze. It happened, I think, in December and literally in January, agility PR solutions was out. But its PR copilot, which was a generative AI application in terms of the press releases, that was about, I think, a year or two years ago.
00:19:35:12 - 00:20:03:16
Pragya
And in that time frame, we have created so many products within the AI space, ranging from media relations to media monitoring to media analysis. In all of those three spaces, and even beyond, in the next phase of, development that we are looking at. And the feedback we are getting from our clients has been, phenomenal in terms of how they are adopting and wanting more features.
00:20:03:16 - 00:20:29:12
Pragya
So it's it's very encouraging, really, to see, how much appetite there is, for amongst our clients, for the AI products and tunes of and why not? Right. It's saving everybody time. It's making everybody look better. It's giving everybody the PR professionals, especially the visibility into what they are bringing to the table. So that's been, really amazing to see.
00:20:29:14 - 00:20:41:25
Jason
And I think you were telling me, earlier before we recorded this, that you were the first to market, with PR copilot for press release, writing, media list building, real time monitoring.
00:20:41:27 - 00:20:42:21
Pragya
Yes.
00:20:42:23 - 00:20:47:01
Jason
And analysts and, analysis tools. Right?
00:20:47:04 - 00:20:49:21
Pragya
Correct. Yeah. We are. Yeah.
00:20:49:24 - 00:21:11:14
Jason
Okay. Awesome. And if you're looking at, AI tools for PR, you know, I think we were also talking about, you know, all AI tools should be built or used with two goals in mind, right? Is this information decision information decision useful for the right audience? And is it timely enough to act on.
00:21:12:25 - 00:21:39:14
Pragya
That is true. Yeah. So that's a core philosophy. Actually the PR solution focuses on in terms of creating a decision useful in, information. So it's not just giving information. And I'll give an example, for example, traditionally a media newsletter, especially for big or enterprise level clients, it's a very important product. It goes to multiple audiences, it goes to multiple stakeholders.
00:21:39:20 - 00:22:03:28
Pragya
So a lot of effort goes into by the PR team to produce a very professional, correct, accurate product that could be distributed within the different stakeholders. But at the end of the day, that product was, you know, and, a curated or a chosen list of, key articles from that day to inform their audiences. Now that's one level.
00:22:04:00 - 00:22:31:08
Pragya
But here, now we are in the AI world. That same product can be produced much faster. So definitely the speed has been impacted. And that, productivity enhancement is creating opportunities for the PR team to focus their efforts on more impactful work on more strategic, pieces of their work that where they would like to, spend their time.
00:22:31:14 - 00:22:57:01
Pragya
So that's one aspect of it. The second aspect of it is the product itself, right? So that product, it is going to different stakeholders that product is different now. So that product now it is tailored to the different stakeholders. So it's not the same product. And secondly that product is now enhanced. It's no longer just information. It's decision useful information.
00:22:57:06 - 00:22:58:09
Pragya
So there is a gist
00:22:58:09 - 00:23:05:13
Pragya
in terms of the roundup. Because you know, the CEO like I said, may not have more than five minutes to go through it.
00:23:05:13 - 00:23:16:21
Pragya
But it also has takeaways in terms of why is this information useful to you today? Is there something even meaningful that you should be even paying attention to, or can you skip it?
00:23:16:23 - 00:23:42:03
Pragya
So it's those enhancements that have made such a big difference in, promoting AI within the within the PR space. And, I just also like very recently within the last couple of months, also, we did actually did a survey agility PR solutions, did a survey, with PR professionals. And it was all about the use of AI.
00:23:42:06 - 00:24:11:26
Pragya
And is AI the differentiator, in their profession? And are they and do they think that the AI will impact, their company, their organization, their team, and majority of the responses? So more than 50% in varying degree, somewhat agreed to heavily agree, agreed upon the fact that it is a differentiator. It is going to impact the work and the teams and the way they approach their work.
00:24:12:03 - 00:24:17:17
Pragya
So that was again, another validation from the survey results to see that.
00:24:17:20 - 00:24:42:11
Jason
Yeah, I mean, you and I both agree that AI is a differentiator for career advancement. And if, you know, I were working in house or at an agency or elsewhere in a PR capacity, I would be the first to volunteer to be like, I want to lead this, you know, our department, our team, our agencies, AI program, because that is a career differentiator, I would think.
00:24:42:11 - 00:25:09:14
Jason
And you're outlining the many values that it brings to leverage AI to focus on, you know, higher value work that drives results and builds visibility to be involved in selection of the tech stack, maybe in the development of your own, you know, AI platforms internally. You know, what would you say to that person who either you know, is doing that or is considering that and just hasn't had the courage to say anything yet?
00:25:09:16 - 00:25:35:24
Pragya
I think that's definitely a great idea. AI is the technology. You know, no matter which industry you are in, no matter which team company you are in, wherever you are today, whatever path, whatever level you are today. By embracing AI, by embracing AI technology, you will only advance further. Would it be all spelled out, laid out for you?
00:25:35:26 - 00:25:55:17
Pragya
Maybe. Maybe not, depending on what kind of resources and support you have. But going forward on that path, undoubtedly it's going to benefit. You would be my advice. I would definitely say, keep going on, go ahead and embrace and take on that challenge. It can be very rewarding.
00:25:55:19 - 00:25:57:08
Jason
Right? Yeah, I agree
00:25:57:08 - 00:26:06:18
Jason
This episode is brought to you by Audible. Enjoy 30 days free of Audible Premium Plus by going to ontopofpr.com/audible.
00:26:06:18 - 00:26:31:05
Announcer
You're listening to On Top of PR with your host, Jason Mudd. Jason is a trusted advisor to some of America's most admired and fastest growing brands. He is the managing partner at Axia Public Relations, a PR agency that guides news, social and web strategies for national companies. And now, back to the show.
00:26:31:05 - 00:26:51:01
Jason
So we want to wrap up here with my two favorite topics, PR measurement and then, you know, the, the excitement, enthusiasm of that's reengaging back, for enthusiasm for, the news releases and earned media coverage and LM compatible formatting. But first, let's start with PR measurement for a minute.
00:26:51:01 - 00:26:52:09
Jason
We've hit on this a little bit.
00:26:52:09 - 00:27:10:29
Jason
we both are in agreement PR measurement is no longer optional. And this is it's a core conversation and PR strategy. It's core to hiring and selecting your PR team, whether that's internally or externally. It's not just something you talk about at the hiring stage, but it's something you need to follow through.
00:27:11:01 - 00:27:14:24
Jason
After you hire, your team, whether that's internally or externally.
00:27:14:24 - 00:27:27:09
Jason
And I think a lot of companies struggle to, have the access they need, the data, they need the resources, meaning the team and budget and and even information or data
00:27:27:09 - 00:27:29:13
Jason
they need to properly measure PR.
00:27:29:19 - 00:27:30:24
Pragya
Yeah.
00:27:30:26 - 00:27:57:03
Jason
How can we help? Through this conversation today, our audience one identified the tools they need, internally or externally to measure and to how can I help produce, the measurement and reporting, data that helps companies, have useful insights to leverage and take action on. That's a loaded question. So take your time answering.
00:27:57:06 - 00:28:18:20
Pragya
Yes. Yeah. It is. And there are a lot of different aspects to it. I'll pick one aspect first. So you said when you were asking the question, when you're hiring, when you're looking, that's an important skill that you look for. And I've always been an advocate of this point about it. I think we expect too much from our PR professional.
00:28:18:20 - 00:28:44:04
Pragya
So they need to be great, right? They need to be great relationship builders. They need to be great researchers, and they need to be great analysts in terms of, you know, having information about, excellent themselves, data skills, data analytics, stats, Excel and all of those tools. So as you can just see, just in this little bit of space, that's very different.
00:28:44:04 - 00:28:57:27
Pragya
Skill sets vary, and we are expecting all of them to be in the same person. So despite all good intentions, it often would not materialize. It often would not, you know, come to any fruition or.
00:28:58:02 - 00:28:58:12
Dana
Great.
00:28:58:13 - 00:29:30:06
Pragya
Motivations. Then that's where the and if you started to sort of that, you know, and, and PR whether it's an agency limited, you know, bite size or budget or even in-house PR teams, that would be excess ability to resources and time would be the biggest challenge that would come in the way. So it's like everybody appreciates good data points, good information, good insight, but it comes at a cost.
00:29:30:11 - 00:30:07:23
Pragya
And that was prohibitive cost. But now with AI and the PR technology tools incorporating the AI features like agility, PR solutions, it's accessible. It's not massive cost. It's not an investment of time with and it also it's not requiring you to be very skilled and using, a very tactical software. It's really very logical. So when you are interacting and saying, I mean, it's how you think about things and which is the part I was only trying to say, you know, how would you logically think about it?
00:30:07:25 - 00:30:32:12
Pragya
So if, for example, if I'm analyzing, let's say, let's say I'm in healthcare and I'm drafting my next, release or a product launch, let's say it's on a cancer drug. And, but I need to know what is the current conversation. I need to know, what are some of the, you know, where is the media really talking about it?
00:30:32:14 - 00:31:02:05
Pragya
What are the aspects they're highlighting? I just need to think like that. Just like I would a PR person would think, wouldn't it be great if I had this information? Wouldn't it be great if I knew who the influencers were? Wouldn't it be great if I knew what the media sentiment around this topic is? Or even what are the challenges around, you know, cancer drugs in general and the conversation around cancer drugs are now I just have to go in and type in.
00:31:02:05 - 00:31:29:16
Pragya
So, you know, that point about it's an assistant. AI is like an assistant you never had because who has the budget for a full time assistant? Right. But just like you would tell an assistant, hey, can you go and research and give me answers to this question? That's what you're doing. That's what you're writing in your prompt to your AI tool and saying, tell me, who are the top five people who have been actively engaging on this topic?
00:31:29:18 - 00:32:04:26
Pragya
Tell me, what are the top five key messages? Out there in regards to cancer drugs? So it's not about being very technical. It's not asking you to be somebody other than your core area of expertise. It's only there as an assistant, as a tool for you to do your job. 2021. So that's one way I think it's made it accessible and it's made it easy, and it's made it real time so that any PR professional, big or small, any PR team, big or small, can leverage it.
00:32:05:16 - 00:32:06:29
Jason
Perfect. Perfect.
00:32:06:29 - 00:32:27:24
Jason
All right. So the final topic we're going to explore today is the evolving role of press releases. And this has been a hot topic at our agency recently. And something I'm excited about, I feel like it's like, a little bit of a resurrection of the power of PR. When, you know, people have been thinking that maybe the influence of PR is evolving or changing.
00:32:27:26 - 00:32:58:19
Jason
Yes, it's always evolving and changing. But the fundamental skill sets of not change. But what's happening is we're finding that, you know, generative AI and other artificial intelligence, tools are looking at, press releases now, more perhaps than we realized, for, Lem compatible formatting and powerful and relevant content. Generated, tell us what you know and what you're seeing and finally, what you're recommending.
00:32:58:21 - 00:33:32:29
Pragya
Yeah, it is, it is. So I think press release will is and will have even more of a, powerful say, a very, very important tool in, in a PR professional's toolkit. And that's because the consumer behavior is changing. So in general, if I were to ask you, Jason, you know, before I if you needed to find out information about any topic, any product or anything, where would you go?
00:33:33:01 - 00:33:55:23
Pragya
You would probably go to Google, to Google that information. Right. And now if you were to go and look for that information, you are more likely to go to ChatGPT or Gemini or such. AI search engines and put that question, again, because it gives you more value added information instead of just leads to, you know, ten companies.
00:33:55:23 - 00:34:26:25
Pragya
Or here are ten thoughts on this particular topic, which means for companies, the important question is, am I showing up in that answer that AI is giving? And you could show up if you were, you know, out there. Because the question to ask there is, how is the AI getting its information and AI is getting that information from the web, from the Googles, the Yahoo's, the, you know, all those aggregator websites and media.
00:34:26:27 - 00:34:51:21
Pragya
So if you're not putting yourself out there more and more, you're missing out on that opportunity to be read and analyzed by AI. So of course, you know, the media, the only outcomes you may have control. You may not have control. You can never guarantee if your story will be published in a media, but with press releases, it's your in your control.
00:34:51:21 - 00:35:22:01
Pragya
You decide how often you want to send a press release, what information you want to include in the press release. And so we have to probably grow that scope from not just thinking about press release, from targeting journalists, but also thinking about press release, from targeting. So I search engines. So I want to probably maybe when it comes to journalist, I want to look more newsworthy stories, more newsworthy pictures and very succinct and very tight narratives.
00:35:22:08 - 00:35:57:24
Pragya
Whereas on the other hand, I might issue two press releases every week because, I want to keep feeding information, putting it out there on the web world and giving the AI search engines all the information it needs about my product, about my brand, about, my teams or spokespeople, what it would that that may be. So in that way, I feel this is, a huge area where we will see a lot of growth and a lot of, turnaround in how people think about that, basically, or different themes, how they think about that.
00:35:57:26 - 00:36:22:03
Pragya
And an interesting started Jason, is about a couple of years ago actually had done a survey with about 3000 professionals, VR professionals, and, asking about how often you issue a press release and about more than 40% issue or make use of press releases, about 5 to 10 press releases a year. We'll be doing that survey again next year.
00:36:22:03 - 00:36:35:14
Pragya
And I would bet, and I would be really curious to know what that number is like next year. And I'm sure that number will be at least three times more than what it was two years ago.
00:36:35:16 - 00:37:00:19
Jason
Yeah. I mean, the press release that we all thought was on life support and losing, you know, credibility year after year is suddenly, you know, the new sexy PR tool that everybody's talking about again and getting excited about. And, you know, now's a good time, I think, to be in the commercial newswire syndication service where, you know, before you start wondering if that's a long term play or not.
00:37:00:19 - 00:37:13:14
Jason
And, so I appreciate everything you shared with our, audience today. I think this was, an interesting take. I'll just close by ask you, how did you get into this line of work?
00:37:13:17 - 00:37:38:01
Pragya
Okay. It was, really, it was. No. No big story there. I got into it, really? After my, post-grad, I did MBA in marketing, and, Sorry. At that time, I was in India, and, one of the largest PR agencies was just, a campus recruiter. And I got that job through that.
00:37:38:03 - 00:37:47:06
Jason
I see. And then where you just naturally, interested and, inclined towards, you know, data and analytics.
00:37:47:08 - 00:38:12:08
Pragya
Yeah. I my, my master's is in physics, so I am very, you know, data oriented logic, logical thinking. But actually, when I first started PR, I did not like this space. I felt, oh, this is not my. It's like using my educational background or it's a lot of it was just about because, you know, as an intern or as a starting in theory 20,
00:38:12:08 - 00:38:17:02
Pragya
you're doing all the basic work and you come with all these ideas and then you start working.
00:38:17:02 - 00:38:20:07
Pragya
You'll be doing this most important work in the world
00:38:20:07 - 00:38:23:07
Pragya
kind of experiences.
00:38:23:10 - 00:38:53:08
Pragya
But I had some really good mentors and I, they gave me some really good advice. And one of the advice I got was, if you're not liking it, that's fine, you can leave and look something else. But now that you're here, now that you're working in PR agency, learn everything that PR world can teach you before you go on and take that with you as your take away, before you move on to any other work or any other, company or industry.
00:38:53:11 - 00:39:15:00
Pragya
That was such a great advice, and thank God I took that advice because that changed my perspective. And I actually, the more I got into it, with all the sincerity and honesty, I dove into it. And I loved PR, and everything that it brought. And I never left the industry in the space.
00:39:15:03 - 00:39:32:22
Jason
That's great. Well, thanks for sharing that. Thank you for being an excellent guest and sharing some of your insights with our audience today. And, with that, this is wraps up another episode of On Top of PR. I hope you enjoyed this episode as we explored some topics that I think will be interesting and helpful to you and your team.
00:39:32:24 - 00:39:42:21
Jason
Speaking of your team, if you think this episode was valuable, please take a moment to share it with them or other colleagues that you think would benefit from our topic today. And with that, this is Jason Mudd thanking you for tuning in and thanking you for giving us the opportunity to help you stay on top of PR, be well.
00:39:42:21 - 00:40:38:11
Announcer
This has been On Top of PR with Jason Mudd presented by ReviewMaxer. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss an episode and check out past episodes at ontopofpr.com.
 |
|
Topics: news release, measurement, On Top of PR, artificial intelligence
Comment on This Article