The Public Relations Blog

In this episode, Brett Farmiloe joins host Jason Mudd to discuss the comeback of HARO and smarter PR pitching.

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Your company doesn’t always have big announcements, but you still need attention in top-tier publications. A strong PR strategy doesn’t rely solely on launches or major milestones. Consistent earned media and strategic media relations protect and grow your brand’s authority, credibility, and visibility.

When you don’t have big news to share, manufacture timeliness, refine your pitch structure and voice, use credible data, and follow up thoughtfully to secure media coverage.

Years ago, our firm represented a logistics company whose CEO was featured in a local newspaper’s business section. The coverage wasn’t national, and it wasn’t promotional. It was a short piece highlighting the company’s growth and its leader’s role in the regional economy.

A few days after the article ran, another CEO from the same metro area called the logistics company. He explained that he’d been looking for a new partner and recognized the name from the story. That introduction, created by a single earned media placement, led to a business relationship worth more than $1 million annually.

The PESO model — paid, earned, shared, and owned media — remains one of the most widely recognized frameworks in integrated communication. Over time, some academics have introduced an alternative ordering: SOEP (shared, owned, earned, paid). This is not a replacement for PESO, nor a new industry standard. It’s a reflection of how some practitioners and researchers interpret the evolving priorities inside organizations.

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.

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If you work in corporate marketing, you’ve likely received an email that looks like an exclusive media opportunity. It promises national TV exposure, professional production, and access to millions of viewers. The catch: there’s a hefty fee.

In this episode, Keller Maloney joins host Jason Mudd to discuss why PR drives AI recommendations and how earned media and brand trust shape how AI models talk about brands.

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It happens all the time. A company lands a feature story in The Wall Street Journal, and everyone celebrates: “Look at this result!”

But here’s the truth: That coverage isn’t a result. It’s an output.

Understanding this distinction is one of the biggest mindset shifts a company can make about public relations. It changes how you define success, how you invest in PR, and how you align communications with business growth.

AI-generated answers rely heavily on trusted sources. Muck Rack’s "What Is AI Reading?" study shows that more than 89% of links that leading AI systems cite come from earned media, and 27% of all citations come specifically from journalistic content.

Many readers assume these two categories are interchangeable. They aren’t.

This post explains the difference so PR and communications leaders can understand how each one supports AI visibility.

Strengthen your digital presence through smart earned media and boost recognition with SEO for PR in algorithm and AI-driven search results.