Most PR teams have faced this problem. You have a smart client, they know their audience, they want to target that audience directly and rightly so, but the trades just aren't biting at the moment, distracted by other things. What do you do?

In this episode, Amanda Proscia from Lightspeed PR explains how her team broke that deadlock and turned a niche brief into hundreds of national and global placements by identifying one news hook, reshaping the pitch for consumer press, and keeping political noise out of the story.

If you have ever struggled to scale coverage for a niche client or tried to convince leadership to trust a wider media approach, this will feel very familiar and immediately useful.

Takeaways

Why this B2B client resist wider visibility rightly and also why they should look beyond that too.

The hook and how it unlocks national press

How to build fresh angles once the obvious one is gone

Keeping subject matter experts out of political traps

The new shift toward micro and nano influencers

GUEST

AMANDA PROSCIA - lightspeedpr.com

LOCATION: New Jersey,USA

Web: lightspeedpr.com

NEW TO PR?- Check out the new podcast 'Getting A Job In PR' - https://gettingajobinpr.com

SUBSCRIBE- Video and Audio links here - https://thepublicrelationspodcast.com/listen/

Or search for "The Public Relations Podcast" on all good podcast apps

CONNECT WITH ME

- LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-midson/

- Website https://thepublicrelationspodcast.com/

- 'Getting A Job In PR' - https://gettingajobinpr.com

FUTURE GUESTS-

Check out: https://thepublicrelationspodcast.com/be-a-guest/

PR is changing, and you can see it in the news stories.

Cut through the staggering amount of noise in the marketing and PR space and you start to spot a few items that show a genuine shift in the way things are happening. Things that will impact PR and strategic communications in the future.

I read a lot of newsletters, and as I say, there is a lot of noise.

But I picked out four stories that seem at first glance to be nothing special until you look into them. I explain why they matter for how PR and communications.

I look at:

- What the erosion in trust in traditional media means, according to Reuters, and why it is more nuanced than it first appears.

- How tool makers are using AI to analyse whether campaigns will work, and more importantly, whether you can do something similar for free on your own computer.

- The quiet return of experiential PR as an answer to digital and AI fatigue and slop. Will this continue to grow?

and

- Why one podcast industry newsletter shows that, without getting the product right, no amount of marketing will work.

I also talk briefly about a new research project I am working on.

This episode is an experiment. I wanted to try looking at a small number of news stories that genuinely stood out from the noise. As usual, I will look at the data, and if people find this episode useful, I will do more like it. If not, enjoy this one off.

NOTE: This was recorded in late October 2025

AI is already inside the tools you use. Waiting it out is no longer an option.

In this episode, I speak with Karen Sutherland, author of Artificial Intelligence for Strategic Communication, who, at the time of the recording, was fresh from a Marketing AI Conference in the US.

We cut through the noise and talk about how PR and comms teams are actually using AI day to day, what works, what breaks, and where people are getting it wrong.

This is not about replacing people or chasing shiny tools. It is about saving time on the work you hate, protecting quality, and building skills your team will still need in five years.

If you run an agency or work in-house and feel stuck between curiosity and fear around AI, this episode gives you a clear place to start.

We cover

• Why AI agents change how work gets done, not just how fast

• The real risk for junior staff and how to avoid hollow skills

• How teams are using custom GPTs to speed up reporting without sounding generic

• A simple framework for integrating AI safely and sensibly into comms work

• Map your tasks before touching tools. Start with repetitive work that drains time, not creative judgment.

• Use AI as a first draft assistant, then edit like a professional. Quality control becomes a real job, not an afterthought.

• Train AI on your own writing and reports so outputs sound like you, not the internet.

• Regularly check whether AI is saving time and protecting standards, not just pushing content out faster.

DescriptionPractical takeaways
GUEST
Karen Sutherland - Senior Lecturer, Public Relations, University of the Sunshine Coast
LOCATION: Sunshine Coast, Australia
Book: Artificial Intelligence for Strategic Communication by Karen E. Sutherland
NEW TO PR?
- Check out the new podcast 'Getting A Job In PR' - https://gettingajobinpr.com
SUBSCRIBE
- Video and Audio links here - https://thepublicrelationspodcast.com/listen/
Or search for "The Public Relations Podcast" on all good podcast apps
CONNECT WITH ME
- LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-midson/
- Website and newsletter - https://thepublicrelationspodcast.com/
- 'Getting A Job In PR' - https://gettingajobinpr.com
FUTURE GUESTS
- Check out: https://thepublicrelationspodcast.com/one-sheet/