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In this episode, Mark Basch joins host Jason Mudd to discuss the common media mistakes publicly traded companies make.

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Meet our guest:

Our episode guest is Mark Basch, a seasoned business journalist with decades of experience covering publicly traded companies. He provides insights on economics, business trends, manufacturing, real estate, and unemployment, drawing from data releases and press statements.

Five things you’ll learn from this episode:

1. Consequences of companies mishandling bad news

2. Best practices for publicly traded companies to work effectively with journalists

3. Why preparation and anticipation are key to effective media interactions

4. Why understanding media evolution is critical for PR

5. The difference between embargoes and advance news, and how to use them strategically

Quotables

“When something is happening, it's a good idea to preemptively get together with the key people and have a response ready because one of the things that could happen in today's world is the story is going to be posted online and nobody is ready to respond.” — Mark Basch

“Clever is great, but it better be accurate.” — Mark Basch

“The headline … is designed to get you to read the story but also should tell you what the story is.” — Mark Basch

“If you want to make this newsworthy, if you want to get media coverage about your company, its success and its growth, we've got to have credible indicators of how quickly you are growing.” — Jason Mudd

“Always prepare, always assume the worst, and have proper preparations.” — Jason Mudd

“Have a plan, but have a plan in case the plan fails of what you're going to do secondarily.” — 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.

More about Mark Basch

Mark Basch is a seasoned business journalist who’s covered publicly traded companies for decades. His reporting focuses on economics, business trends, manufacturing, real estate, and unemployment, drawing regularly from data releases and press statements.

Guest’s contact info and resources:

Mark Basch on LinkedIn

Additional resources:

The best and worst media relations efforts from public relations professionals

How to speak with clarity and authority during a crisis

11 crisis management tactics to avoid or prepare for a PR disaster

The 4 R’s of media relat

Support the show

• On Top of PR is produced by Axia Public Relations, named by Forbes as one of America’s Best PR Agencies. Axia is an expert PR firm for national brands.
• On Top of PR is sponsored by ReviewMaxer, the platform for monitoring, improving, and promoting online customer reviews.

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Our Guest:

Our episode guest is Amy Dunham, chief communications officer at Habitat for Humanity International. Overseeing the organization’s global brand, marketing, and communications strategy, she helps reach audiences across all 50 U.S. states and more than 70 countries. Amy is a seasoned communications leader passionate about using market insights to shape strategy and strengthen engagement worldwide.

Five things you’ll learn from this episode:

1. How to leverage market insights to shape and guide PR strategy

2. The balance of art, science, and passion in effective strategic planning

3. Practical ways communicators can advocate for audiences at the strategy table

4. How messaging and strategy must stay in lockstep to maintain credibility and consistency across audiences

5. How brand perception gaps create opportunities for stronger audience engagement

Quotables

“The human brain always absorbs things best in threes. And communications know if you’ve got 15 priorities, you have no priorities. When setting priorities, it has to be a clear way to say yes and to say no. If it doesn’t give you the ability to say no, then it’s not really helping you set a strategy.” — Amy Dunham

“You can't have good communication or public relations strategy without messaging. They're in lockstep together.” — @JasonMudd9

“To really stand out in PR, whatever you're doing, is to make sure you're saying things that are provocative, contrary, and have a unique point of view from what everybody else is saying because otherwise, you're just going to blend in and not stand out.” — @JasonMudd9

“It's not a conversation about ‘I know better’ versus ‘you know better.’ It's much more about ‘Here's what the data indicates, and now here's the flexibility to be able to use it in the way that works best in your market.’” — Amy Dunham

“It's really through the lens of ‘How can I add value in a way to enable their work?’ rather than to direct how things should get done.” — Amy Dunham

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.

About Amy Dunham

Amy leads Habitat for Humanity’s brand, marketing campaigns, and communications efforts across its global footprint in all 50 U.S. states and in more than 70 countries. Before joining Habitat in 2022, she held brand and communications roles at the NCAA, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and US Airways.

Guest’s contact info and resources:

Amy (Kudwa) Dunham on LinkedIn

Habitat for Humanity website

Fact Fullness by Hans Rosling

Crucial Conversations

Additional Resources:

Support the show

• On Top of PR is produced by Axia Public Relations, named by Forbes as one of America’s Best PR Agencies. Axia is an expert PR firm for national brands.
• On Top of PR is sponsored by ReviewMaxer, the platform for monitoring, improving, and promoting online customer reviews.

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In this solocast episode, On Top of PR host Jason Mudd discusses why 96% of AI citations come from PR content and how brands can lead with media relations in the age of AI.

Tune in to learn more!

Five things you’ll learn from this episode:

1. Why 96% of AI citations come from PR-driven content

2. The six types of content AI trusts most for brand visibility

3. How earned media, thought leadership, news coverage, and press releases shape AI search results

4. Why reviews, social media, and web content boost generative discovery

5. Seven steps to ensure your brand and not your competitors gets cited

Quotables

“PR has become the front door to artificial-intelligence-powered discovery.” — @JasonMudd9

“PR isn't just part of the marketing mix anymore. It's the backbone of your visibility in 2025, the age of AI.” — @JasonMudd9

“AI is shaping first impressions of your brand, and PR determines what AI learns and repeats back to them.” — @JasonMudd9

“When you combine earned PR content with the supporting signals, you're feeding AI the content it needs to cite your organization.” — @JasonMudd9

“You must feed AI platforms the content they crave that's credible, quotable, and consistent.” — @JasonMudd9

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.

About Jason Mudd, Axia Public Relations

Jason Mudd is a trusted adviser and dynamic strategist for some of America’s most admired brands. Since 1994, he’s worked with brands including American Airlines, Budweiser, Dave & Buster’s, H&R Block, Hilton, HP, Miller Lite, New York Life, Pizza Hut, Southern Comfort, and Verizon.

Jason founded Axia Public Relations in 2002. Forbes named Axia one of America’s Best PR Agencies. At Axia, Jason oversees strategic communications for national clients and leads top PR talent. Clients love his passion, innovation, candor, commitment, and award-winning team. He consults with leadership teams at billion-dollar global business-to-business and business-to-consumer brands, advising them on spokesperson training, crisis communications, analytics, social media, online reputation management, and more.

In an increasingly tech-forward world, Jason’s grasp of the technological demands companies face helps his multiple-sector clients reach their target audiences. After teaching himself HTML in 1994, Jason helped pioneer internet marketing strategies as an early adopter of e-commerce, search engine optimization, and social media, inspiring tech giants like Yahoo. He speaks to corporations and industry groups and writes about PR trends and best practices for American City Business Journals and other national outlets.

Contact info and resources:

Axia AI Visibility

Support the show

• On Top of PR is produced by Axia Public Relations, named by Forbes as one of America’s Best PR Agencies. Axia is an expert PR firm for national brands.
• On Top of PR is sponsored by ReviewMaxer, the platform for monitoring, improving, and promoting online customer reviews.