#27: "Many traditional agency practices are becoming obsolete"
On progress and perspective with Emilie Gerber
I asked ChatGPT the three biggest mistakes marketers and communicators make when using AI. Here’s what it told me:
The biggest mistake marketers and communicators make with ChatGPT is using it unethically by spreading false or misleading information, not being transparent about its use, and failing to moderate and customize responses.
Unfortunately, these mistakes eerily line up with what I believe are the three top mistakes PR agencies make.
Most agencies prioritize closing contracts over craft. Instead of pursuing truth, they take products at face value; they then rely on disinterested teams to do the emotional work of advocating for a product or person they don’t personally care about.
Then, they obfuscate the product and work they actually do. And then, many cut and paste tactics, pitches, ideas and more client-to-client. And, it certainly doesn’t help that I believe that most of the people within this profession don’t actually enjoy it — the why and the how is something for another newsletter.
The industry absolutely has to change, and one of the voices I see and read being an agent of that change is today’s guest, Emilie Gerber. She cowrites a great newsletter called On Background, which you should absolutely subscribe to if you haven’t already.
She was also most recently onstage at Money 20/20, on a panel all about comms and PR — keep reading below the fold to learn how she scored that!
One of the remarkable things she explores is how new technology and ways of working can help us embrace the humanity of what we do. And after all, isn’t that what the heart of communications is?
To listen, learn and improve is what our profession is actually about.
Happy learning!
You’re fresh off Money 20/20, where you held a panel on PR and financial comms. What made you and the other panelists decide to create a comms-focused panel?
I’d been pitching Zach Anderson Pettet, the Content Director for Money 20/20, on various clients for over a year. In my first DM to him on LinkedIn, I even called him the wrong name, but I managed to recover from that faux pas. It all comes down to acting like a human (which is convenient, since I am one) rather than a pitch-sending robot. I kept sending him friendly notes and updates, and eventually, it paid off. He agreed to get on a call with me to learn more about my clients. Knowing that Money 20/20 received thousands of submissions this year and only selected a small percentage—something I even tweeted about—I suggested to Zach that he should consider a panel on getting accepted into Money 20/20.
To my surprise, the content team had already planned to transform the last day of the conference into a day tailored for marketing and comms professionals. This was a brilliant move since attendance typically dips on the final day, and it's an opportunity to engage a new audience already present at the event. Zach decided to gather some of his favorite comms people for one panel. It turned into a wonderful group of women I spent a lot of time with at the conference. We really bonded—we have a great text thread going and are planning more for the future.
What were the key takeaways from the panel? Any surprises, interesting questions, or hot takes that really stood out to you?
The panel had an interesting dynamic, with two in-house executives and two agency leaders. We have a lot of common ground but also brought different perspectives. We each navigate unique challenges in our careers and offer different insights into the comms profession.
Here’s one example: Kelly Soderlund, the head of comms at Navan, discussed why she doesn’t use an agency, rightfully citing a broken model. This criticism is valid; many agencies haven’t evolved and aren't structured to serve their clients' best interests. She also underscored the importance of media relationships—something that can be lacking in agencies that are overly focused on mass pitching or doing what they’re told.
I think about relationships in a very different way and don’t consider them the end all, be all. When doing early-stage PR, it takes a "fake it till you make it" mentality. Be friendly, human, send helpful notes or send quick DMs, and you're more likely to break through over time (just like I did with Zach!), whether you're with an agency or in-house. I also believe that most of the stories we secure for clients don't come from existing relationships, since our industry changes rapidly. I advocate for deep research to identify the exact right reporters for a story and getting creative with outreach. It's different in-house; you might work with a consistent set of beat or trade reporters for a while.
What did you wish you could have gone into but didn’t have time to cover?
We briefly touched on AI in PR, but it’s a topic I could delve into for hours. I'm less interested in theoretical discussions about the future of the industry or ethical considerations—though these are crucial topics well-explored by others. I'm more excited about the tangible, specific applications that can enhance our work today.
I am obsessed with showing others how I use ChatGPT daily to do my job better—whether it’s fitting a piece to the right word count, transforming an article into a Q&A, brainstorming bold op-ed ideas, or crafting reactive commentary.
PR professionals who resist incorporating AI into their workflow are already trailing behind those who do, which is going to be a problem. They’re going to fall behind in their careers. The efficiency and improvement AI has brought to my job is tremendous, and I can pass these benefits on to my clients. I’m excited to lead a panel solely on this subject, though no one has asked me to yet!
I’m a big fan of your newsletter, On Background. What’s your process for writing that, and what have you learned since starting it?
On Background takes a hands-on, tactical approach to PR rather than just offering thought pieces. It's based on the idea that regardless of your career stage, you need to stay informed about the latest in the field—you still need to deliver actual press opportunities. While it happens all too often, climbing the career ladder in comms shouldn't detach you from the industry's pulse.
I co-write the newsletter with Tanya Hayre Gillogley, formerly the Head of PR at Better. We alternate issues, so we each write it only once a month. When it’s my turn, at my PR agency we have a great system for gathering information for the newsletter. Whenever anyone on the team shares a media opportunity, award, conference, or media move on Slack, we tag it with #onbackground.
This allows me to easily collect relevant items from the past two weeks. Then I look for overarching themes or significant events from the week to add structure to that edition. Being in the right mindset is crucial when I draft it—I need to be inspired and in a good mood to do my best work. Sometimes that means having a glass of wine, a margarita, or Seinfeld playing in the background. The best editions are the ones where I can be whimsical and pack in the odd jokes.
What did you wish I asked you?
I love discussing my operational aspects of my "day job" at Six Eastern, which involves running a 6 (soon to be 8) person PR agency. I believe our team and model make us uniquely successful with early-stage startups. We nix the traditional, time-consuming agency tasks—daily news reports, coverage tracking, share of voice reports, planning documents, messaging projects, meaningless metrics, and even media lists. So much stuff that has nothing to do with outcomes!
And yes, that's right—we don't do media lists. Attendees at Money 20/20 were shocked to hear this. Instead, we keep a running document for each client that includes the custom pitch and the reporter(s) it was sent to. This eliminates mass pitching, which only makes sense about 5% of the time. We prioritize exclusives, persistently pursuing them until successful.
Overall many traditional agency practices are becoming obsolete. With tools like Slack, we prefer spending a couple of minutes to float a quick idea to a client rather than waste hours researching and crafting a polished pitch, something I did a lot at the start of my career. With AI, we prefer to give them a rough draft of an op-ed rather than running a vague idea by the client. With newsletters and podcasts, we approach pitching in an entirely new way. The world has changed and it’s on us to keep up!