The Reason Your PR Is Not Working
You hired someone. Or you tried to do it yourself.
You sent pitches. Maybe you even secured a media placement or two.
But nothing stuck.
No momentum.
No flood of ideal clients.
Just a lot of effort with not much to show for it.
The problem is almost never the PR
Here is what I have learned after thirty years of doing this work.
The problem is almost never the PR.
It is what came before it.
What is your superpower?
Before a single pitch goes out, before a media list gets built, before you decide which podcasts are worth your time, you need to know one thing with complete clarity.
What is your superpower?
Not your services.
Not your credentials.
The thing that is so distinctly yours that no competitor can claim it, no matter how hard they try.
When I ask that question, most people pause.
That pause tells me everything.
I hear a person's real story before they do most of the time.
It lives just beneath the surface. In the way they talk about why they started. In the frustration they feel when they see people being underserved. In the thing they do differently that they have never quite given themselves permission to lead with.
That is the story.
That is the strategy.
Everything else builds from there.
A placement amplifies your positioning. It does not create it.
Because here is what most people get wrong about PR.
A media placement does not create your positioning.
It amplifies it.
Which means if your story is muddy or missing, you are not building visibility.
You are broadcasting confusion.
Strategy comes before the pitch
Strategy is not a list of outlets you want to be featured in.
Strategy is knowing exactly what you stand for, who you serve, and why you are the only person who can tell that story the way you tell it.
When you get that right, PR stops feeling like a gamble and starts feeling inevitable.
Before the pitch comes the point of difference.
Get clear on your superpower.
Build your strategy around it.
Then let PR amplify what is already true.
If visibility is your goal, read Why Visibility Alone Is Not Enough, because positioning and credibility work together.
FAQ
Why isn't my PR working? Usually the issue is not the PR itself. It is unclear positioning underneath it. PR amplifies your story, so if the story is muddy or missing, coverage broadcasts confusion instead of building visibility.
What should come before a PR campaign? Clarity on your point of difference, what I call your superpower. Know what you stand for, who you serve, and why you are the only person who can tell that story the way you tell it. Everything in the campaign builds from there.
Does media coverage create positioning? No. A placement amplifies positioning that already exists. It cannot manufacture it. That is why two people can get the same coverage and only one of them sees results.
