The Colab

If everything is a priority, PR turns into noise. Noise doesn’t build trust... it erodes it. We see this constantly: brands mistake activity for strategy. Every initiative is framed as “big.” Every update is “urgent.” Every executive wants their moment in the spotlight. The outcome isn’t momentum; it’s dilution. Here's what happens: 👉 Messages compete instead of compound 👉 Journalists tune out instead of leaning in 👉 Audiences can’t tell what you actually stand for 👉 Internally, teams lose alignment on what matters most PR only works when repetition is intentional and when the same few truths are reinforced clearly, consistently, and from the right voices until they earn belief. If you haven’t pressure-tested what truly deserves airtime this quarter, your audience already has, and they’ve moved on. This is the work most teams avoid, but it’s also where real credibility is built.

Every January, brands dust off the same bloated media lists with hundreds of names and dozens of outlets... yet zero strategy. It looks productive, but it rarely is, and here's why: more media doesn’t mean more impact. It usually means less relevance, weaker stories, and burned relationships. At The Colab, we take a different approach to focus on: • Fewer journalists with a deeper understanding of our clients' niches. • Relevance over reach, as one right placement in the right publication can outperform 20 forgettable mentions. • Relationships over databases because media trust is built through precision, consistency, and respect, not mass emails. That means that companies should stop measuring success by send volume and start measuring it by influence, credibility, and pull-through. If you’re still leading with media lists instead of media strategy, it might be time to rethink how your story shows up in the world. This is exactly the work we do with our clients.

Most crisis plans get written mid-crisis. By then, it’s already too late. There are a lot of smart companies with strong brands and great teams... yet zero shared understanding of who decides, who speaks, and what matters most when something goes wrong. That’s not a crisis problem. That’s a planning problem. Effective crisis work happens before anything breaks: → Clear decision-making authority → Agreed principles for how the company shows up under pressure → Scenarios mapped, not scripts memorized That way when a crisis hits, you're ready for it. The best time to do crisis planning is when you don’t need it yet. And that's the benefit of working with a PR company that you can trust.

If your company doesn’t show up in earned media, it likely won’t show up in AI either 😬 LLMs rely on public, third-party signals to assess authority and relevance. Earned media provides exactly that: 1. Independent validation 2. Repeated association between your brand and specific topics 3. Clear context for what you’re known for If those signals don’t exist, AI has no reliable source material to reference, and a strong website or good product doesn’t solve that problem on its own. What does that mean? – Brands with consistent, high-quality earned media are cited as experts – Brands without it are absent, even if they’re leaders in their space This isn’t about chasing coverage for visibility’s sake. It’s about building a verifiable public record of expertise. If you’re not investing in earned media, you’re not just invisible to press; you’re invisible to the systems people increasingly rely on for answers. Are you willing to make that sacrifice?

PR isn’t a sales channel, and treating it like one is the quickest way to lose interest. When PR works, it does three things well: 1. It helps people understand a problem better than they did before. 2. It brings clarity to complex concepts. 3. It positions you as a credible voice. The companies that get this right aren’t shy about their expertise, but they’re disciplined about how they use it. Value-led PR doesn’t dilute commercial outcomes. It drives them. Trust compounds, credibility sticks, and when buyers are ready, they already know who they're going to purchase from. PR doesn’t create demand by selling. It creates demand by being useful.

Meet Lizzy Allen, Senior Public Relations Manager at The Colab! 👋 Lizzy has a passion for all things corporate communications. She loves collaborating with and being a true partner to interesting clients who are doing amazing things. As your quintessential cool girl, Lizzy is so incredibly even keeled and calm, which is exactly what every effective PR team needs! Outside of work, you can find her love traveling with her husband Dior, exploring NYC with a latte in-hand, eating her way through the city with friends (message her for recommendations!), and reading on her Kindle. Thank you, Lizzy, for all that you do!

What does authenticity look like in marketing? 👀 The Colab COO Ashley Mann shared her perspective in this EMARKETER article: "I think the best campaigns position the user or customer as the hero and actually don’t focus on the brand itself." Read the full piece here to as she explains how marketing and communications pros can define, recognize, and apply authenticity in their content. https://lnkd.in/eT74db72

The Colab CEO Lizzy Harris was featured in this piece on O'Dwyer's Public Relations News, written by Dustin Siggins of Proven Media Solutions, to share one of the most important relationships in PR: clients. Lizzy said it best: "A strong partnership requires both parties to work toward the same goal. Client relationships deteriorate when one or both parties aren’t aligned, or if either party is working toward a different set of goals." Read the full article here as she shares why client relationships fall apart when PR agencies overpromise in the pitch and underdeliver down the road. https://lnkd.in/euZHEatX

The Colab is ramping things up in 2026 and looking for our next Senior PR Director to support our growth! 🌱 We're looking for someone who thrives in: 📌 Owning multi-client strategy, overseeing account teams, and steering day-to-day to results 📰 Crafting differentiated narratives and pitches that consistently convert 🤝 Growing and leveraging a strong media network across tech, business, and vertical trades 🎙️ Prepping spokespeople for interviews, panels, and podcasts 🥇 Running smart award/speaking strategies from target lists to submissions and wins And so much more. If you know how to lead and work as a team, have agency and B2B tech experience, and want to grow, we'd love to hear from you. Apply here: https://lnkd.in/e4z_EPmy

People don't follow companies. They follow people. Too many companies hide behind the brand name when they pitch earned media or publish contributed content, but if you want PR to actually land, it needs a voice. And that voice needs to be the founder’s. A founder’s voice does three things a brand voice can’t: → It creates trust. → It establishes authority. → It helps people remember. If your earned media isn’t anchored to a person with a real point of view, you’re not doing PR. You’re producing content that's easy to forget. And that’s the most expensive mistake brands keep making.