In partnership with
Keep up with marketing in 5 minutes
TLDR Marketing is the free daily email with summaries of the most interesting stories in growth, martech, and digital marketing. The tactics worth stealing, minus the digging through LinkedIn.
Every issue is curated by subject-matter experts and lands in your inbox before your morning coffee. A 5-minute read, and you walk into the day already knowing what your competitors are still figuring out.
We cover the channels that move your numbers: paid, SEO, email, social, and ecommerce. Whether you work in B2B or B2C, in-house or agency-side, pick the stories that match your work.
Free, daily, and read by 330K+ marketers. Subscribe for free and let someone else do the digging.
What's in store for this edition:
Misunderstandings of PR
The Biggest Myths About Public Relations
Throughout my career, I’ve heard some wild ideas and plenty of misconceptions about public relations. When a field is so often misunderstood, it’s hard to clearly explain its benefits. So, I asked my LinkedIn PR pros to chime in on the most common misunderstanding people have about public relations.
I have to say, the response was overwhelming—36 different comments, to be exact. There are some very talented PR friends out there, and I hope their insights help clear things up and help you understand why PR might not be what you think it is. So, thank you to my LinkedIn PR friends for your comments.
Misunderstandings About How PR Works
That we can “just get you into Forbes” on day one!
Natalie Trice, Founder of NTP
That it’s easy work and that results happen quickly. Or that that’s the norm instead of the exception.
Blair Huddy, Principal Founder of Hudson Davis
That it’s not easy
That it takes time and patience
That you don’t necessarily know where your product / service / brand belongs so trust your PR person.
That PR people are bit miracle workers.
Alexandra Thomas, Founder @Room PR
That you can request where you want to be featured 🙊
Kerri Watt, Freelance Journalist
The simple truth is PR takes time. You can’t just magically appear in any publication you want, and you can’t request questions ahead of time. Nor can you ask journalist to changes what they wrote or change the headline because you didn’t like it.
Misunderstandings About What’s Involved
The popular perception is that public relations is about publicity when it actually is deeply rooted in management to ensure the organization’s reputation and acceptance in society.
Les Goldberg, APR
That it is just media relations. While media relations is one aspect, public relations is an entire discipline ranging from internal and external communications to public affairs and content marketing.
Kelli West, Senior Manager @ The Chickasaw Nation
One big misunderstanding is that volume of coverage alone is an accurate measure of success.
Quality and relevancy naturally come into it and are important, but the 'so what?' is often asked by brands and PR as a channel needs to understand how to show wider impact for the coverage they're securing.
Mark McMeekin, Fractional Head of Digital PR
A major misconception people have is that public relations amounts to writing and distributing press releases. In reality, that’s a tiny fraction of what try PR professionals do and it’s not what lands earned media. Much of what we do involves crafting newsworthy angles, understanding reporters’ beats and the news cover, and staying current with trends and recognizing how to leverage them or position our clients as a trendsetter
Hilary Reiter Azzaretti, PR founder, Redhead Marketing & PR
The simple truth is there is nothing simple about PR. It takes consistency and can cover a whole wide range of different disciplines. It’s more than just meeting people and shaking hands. It’s a lot of smart work.
Misunderstandings About “Spin”, Relationships, and Newsworthiness
I also feel that there can be too much emphasis on the relationships you have with journalists. For example, if a brand asks "who do you know at X publication?"
Story timeliness, relevancy, and newsworthiness will always be more important than any existing relationships a PR specialist might have with a journalist.
Collin Czarnecki, Founder at NOBLE
Some things aren't newsworthy.
Relationships don't guarantee coverage.
Michael Shelling
One of the biggest misunderstandings is that PR can create a story where there really isn’t one.
Sarra Selatnia
PR people just lie for a company.
Meredith Hoenes, Adjunct Professor at University of Missouri-Columbia
I think the next biggest misunderstanding is what success in PR looks like. I've seen some clients and agencies expecting 5 media placements a month or coverage with multiple top media outlets.
PR isn't one-size-fits-all. Some clients have stronger stories, offer better insights or have more authority. Also, not every PR win needs to be with a tier 1 media outlet. A lot of trade media outlets reach direct audiences, generate great AI visibility and build credibility, which can lead to tier 1 coverage.
Cwamne Howard, Freelance PR Specialist
Simple truth is you don’t need to have connections to get coverage. What you need is a good story, told at the right time to the right person. It’s our job to help you know whether or not there’s a good story or if it’s newsworthy. We don’t twist facts or lie– that’s not PR, that’s “spin.” Oh, and sometimes the best PR wins come from smaller media outlets like trade publications, specialty newsletters, or podcasts.
“Advertising is what you pay for, publicity is what you pray for.”
Term to Learn
Brand Activation is where a brand encourages consumers to take an active role in the created experience. You’re inviting to connect in a meaningful and tangible way. We’re talking pop-up shops, demos, samples and meetups. What’s your favorite Brand Activation as of late? (See the Global Taco Day section for a recent example.)
FAQ
Q: Can I do PR myself?
A: You certainly can, but as you see, it might not be what you think it is. However, I encourage every brand to take an active interest in their reputation and name.
If you don’t think you have the time, skills, or mindset to do PR yourself and you need a little help, reach out and I’m willing to give some helpful guidance.
Get PR techniques from recent news.
Newsworthy
Global Taco Day Grand Collab with Taco Bell and Duolingo 🌮
How often do you see "National [insert product here] Day.” These micro-holidays, or social media days, are great ways to get media attention and increase your business.
Can you find one that you can use? Here’s a 2027 Social Media Holidays list to help you plan.
Are you a local taco shop? Why not arrange in advance bringing tacos to local radio station? Or ask if one of the reporters would like to come make tacos with you.
For National Lollipop Day, we made huge lollipops featuring the morning show’s name in large, custom lettering. That landed us a spot on the news for that morning with invites to return again for more guest appearances. Can you make [insert city’s name] largest taco?
Essential strategy:
Plan well in advance.
Pitch to the right reporter.
Create a press release and release it in time to build anticipation.
Produce good content.
Get creative and make it visually interesting, unique, and fun.
💫 Pro Tip: Reporters will love you even more if you share content such as you high-quality images, videos, graphics, hashtags, product descriptions and links to your owned media. You can provide these materials to them directly or make them available on your website’s newsroom.
Not always do your efforts land a spot, but even if you don’t get press, it makes for good social media content and adds for a bit of levity.
I personally love a good collaboration. This year, Taco Bell and Duolingo are collaborating for Taco Day, and they’ve pulled out all the stops. It revolves around the fact that the word ‘taco’ basically sounds the same in a whole bunch of languages. (I can indeed confirm in Chinese it is pronounced tǎkǒu 塔口.)
The Bell and the Lingo are taking National Taco Day global on 6 October 2026, with campaigns ready for the UK, US, Canada, Australia, China, India and Spain.
And for my lovely UK readers, you can get free tacos and sauce! (So stop reading and go get a taco.)
Everywhere else the campaign includes limited-edition plushies, Super Duolingo trials and local activations around the world.
How happy are you that Taco Day falls on a Tuesday? 🌮🤌
✍️ Key PR Takeaway: Use micro-holidays in your PR promotions, product development, and social media plans. Planning in advance, pitching to the right reporter, and making sure your campaign is visually interesting are important for getting results. And if you can, do a collaboration for further reach and twice the fun!
Useful PR Resources.
🧰 TOOLKIT
Tusk Central AI
A tool that gives you free, unlimited access to over 30 AI tools all in one space is Tusk Central AI.
If you’re tired of managing subscriptions and logins but really like comparing multiple models, try using Tusk Central AI.
It has all the latest models in one spot, and currently 17 AI models are free and unlimited. There are some deep-thinking models and image creation tools that use credits, but there are free credits to use every month.
I like free, don’t you?
Merry Taco Day to you! Or should I say happy taco day? Can I just add that I’m obsessed with Duolingo’s PR team? They’re everywhere.
Until next week, keep your shades on and stay cool.
Your fellow Seeker,
Keren
🕶️
