Top 5 PR Trends for 2025 with Michael Mejer, Chandra Gore and Leah Frazier

In this episode of PR Yourself with Leah Frazier, Leah is joined by PR experts Mike Mejer and Chandra Gore to explore the top PR trends set to shape 2025 and beyond -- particularly for small businesses and entrepreneurs. The discussion delves into the evolving media landscape, the integration of emerging technologies, and innovative storytelling techniques that will define the future of PR in business. Whether you're a PR professional, entrepreneur, or small business owner, this episode offers valuable insights to help you stay ahead in the dynamic world of public relations.

Chapters

• 8:14 Top 5 PR Trends for 2025 Discussion Begins
• 10:00 PR Hot Topic: Beyonce Bowl
• 18:47 Trend #1: More Smaller Businesses Adopting PR Strategies
• 24:29 Trend #2: More Focus on Micro Media Outlets
• 27:54 Trend #3: Continued Diversification of Coverage - Non-Traditional Media Takes Over
• 33:58 Sub-Trend: More Ways to Repurpose Your Earned Media
• 38:51 Trend #4: To Use or Not to Use AI - How to Go About It in 2025
• 49:46 Trend #5: Political Coverage Will Increase: How Are You Adjusting Your PR Strategy for the News Cycle
• 53:54 Sub-Trend: Focus More on Your Storytelling - Outlets Will be Looking for Positive Stories

Transcript

So we are coming to you guys, but we really should be resting, okay? Because we know after January one, y'all are going to wear us out with your needed PR, with whatever you got going on. But we decided to give you another holiday gift And today we're going to talk small business PR top trends that are going to shape twenty twenty five for your businesses. And I have brought two of my favorites who have been on the podcast before. I have Mike Mayer with Green Lane Communication, and he told me you better not put an S at the end of communication. You are my business correctly. And then I have my girl, Chandra Gore. You guys know her based out of the DMV area. She's been on the podcast several times. So thank you guys for hanging out with me a little bit tonight. Thank you for having us. This is already, I think, going to be a good time. We've had a lot of fun in the green room. So I'm excited to see where this conversation goes. So we're going to kick things off. I thought I just kind of want to have a little bit of fun. You know, I think people think publicist can be a little stuffy. Like we're always behind the scenes or whatnot. And I want to do a PR hot topic before we tell people what we think our trends are going to be and what they should be following. And so none other, sorry, Mike, we have to do it. Or my girl Beyonce. We need to talk about it. We need to talk about the table, okay? We just got to talk about it just a little bit. I want to know you guys' PR thoughts. It could just be, I don't need a whole monologue, but just what do you think? There's a lot of hate out there on the internet, but then there's a lot of loves. And I want to start with Chandra. If I don't go with her first, she's done it. Just go ahead. I will say this. The hate that is displayed is for clicks and views. That's it. That's all. It's not real. That was it. Why do you say that? Because saying you dislike Beyonce or her show will get your profile looked at. It will get your account looked at. It will get you trending. It will get you retweeted, whatever, reposted, restitched, all of those things. So... it gave people another boost for content that's it that's all right either way you didn't like it you pr'd yourself for clicks and you know reshares great mike oh man this is embarrassing but I really don't know what it I don't really know the whole scoop and I'm hoping that this happened like maybe a day or two before Christmas or something or. I'll give you that. Okay, cool. I tried to unplug as hard as possible so that I just did not know what was going on. And I could just be, and I could be where my two feet were. So. You know what? I don't even want to lie and be like, oh. Thumbs up, thumbs down. I just have to keep it funky. Well, I would say this. I thought you were watching, so that's why I didn't want to tell y'all ahead of time. But it's okay. You know what? Good for you for being very mindful, very demure, very present. Very demure. Very demure. Very demure. I was tuned in. I don't even watch football. I tuned into Netflix and I have watched it every day since. So it's there if you want to watch it and then send me your way in. But I honestly don't care if you like Beyonce or not. I don't. I really don't because she's going to always get my money. And I'm going to tell you this, even if you don't like Beyonce and you're a business owner, If you just follow her just for marketing strategies, she is queen of the upsell. So before she even did, she is the leading queen of the upsell. We never can trust that this is the last time we're going to see you. When you do something, we're always going to have our money prepared for whatever you're trying to sell us next. So even when she did the Netflix special for halftime on Christmas Day, As soon as it was over on her Twitter and Instagram, she drops a promo that says January fourteenth, twenty twenty five. So we all know you're either going to sell us some tickets to a concert, you're going on tour or maybe the third leg of your whole album compilation, because I think Cowboy Carter was two. So the third one could be coming out. It's one or the other, but either one requires our money. We're ready. That card's ready. So if you did not state her marketing strategy and how she publicizes the crap out of it, she does an entire campaign. That needs to be studied. Harvard Business School. It literally leverages. People are really up at midnight when she posts. Literally within five minutes of her post. Yeah, I know. Me too. I'm not going to sit up. I'm them, okay? I am one of those people. I see the post and I'm like in awe because the strategy is so on point. And I'm like, well, she's a Virgo. I totally get it. But it's right on track. It's right when it needs to happen. And I gotta respect it. Gotta respect it. And what I love about her publicist, Yvette, is that she doesn't really get in there talking. She's not at the forefront. But you can all tell and strategize ahead of time. So even if the hate comes out online, they're very quiet. They let her work speak for itself. And I think that in and of itself, for what we try to tell our clients to do, sometimes shut up. Not everything deserves a response. Let people hate. Let the positive stuff come out. Hey, whatever else. So I think you can do a whole case study on all of this but it's been amazing to watch and I was just going to add to like beyonce marketing machine checking every single box at the same time I also want to make sure we give credit where credit is due to the either the publicist or the entire pr team because I can only imagine we understand the mechanics behind the scenes and so everybody's like oh man that was flawless meanwhile I know at least a half a dozen people were probably sweating bullets behind the scenes making sure that the tweet went up at the right time everything went flawless like I said I didn't even know this this whole thing happened just but just from what I'm gathering from you too I'm like and perhaps to her and especially to the to the team behind the scenes helping to make sure everything just came together the the right way so everybody on that team everybody on that squad Kudos to them. Even the rollout for the PR boxes that went out, literally, it's a short turnaround. And I saw the person who did the boxes that went out to the different people that did the content creators. She had such a short turnaround to where it wasn't enough time to leak the information. They don't even, it was not even enough time to leak it. So it was just like, they knew which vendors to use to make sure that the outcome was successful. But also like those NDAs must be ironclad too. And I love it. Well, it was seventy two hours because I saw there was the designers that had to make forty dresses custom. They showed the pattern making process and they only had seventy two hours to get it done before the halftime show on Christmas Day. That included fittings. So to your point, not enough time to get everything out, but. I agree with you, Mike. Her entire team, that does take an entire team to keep it mum, to keep the buzz going. There's still stuff online about it right now. They're still profiting off of it right now, off that show. So I'm glad you were able. I need that type of mindfulness in my life. I'm not doing this right. How did you do that, though? Did you just turn off your internet? The Wi-Fi is gone or something? I wasn't paying attention to any screens. My phone was on, my phone was on DND. It was on silent. I knew everybody was okay. You know, like immediate family and all that. I was like, you know what? I'm gonna have myself some, just some dessert. I'm gonna enjoy a beautiful cup of coffee, maybe have a drink and just sit and hang and just chill. And I don't wanna look at any screens. I put in the OT beforehand and I was like, I'm gonna reward myself just by completely disconnecting. And that's exactly what I did. I made that promise to myself and I did it. So it definitely doesn't happen all the time. Just to disclaimer, I'm not the best at that. But it was the holidays and it's the week, week and a half, two weeks every single year that I really make a conscious effort to just try to unplug. So I guess I did a good job if I missed that one. You did. I'm so proud of you. I'm doing a little bit of FOMO, but thank you. But when you reconnect, you can get on Netflix and you can check it out. And then you'll be like, oh, we see it now. And then give me up. All right. So that's just a little bit of Beyonce fun. I had to do that with my fellow followers. Yes, yes, yes. But today we're going to talk about trend shaping, twenty, twenty five and beyond getting you all ready for how you want to approach your businesses, your small businesses. and a possible PR strategy. So we've all kind of talked about it behind the scenes, but Mike has a couple, Chandra has a couple, I have my one. So I'm going to kick it off, Mike, with your first trend that you're seeing in PR land, what you got for us? Yeah, so I think, and I'm really excited about this one in particular. I think we're going to see a lot more smaller agile businesses adopting PR strategies and executing on those PR strategies. I think in twenty twenty three in twenty twenty four, this this whole narrative and sentiment started to change and it was that only monster enterprise level companies could afford to do PR or could only execute on PR because of a almost like a bad reputation for the PR space itself. But I think now we're starting to see a lot more smaller startup bootstrapped companies leaning into PR strategies. And even the conversations I've had with folks throughout twenty twenty four, these aren't monster publicly traded companies with flashy VC funds behind them and all this kind of stuff. They want to they want to tap into the power of thought leadership um they want to tap into earned media they want to do collaborations that will have intentional outcomes and cross promotions among audiences they want different social proofs to help power and boost some of their campaign efforts that may be happening in the next quarter or year end they want that added credibility and trust so that when in the next twelve months they start to go out and fundraise there is already ample buzz, trustworthiness, authority, and credibility around their brand name. So I'm excited about it. That's one of my predictions. I think we're going to see a lot more smaller and agile businesses diving into PR and executing on it rather than just those folks thinking that it's not accessible and untouchable and only for the big players out there. What do you think about that, Chandru? I agree because I've seen and I've met with a couple of smaller small businesses who didn't feel they needed PR or they understood what PR could do for their brand. And they looked at like, oh, I'm only seven people here. And I had explained to them that it doesn't matter about the number of people that you do have. It's about. sharing your story and your impact within your community. So I totally agree. People are now realizing that there is a greater need for their business to grow and to actually get the benefits of having a firm to help them guide them, even if they don't retain them, just getting the tools that they need. So I totally agree with that because they're seeing how the market is changing and they're seeing how things business are going. And people want to connect down more than ever to the people behind the brand, the people behind the business. So I totally agree with you on that. It's going to be a resurgence. Hey, Tiffany. And I agree as well. I actually had somebody reach out today who said that they had never considered PR before, but was told in a mastermind that she should do it for twenty twenty five. And so I'm really excited that smaller businesses are taking it seriously. I've always said that when you guys have a budget, even if it's a smaller budget, marketing and PR always last and you spend it on everything else. So I'm excited that these smaller businesses and entrepreneurs are actually going to utilize it as a part of their strategy or that's what we're seeing for twenty twenty five. Now, are we as agencies, firms, freelancers, how are we navigating, I guess, that because that's obviously a different price structure than a firm and an agency. Their needs are just a little bit different than medium to larger size businesses. Oh, I just did this today. I just did that today. I just went over my pricing structure and offerings for those smaller businesses and looking at exactly, because a lot of the smaller businesses have, they want to see something tangible, even though public relations is not a tangible, it's not something that you can hand over, but for help them to understand doing the discovery phase or doing these times where things are not moving the way that they want to. they want them to for them to see and have a metric to measure how it's going like kind of not niching it down enough so they understand this is the work that's being done and this is what the end result will be you just have to be patient because I get it people go viral that is that is a great thing but having the longevity and the foundation to have you know earned media come along yes you can insert some paid media placements not advertisements but actually those paid um Well, it is an ad though, you know what I'm saying? But incorporating those within a budget that makes sense because a lot of small businesses are working with a limited budget, but giving them enough wins for them to see that there's progress being made and making sure I'm pricing it so that I am not feeling overworked and underpaid. So that's, I had to have a really hard conversation with myself. Okay. Right? That was a good one, Mike. That was a good one. Speaking of those smaller niches, Chandra, you had another one. You had a trend that was kind of along that same line. So I found that interesting that you guys kind of were in alignment. What's the second trend? Yeah. So the focusing on the micro media outlets and stuff. I think I was on the PRSA. I was moderating our holiday networking. meeting or whatever, and we were talking about how there are so many newspapers, sub stacks. Sub stacks are going to be the place to go for news and other media placements because I hate to go back to my first point with the new administration, but we'll talk about that later. But how Substack is becoming a go-to resource or go-to placement for those fields or that coverage that you need for those niche markets, but also to kind of go in depth a little bit because it's sometimes behind a paywall or subscribers. So you know how many people are going to be viewing it already. So it's like earning that and getting from there. I think that in the next coming years, that's going to be where the media is going. Because one, it's trustworthy. Two, it's not bought, because it's paid for by people who read it. And then three, they're at liberty to say what they need to say and actually give you the real, the raw, the uncut versions or the truth behind certain projects or individuals or companies and brands. So I do think even college newspapers, you know, are becoming a resource to go to, to get coverage, especially if you're talking about something that will directly affect somebody's, what they're studying in their field of study when they get out of college or when they, you know, if they are going back for a master's or a doctorate, those college newspapers are great, are going to be a resource because I'm sorry to say it, mainstream media is kind of touch and go right now. We have editors that are afraid. Right. What do you think about that? Yeah, I mean, I totally agree. I don't think media is going anywhere. I think we're still going to have... And who knows? They may not be called editors in... two or three years, like Chandra pointed out. We have so many different mediums that I think a lot of the media is just going to kind of pour over from one cup into another. So we may see less broadcast and we may see a greater emphasis on sub stacks and newsletters and things like that. I don't personally feel like I have a crystal ball gut feeling type of thing right now as far as where it's going to be going exactly or where it's going to come from. But I one thousand percent agree that we're going to see different mediums like substacks, newsletters, and just individually powered outlets thrive and really surge in popularity and trust over the next twelve to twenty four months versus where they were just starting to kind of creep up to the surface over the last twelve months. Yeah, I agree, which kind of leads me to my trend where just diversifying your coverage in general. And I think for us on the PR side, we have been advising our clients of these things for years probably within the last decade when we saw influencers on the rise and we saw content creators coming up and and even in this last past election seeing um uh you know the presidential candidates going on podcasts versus you know going on other mediums and so now finally to see publicists and firms and agencies and really the clients because we've known all along yep clients come and they want tv they want oprah they want the view they want in new york times and to now be able to say we've been telling you that podcasts are where it's at you know or some of these non-traditional outlets are where it's at This to me is like a win, win, win. And in twenty twenty five, I just see it getting even better where we can diversify our coverage across all of these mediums, including, like you were saying, sub stacks and newsletters and things of that nature. What I'm seeing here, especially on a local level in Dallas, is that a lot of our news stations are kind of getting with the times and realizing like everybody's streaming now. So they are. really beefing up their streaming platforms and trying to diversify coverage, not just by having a morning show that runs on broadcast TV, but how can we utilize YouTube and streaming and making sure that coverage goes on all day long? And so, again, I think that's another PR win, especially in my lane where I can tell a client like yeah you're going on the morning show at nine a.m but it's gonna stream on the streaming platform all day long at least two three four five more times on blah blah blah tv like I'm so excited about that I can't even like contain myself because I'm like one win now or one hit is actually probably like five points of coverage for us now that some of our broadcast stations are getting with the times and trying to compete with these content creators, these streamers that can get millions and millions and millions and millions of views. Oh, go ahead, Chandra. It's fine. Go ahead. I was just going to add too, especially, and Chandra, this kind of ties into how you were sort of diving into different niches and those micro audiences in a way. I know in my world, in cannabis, a lot of the industry trade publications, what they do is exactly what you just said, Leah. They will whether it's an article, whether it's a video interview that they then turn into a podcast, they then flip up those video file into multiple social posts that they then deploy on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is one of the only cannabis friendly social media networks are more friendly than others like Instagram and Facebook. So it's interesting to see too how some of that is already starting to be deployed in specific industries or specific niches, even though it may look a little bit different. But I think it's really interesting to see how these trends are starting to catch on. And I totally agree. I think in twenty twenty five, we're going to see a lot more not just industry trade niche specific outlets, but definitely seeing more local mainstream broadcast publications and outlets adopting that that process right there. I think that's going to be really cool to see. And I think clients are going to be loving it, too, just like you said, Leah. So I think it's a win all around. It's a win-win. I'm so excited for the one station I can think of because they were already taking our morning show. They put it online. So to me, that's like another hit. And then at YouTube, that's another hit. So now with the streaming network, if it continues to air on streaming, it's like I'm getting my client six points of coverage you know within one interview and I'm like this is amazing so that's my goal is like I want to go after the folks that are diversifying their coverage rather than just being one track minded like let's get you on fox let's get you on no let's get you on the one that is going to show you across six or seven different places and audiences because that's what I'm looking at I look at where the interview is going to go. And I actually say like this one interview is going to put you here, here, here and here. That helps them to understand the client to understand. Listen, it's just not just one interview. You know, it's just not just one thing. And it's kind of was a hard sell before. because this it was people don't understand like they use it they roll it out it's not instantaneous but they do roll it out and use it and sometimes they even go back and clip it if there's something they news jack using a clip from an interview and it aligns with the current story so it's like explaining that to to individuals to clients it's it's it's helped you know just have examples to show like hey this is what this this individual did in your market so this is what happens so up mike I was just gonna I was gonna add real quick too um and this gets me fired up too I'm just so excited um but the cool thing is that now like our clients and these businesses they now have multiple forms of content to now take and put that earned media coverage to work because I always say it's okay great you've secured the coverage it's live but now what are you going to do on your end to actually really put it to work and get even greater ROI out of it. And Chandra, just how you broke it down. There's so many different mediums now, different formats and all of that that can come out of one interview. It just, it gives them so much more value too, because now they can do so many more different things with that one block of time, whether it's fifteen minutes, thirty minutes that they invested into it, they could just chop that up and use it in so many different ways. So I'm super excited about that as well. That is great. And then this will lead me into your point, Mike, which will be our fourth tip. But I'm going to give you all a sub tip on that. This content creation and you taking ownership of it, which I've loved here on the podcast lately, where I've had folks that have come in where I mean, low key, y'all are probably throwing a little shade like she's slow and getting me my assets back. But many of you guys are already using like some sort of AI clip generator to go ahead and generate the interview, go ahead and post it out and tell folks that you've been on the podcast. And I've seen that going really, really well. So to Mike's point, even if it's just one morning show interview that you book or it's one podcast interview, go ahead and figure out what software you're going to use. Like I love Opus. AI or Opus Pro right now. I think somebody else was using one. If you Google Opus, there's another one that's like Digi something that does the same exact thing that goes and makes those viral clips using AI. It's the auto captions on there and everything else. So share it on social media and you're done. And it makes you look like a rock star. Right. But that's you taking ownership of your coverage versus waiting on the news station to get it back to you or waiting on them to send you the downloadable file or waiting on the podcaster to send you the video. When these platforms like Opus, you just put the YouTube link in their software and it chops it up in ten different clips, literally in less than ten minutes. It's amazing. Oh. because I haven't okay so literally you know what I do I go to the facebook or wherever live it is download it and I'm in here you know chopping it like I'm like I'm um AI, AI, AI. I use Opus. I had somebody on another publicist on a couple of weeks ago. They use a whole nother generator, but who cares as long as it works and it knocks out you having to sit and find sound bites and all this other stuff. Nobody has time for that. You're just trying to publicize the fact that to y'all's point that you've had another interview. And get some of those thought leadership points out there on the internet for people to follow. So that's great, Mike. I need that. Me too. I just made a mental note to go check that too. Opus, right? Opus has been great for me, but there is another one that we're bragging about. But it's one of those ones where it's clear that the other service is buying the Google keywords for Opus. So they'll come up on that first page too. And I say, they both have free trials. Try it out, see what works for you. and use it but for me not to have to sit like even today however long this goes and have to listen for sound bites or when somebody says something great and clip it myself and download it no no no no no I have to get you an affiliate link leo because I'm sold like this is this is listen send me because that way I can actually because I'm I you I rarely post my wins for myself you know my clients yes but the stuff I don't yeah this is thank you for yourself let's get into it pr and ai y'all are using your chat gpt like as nobody's businesses for press releases pitches email pitches mike what do we have in terms of ai for twenty twenty five and pr what are we looking at here yeah so I definitely don't recommend using chat gpt to write a press release or to write a pitch and then just blast it out there um I mean hey if to each his own but I don't recommend doing that and I have a feeling based on each of your reactions right now you probably agree and I'd love to hear some stories because I feel like you probably have some good stories as far as that goes but I think the search results of ai tools, whether it's ChatGPT, Perplexity is actually a really cool one. If you type in, I think it's Perplexity. I don't have the paid version of ChatGPT, so I don't know exactly the full function of that one. But if you type into Perplexity and other AI tools, like, hey, can you pull up a list of articles about topic XYZ? they'll pull it up and it could be super detail specific and the whole nine yards. And you can get really into the nitty gritty. I need an article that explains that. Boom. They'll pop up three, four or five articles for you. And I did this as a test in cannabis packaging just to see what came up, what companies came up, what brands were mentioned and not mentioned. If any of our clients actual business websites were listed. And what we found was that I think five out of the seven links that were that came up in the search results were earned media hits that we ended up getting for our clients where they were either quoted or they contributed guest articles and so that to me was a big red alert and for us to be conscious of the fact that this is going to be a whole new level of what we used to call seo so it's no longer just okay are you appearing in google searches Now it's going to be, okay, what appears when you search for this in an AI tool or an AI search engine? I know Google has their own I probably shouldn't know what it is off the top of my head, but it's like an AI search engine version of Google that first pops up when you search for something. So it's going to be important to make sure that we rank for those opportunities as well. And getting good quality coverage, consistent coverage is going to help bake you and your clients into those results. So that's just something I think all of us need to be or just need to keep top of mind for twenty twenty five. And just make sure that we're not neglecting that. Because I think if you can own that space as it's starting to pick up and take off, that could be some good real estate for you to secure before it maybe gets too pricey to get in. I will say that I'm so glad you brought this up because I actually just did an interview with a guy that is a Google Ads expert, is what he does for a living. And he said this exact same thing. He was like, if you go out and you notice, if you're Googling anything nowadays, like, oh, I want the top five restaurants in Dallas or whatever. It's that AI generated instead of you, you'll still see the ads or the paid ads, but it's that AI generated response that gives you their websites and those links where now that's the placements we want, because that's going to be where people are going to click. Now, I still haven't figured out, and maybe Mike or Chandra, y'all have an idea of how they're coming up with how to rank those sites when you're Googling. I don't know, does it have to be a website that's been around? Is it a good website? I don't know what it is, but he said the exact same thing, that that AI-generated response on Google now when you're searching for things is the top place where everybody wants to be from here for their business moving forward? I mean, I will say, so you know how every year people should be updating their websites right so a good way to actually kind of get replacement into those search engines is to republish the article or as a blog post on your website and make sure you do the back end work that you are doing the backlinks and stuff like that because when it when it has a resurgence of you know reappearing on your website fresh it'll actually put it back into circulation. So that's the biggest thing is like making sure your backend is done, making sure it's linked properly, making sure, but also you can also check that by going into a private mode to double check how you're coming up on Google. Because a lot of times, you know, it follows us. Like after this, the app you're using for your AI generation. Because I have Alexa, everything. I mean, it's going to come up. But the biggest thing is refresh those links to your website. You know, actually publish it as, you know, even if it's something that you can tie into something current, do it that way. And it's kind of like a, it's not a quick fix, but it's just a boost. if that makes sense. Because sometimes you don't want to pay for anything until you get to that point. Because sometimes you could have an article from five years ago that's relevant today. As long as you can tie it into something that's relevant today, repost it. Make it make sense. And that way, it will come up in a search engine because you've just put it out there again. Because I've actually went digging for client stuff that was posted years and years ago. And then now, when they Googled them, it never showed up. But now, since we put it into place, it's coming up. So it's, it's just about how you, um, repurpose content is good. It's key to getting into those, um, to getting into those searches and getting into those placements in, in certain things, but also I got to touch on chat GPT. If I could get one more, one more AI generated questions back from an interview or press release or a pitch, I'm going to scream. Because you have to train AI. You have to train the chat GPT. You have to train it to have your cadence, your voice, and things like that. Because some of the stuff I'm receiving, I'm like, you know what? This is... you want me to publish this? This is what you want me... No, let me talk to you directly and then use Oter to do the captions and give me... I can use that because it's mind-boggling of the level of professionals that have basically checked out mentally and have been using it as a... I'm going to go to that now. No, you still have to Think about your client and what you want, what their end result, what they want it to be. And you actually have to make it a relevant story that an editor or a writer is going to pick up on or a news outlet. I've just, I think I've seen so many journalists scream about that. Like, no AI generated responses, send me a video. I'm literally, if y'all don't leave AI alone and start thinking. Exactly. listen look and look at me right now okay listen think about what you're sending out from your for on behalf of your clients and yourself and then ask yourself do you want to be talked at or do you want to be talked to like sell it you know you cannot expect someone to believe in your client your product your brand if you are not touching it personally and making it have a human voice that's all I got I know for news break so when I do write for news break we have to click a box to say if any part of the article was ai generated and now they're adding if even if your images are ai generated you have to click that not like they're digging points but They're trying to set some parameters around allowing there's a responsibility and there's ethics around letting the reader or the listener or the viewer know that this is not real. So then you lose credibility. And that's why I take, and I'm sorry to anybody who's done an article for, I literally write, okay? I want my authentic voice. I do not... want to drop whatever we talked about into an app that's work within itself right there because sometimes they spell people's name wrong I had my name spelled six times wrong okay listen it's great it's great for what you if you want to expand on a topic if you want to do instagram captions or social media you know different things but please if you're sending out an email or talking to someone or responding to a proposal do not Do not. Okay. Yeah. Do better. That's all. I can't. It's so frustrating. I agree. If you use it as a foundational, Hey, I'm kind of stuck right here. I need some ideas. Like you're not getting like all of the pitches from AI, but maybe you need some ideas. What should I be doing around this time? It's kind of dead. Like, is there anything that I haven't thought of? And then you, along with AI, are brainstorming. That is fine. But allowing AI to do all of the work and not thinking that these editors or journalists know is a big mistake. They can't stand it. Right. I can tell you threads. They are over it. They're blacklisting people. They are literally, like, you can essentially... chat your way out of coverage for your client I'm just saying like once you're blacklisted it's over find something else to do at this point yeah so that's ai ai ai the discussion continues use it but use it with caution use some sense use some sense use some sense was that that was number four right so chandra you have one more right Yes. Okay. So, you know, the new administration is coming and we've seen, I've seen editors actually are cheating. They're leaving. They are quitting. They are wiping their hands, but they're also tiptoeing around, um, they're treading lightly on how they're covering different things. So I do feel like that is going to be where we have, we go into those niche outlets or people are going behind those, those walls to actually protect themselves from retaliation and stuff. We have to think about that. We've already seen there's been, it's so much going on. And so a lot, I think, It's going to be like that. We see it. It's happening. We just have to be able to work around it, but also understand that some outlets are going to be focused on things that do not touch those hot areas, those hot topics that can get them either targeted or possibly put out of business. You know, we just have to accept it for what it is. This is what we're going to for a while. So, you know, a lot of people are not going to cover certain things to cover them to protect themselves. And there was an editor out of Germany that quit and he wrote why he quit. So this is not just a domestic issue, it's international now. So we have to be hyper aware of, we have to look at what outlets are covering and how they're covering it before we pitch our clients. Because you don't want to essentially put them in a situation and yourself in a situation where it will prove fruitless and they will never cover it. So that's my take on it. A trend that's going to be here for a while. We got four years. Yeah. I think it goes to say, even extending outside of just news coverage as well, is just as we get into this new year, whether you're doing PR for yourself or whether you hire a publicist or agency or firm, just go ahead and get into a crisis comms plan. Because People, you know, sometimes they look to your company to respond on particular issues or have a stance. Sometimes they don't. And then an executive goes rogue and does. And like, what do you do in a situation like that where it's a hot, one of those hot topics or politics and then everybody's up in arms and next thing you know, everybody's canceling everybody. So really be careful on how you approach social media, like these hot topics, considering, is this something that I need to publicize for my business or brand? If you can just chill out and just not even go there for the sake of your small business, don't. Don't even put it in the group chat because, you know, the moment you kick it in the group chat, they screenshot it and then they say, look what so-and-so said, you know, then that's on TikTok. So just keep it to yourselves or to some of your family, not all your family, but some of them. And yeah, it's just- Go in the closet and just have a conversation with the clothes in the closet didn't come out, okay? Don't tell nobody. Put a mirror in there and just look right at it. Yes, get out of eye with yourself and just let it all out and then come out because the days of screenshot, screen recordings, audio recordings. I would say this that even though shayla said table talk only everybody's under everybody's in the car as I say everybody's under nda unplug alexa I will say that this kind of reminds me of the pandemic a little bit where and this is something that everybody can consider as well because this will lead me into the bonus point that I wasn't even going to make but I'm going to make it Like during the pandemic, the editors, the journalists, the reporters, everybody was so exhausted about covering death and the pandemic and all of this just negative stuff that was coming down our feeds, right? That they were looking for more positive, uplifting, inspiring stories. And so I really think, I know it's a trend to talk about storytelling, but if you're a small business owner and you really can get these stories down about why you're doing what you're doing, the impact you're making. One of the things that I see a lot of small businesses screw up on is you don't have your data, so you don't know the numbers of your impact. But if you're doing things in the community, or if you're changing a whole industry around, or if you're changing lives, these are the stories they want to hear and want to cover. I literally had a nonprofit on a couple of weeks ago, and the producer and the anchor was texting me afterwards, send me more stories like this. And I'm like, do I have more stories like this? Girl, you're going to find it. It was my restaurant client, like, what can we make up? Yeah. What can we take on this small little bit about Joloff Rice to really make it like... People Magazine, and this is... Speaking to that, People Magazine has had an uptick of covering not just the celebrity, but actually more happier... If you haven't seen separation, divorces, anything like that, it's been feel good, connecting family, connecting stories, things that will touch your heart. And if you go down like literally their feed, remember people used to have somebody separated or they're getting a divorce, all of that. But now it's just been heartwarming story after heartwarming story, all of those good things. And I'm so happy to see the resurgence of that. I'm happy about that because we're going to be stressed for a while. Mike on storytelling and small business owners and possibly like, focus on your impact or focus on, you know, the good. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I mean, I think I think first before I dive into that to Sean, Chandra, you brought up a good point to just with kind of what we may be dealing with. heading into twenty twenty five. And you mentioned an editor that was from Germany that wrote a letter as far as like his resignation or her resignation and all that. And I just think one important thing to take away from that is this is a really important time to be empathetic to a lot of what people in media are going through. Yeah. And so if we know that, I'll just use that individual as an example, but if they are going out on their own now, or if they're switching media companies that they're going to be working for, just understanding kind of where they're at personally and professionally, because it does kind of blend in together a little bit, but just being empathetic to that. Maybe you don't even have a pitch to send them, but you just say, hey, look, I totally have the utmost respect for you. I know it takes a lot of guts to be able to, you know, wear your heart on your sleeve do that be professional about it etc etc wishing you all the best if there's anything I could do to help please let me know I'm always a resource for you even just being a human I think that's what it boils down to and just being able to to lend a hand to those people that we always turn to in hopes that they could do us a favor. And I just think now more than ever is one of those times where they could probably use a little bit more support from us than ever before. Very similar to during the pandemic time. So I just wanted to put that out there to piggyback off of what you said. And as far as like positive feel good stories, I've spoken with several journalists and reporters from local outlets. And these are the same exact thing that you said, Leah, they know that there is a lot of doom and gloom reporting and there's always there's always some kind of doom and gloom and it tends to get clicks so we understand you know kind of how that goes but at the end of the day whether it's a news anchor whether it's a journalist a reporter a producer whoever may be they are fiending for those positive stories those feel-good stories and what you said is true and I'm sure that it's probably going to hold true throughout newsrooms all across america probably all over the world too if you have good stories where You're the owner of a business and you're partnering up with a nonprofit or you just did something that really left a positive impact on a community that you're from. Now you have a business there. You're organizing a run or something that gives back to a good cause. And these are just common everyday examples of it. But they really do want that information and they want to hear about it. They want to share it with their audience and their viewers. I hope not, but I don't think that's going to be going away anytime soon. I think there's always going to be a place for those stories. And I think those editorial calendars, even if they're focused on something very particular for a specific month, I think they're always going to have a place for that. So let's just keep the floodgates open as far as that kind of news sharing goes. But I do think there's also going to be a more focus on entertainment as well. Think about the major concert tours and stuff that are going on. They're going to find different things that have happened at these events and expound on those. And I think that they're going to be filling those gaps and filling those places in. Because we have another concert. Who else has another residency? We just have to pay attention to that. The entertainment is going to actually have an uptick as well, too. Because, you know, people, you listen to music to kind of get away. You listen to music to kind of calm yourself. So those are going to be a huge part as well, I think, you know, in the upcoming years with these tours and these residencies and stuff. We're going to see that as well. To bring people together. I like that. Festivals, anything like that. Yeah, Chandra, question for you too. Do you think that it's the... the artist that would fuel the coverage around their concerts and their tours and all that? I'm super interested to get your take on what aspect of it do you think is going to be getting the most coverage? I think what would get the most coverage is fans, fans, how they interact, and also how the artist interacts with the fans. But also if they are doing something like, come on now, Beyonce, already yeah they're going to that actually is going to set the bar for some other for like usher's tour like come on those things taylor swift all of those tours people are going to come out of the woodworks and put things together so that they can touch people but also the end of these people are really going to make it a point to create the content around up until they actually go to the event like you have kendrick lamar And title of the creator, they just launched their tours for next year. And the what I'm seeing around is individuals are creating content. And so that from their news outlets are going to be looking at that and tracking to figure out the most, you know, the most heartwarming or the most outlandish story that they can get to get that press hit. So a lot of times I'm just that is just, you know, not saying I'm psychic. Yeah. sometimes I'm on point I think that um that's where it's going to come to because sometimes you have to disconnect from the the media machine that is driving with government affairs and all of that but to look at from the doom and gloom to give those happy those those one-offs but those artists actually are doing the work to help us to not go into those dark times I think it was very interesting that you said that because literally not to just keep talking about Carter but even I wrote an article for the Dallas Observer when Beyonce came about her impact on our western wear clothing retailers that we had here and the ones that made money are independent designers where when renaissance came everything was all silver we were selling out of silver like what did that look like for North Texas so now with this and the anticipation of whatever is dropping on January fourteenth my mind is already going to like how many of our western wear stores and specifically those that make hats are about to benefit and how is this going to bring texas together which is you know a state where we're always at each other's throats red blue whatever you believe in you know um but just this one artist and then her impact for what is possibly to come So I think, Chandra, you make a very, very good point. My mind was already going there and they and the news outlets already knows when stuff like that comes to Dallas. I pull in designers like, hey, can you go on TV? What is our what to wear segment? Everybody has fun talking about this is what I'm going to wear to the concert. And here's this designer that's talking about what they're designing for concert goers. And then we're forgetting about Texas being Texas. But even here, like I'm in the rural Virginia, quote unquote, I'm thirty minutes out, thirty five, forty minutes outside of D.C., but technically I'm not part of the DMV, but I am. But long story short, they have in this area, we have those stores where you have, you know, the cowboy boots, the you know, where you can get these items that you won't have to go far for, you know, to get them. So we're not that far from North Carolina. We're not that far from you know, these people who are these leather makers, I forgot what they're called, but those individuals who create the leather for these items. So they're going to see an uptick of know people trying to source items to create these pieces for you know the the wares like even from the chaps or the the boots the hats everything so the impact is not it's just not there the ripple effect is going to be amazing you know just because just from that one thing because some of the outfits I do want But that's besides the point. So it's going to be a great thing for small businesses who can actually come out. And that's one of the things we're going to look for tomorrow is any businesses that are being, who are looking at an uptick of their searches or their websites being looked at, you know, these leather makers. I'm sorry, anybody who's a vegan, I'm sorry, but... Boy boots, hats, things of that nature. That's where it comes from. I'm so sorry. But that's another thing. The individuals who are going to be against that whole, you know. Make it the vegan, you know, the vegan leather, like, you know, Telfar does. Use that. Okay. I don't, I don't, beyond that. leather okay beyond leather I don't know I just you know ethically ethnic ethically sourced leather okay I don't know but it's going to be both I don't know but both sides are going to have something to talk about so then with that within itself is going to feed the engine that is media so I'm happy about that yes We have been at this for a smooth hour. I appreciate everybody's insights. We gave you guys five trends that were actually five and two bonuses. So you've got seven trends that we're seeing in PR land that's going to spread throughout twenty twenty five and beyond and possibly even more before we close it out. Any last remaining thoughts before twenty twenty five? Started with Mike. Oh, man. Happy New Year to everybody. And this was awesome. This was a whole bunch of fun. I'm just excited to see where this goes. And it'll be cool to maybe even do this again at the end of twenty twenty five and see what we talked about and see how it panned out and how it all unfolded. Oh, I'll leave it at that. Look, I'm like, let's have some fun. Who predicted? Yeah, we'll have to do that and see who had the most predictions that actually came to fruition. I would actually say smile more stress less that's all I got you know just to personally and um and when it go out to business because sometimes before you answer that email smile before you respond it'll change your tone and it can be felt listen lady I know what I have to tell myself. Take a deep breath. Smile before you respond to that message, okay? Walk into the new year with a smile and realizing that, you know, you can always set an alert to go back to that. Circle back to that email. Do not let anything take you off of your happy in twenty twenty five. Not even AI, says Shayla Gardner. Shayla. And I guess mine would be... Just first off, keep it locked in on PR yourself with Leah Fraser, just because it's so funny. My kid on some points where I had a guest coming. So I feel like the synergy within the industry of everybody giving the same advice and really trying to help you guys is really like it's stellar right now. And even I'll even give this to you. um someone the other day was telling me you know everybody's on blue sky right now and I was like what the heck is blue sky so now sky which is kind of like twitter but nobody's really trying to do twitter anymore and they're on threads so all that being said my advice is just have fun okay we don't know if tick tock's gonna be gone tomorrow but when it comes to you and your small business pr marketing or content strategy please don't stress yourself out about it like chandra said go back to what's fun go back to your why your story and try to have some fun around it creating these videos posting these clips And try not to get all worked up and super anxious about it. Because I can tell when somebody is having fun watching a news segment or a podcast or when you guys are doing your social media. And I can tell the ones that are, I'm doing this because you told me I had to do this. So please for twenty twenty five, try to find a couple of platforms where you truly can just let loose and have fun with your brand and just rock it there. And don't always make it about the money. You're just having fun with your business because that's what it's all about. Very true. Thank you. Well, this has been fun. We're going to sign out before we go. Let's let people know how they can follow you all. I'll start with Mike. Uh, LinkedIn, definitely super accessible. I always love hanging out on LinkedIn, tons of great people to follow, connect with, learn from. I love soaking up as much information as possible. So if you have any PR tips to share with me, please, I'm always posting about PR, especially cannabis focused PR and how that, how that world, how that sandbox works, all the ins and outs of that. So like Leah said, I'm here for a good time. I'm also here to learn a little bit about PR along the way. So always feel free to reach out to me on there. And I will say Mike is great to follow on LinkedIn because sometimes he posts tips and the shade is beautiful. So definitely Mike follow. And he also gives really good tips. So okay. And Chandra. Well, um, you can follow me on Instagram, Facebook, all of those with Chandra Gord Consulting. I'm starting to share more now. I do share articles and tips and things, but it's not as shady as it can be. But it's informative. I love what I do. I'm open for questions or anything like that. It's just, but you can follow me, Sigour Consult. That is my, where I post things as well. So y'all can reach out to me there. And you guys help me be Leah Frazier on all platforms. You can subscribe and follow PR Yourself with Leah Frazier podcast. And I would just binge, but twenty twenty five is about to be super epic because I'm going to be posting every week and y'all can hold me to it. Right, Chandra? Like for real. Okay, listen, you're going to post, I'm going to post because, you know, I'll be three months in and I haven't posted anything. So we'll see. And I'm going to create a clip tonight with Opus from this so you guys can see that it really, really works. And I want to hear how you guys are going to be repurposing your content for twenty twenty five. But try their free trial out. Send me a referral. It is. I will. I'm going to text it to you. Same here, guys. And happy new year. Happy new year.