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SubscribeWe recently connected with Lisa O’Neill and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Lisa, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to start by getting your thoughts on what you are seeing as some the biggest trends emerging in your industry.
Working in PR for around 30 years, I’ve seen a number of industry trends come and, usually stay, that help practitioners work more quickly and efficiently. Most are related to technology. Along with the wonderful things technology has brought us, there can be a downside. The downside I’ve seen in PR over the past 8 or so years is the consolidation of the news media business and the rise of social media influencers as a source of news and information. There are many top-notch social media influencers out there who provide relevant, well-packaged, well-written information, however, they are not a substitute for trained journalists. And again, it’s a double-edged sword when speaking about trends in the media landscape. Consumers can get a lot more news/information whenever they want it, but the flip side is a drop in quality, accurate, professional, journalist-created material. The rise of digital content has meant a reduction in trained news media, a rush to post news first (thus mistakes often happen), fake news and misinformation from all directions, although most often on social media.
Therefore, as media relations pros, we now deal with a more tenuous news media landscape consisting of fewer true journalists, and more content creators which includes influencers. And it’s tougher to build lasting relationships with the media when many are laid off, move to another outlet (usually digital only), fewer industry specialists, and many who leave the profession altogether.
PR folks have had to learn how to work with influencers much as they would a traditional journalist, however, the influencer 1) usually requires a fee and 2) is not a trained journalist. Therefore, we must be more thorough than ever in providing accurate, grammatically correct information and always with a visual component. Of course, our trade should always be producing accurate, well written materials along with visual resources. The point is that over the past few years, our material is often copy/pasted and rarely fact-checked, whether by influencers or mainstream media.
Lisa, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I’m a 30-year veteran of public relations across a wide range of industries and professional backdrops. As a journalism major, I bring a media lens to all PR programs, along with experience to various facets of a strategic PR campaign. Starting on the East Coast and eventually landing back in Austin, TX (graduate of The University of Texas at Austin), I primarily worked with small and mid-sized agencies, along with a newspaper company, before starting my own boutique firm in 2009. Breakaway PR offers core PR competencies to consumer businesses including media relations, community relations, influencer relations, reputation management, event publicity, crisis communications and more. Based in Austin, we primarily represent Central Texas organizations and businesses that want build awareness and influence by sharing their news and stories. We are also well-versed at media relations on the national level.
Breakaway works as a partner to our clients — an integral part of their marketing/communications programs. Our clients enjoy the benefits of big agency expertise in a very personalized experience with senior-level management at all times. We love shining the spotlight and building awareness of mission-based businesses and organizations that enhance or improve the lives of their communities. Our firm can easily level up or down with a roster of PR experts across the country which provides an exciting array of creativity and skills that deliver results.
What’s been the best source of new clients for you?
By far, our best source of new clients is via referral. The referrals could come from current or previous clients, former coworkers or fellow marketers and PR firms. We deliver results and build lasting relationships across all stakeholders from media and influencers to clients and marketing partners.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Since I’ve owned my own PR firm – going on 15 years this year – we’ve seen financial hits, with a few that made making payroll a challenge. The loss of one larger client can sting when you’re a small firm. There have a been a few times when I cut my own pay dramatically, so I could keep a coworker in place. Fortunately, I’ve never had to lay anyone off, but I did have to cut employee hours during Covid. We were all in a new frontier together, so between transparency and a genuinely positive spirit, our small but mighty team pulled through and business picked up quickly in 2022.
I know that even when things look gloomy – an unexpected loss of a client or a cut in their fees for reasons beyond our control – our hard work and solid reputation will pull us through. I’ve also lost employees when business was rocking, so it fell to me to kick in the additional time to power through without losing a beat for our clients.
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