And one thing that the CEO was really keen on potentially doing and worked with me to sort of have his back, and I believed in it, he said, you know, if there is a safe way to have this show and have the city, county, and state all be okay with it, I want to drum up a plan to get people out of their homes and back doing fun things again, if we can do it. Now imagine you have some people who are like, oh my God, you’re trying to kill us all. Why would you even attempt something like this?And other people commending him like, this is great. I’ve been cooped up, you know; slowly things are opening. We’d love for this to happen. And to stand behind that brand after only- I think this was only our second year together- we worked this out. He thought it through, and I just said, you know what, that is brilliant that you have attempted going to the state, the city, the county, every, all the powers that be, and presented a plan saying, here’s how we could do it with masks and hand sanitizer and everything else.

Now, mind you, it didn’t get approved, but it was a PR effort to rally people into doing fun things again. And we had to battle it out, you know, politely and kindly, with those who were like, you’re trying to kill us all. And that was a big risk for his brand, right?

And this was what, six years ago? And you know, here we are, you know, in 2026, looking at probably the biggest LA Comic Con ever. That was a risk that people could have thought, you’re endangering our lives; I’ll never show up to your show again.

And to really stand by his leadership, I think that trauma bonded us a little bit, but a massive risk for a leader who was genuinely trying to think things through. And I think as a PR practitioner, that’s not always, how do I say this? You know, the easy route is just to say, no, don’t even make an attempt.

It’s too scary for your brand. And for me, I’m always one to say, you know, if you’ve thought it through, and there’s a way to do it safely and correctly, you know, let’s go for it, and I have your back, right? Having to protect that image.

So that’s definitely a big, big, big thing that I think will always stand out in the back of my mind.

Host: Very, very interesting and a very fantastic example of calculated risk-taking effort. It naturally brings me to a broader question about brand image itself.

Why do organizations need to have a positive brand image, and how do public relations and marketing help in this regard?

Nicole: Oh, I mean, PR, when you’re doing it right, and well, you know, it’s like insurance on your brand. You know, you most people wouldn’t drive a car without car insurance, you know, need medical insurance, just in case something happens to you, you know, medically, you need to go to the doctors, you know, having solid PR, you never know when a crisis could pop up. You never know when, hey, all of a sudden, we have this brilliant idea.

And now we have this new launch. Who’s going to help us get that out to the masses? Well, PR is created to develop trust between a brand and its sort of audiences. And a lot of the reasons why is because we’re using third-party validation, meaning earned media- earned media. Folks who work in the media; their job is to keep their finger on the pulse of all things that are relevant, new, exciting.

So being that bridge, knowing that a lot of the people, you know, trust, you know, even in today’s climate, people will still scour the internet to read articles, watch podcasts, listen to whatever, because they want to know if something is safe or if other people are using it. And PR being that bridge, it’s like having insurance, you know, you’re not just going to, quote-unquote, write a press release from AI, put it out there, and hope for the best. That’s not how PR is done.

And so that’s why, you know, I said earlier, human connection is so important- knowing how to speak to the media, who will then speak to your audiences. It’s important for every brand because we live in a cancel culture, right? It’s so easy to be canceled. So yeah, so I hope that answers the question.

Host: So, I think it would be safe to say that PR is like a foundation for building healthy relationships and maybe trust as well.

Nicole: Absolutely. Yeah. And you’re building your narrative, right?

You don’t want to build a house on sand, right? You need a solid structure and foundation. Who are you?

What do you do? Why do you do it? Not in marketing speak, which is fun and sexy and uses the buzzwords, but when you’re working with media, they want brass tacks. What is this exactly? Who are you? What do you do?

And why does that benefit others without all the flashy, you know, so you definitely need a foundation of who you are so that you can basically gauge where you’re going to go in the future and how you want to build your reputation amongst the buyers, right? Or the people who will be choosing your service or product.

Host: Now, speaking of how PR and marketing are evolving, generative AI can now create countless pitch drafts and media lists in seconds. What is one specific thing you have seen an AI do in PR campaign that convinced you it will never replace human instinct?

Nicole: It doesn’t know my relationships. It doesn’t know that I don’t need a pitch to text Dean Takahashi over at GamesBeat. Me and Dean go back 20 years.

It doesn’t know that I don’t need a big pitch or a press release that doesn’t sound like me to go to the hundreds of media that in 26 years know my name. So, if you know how to build relationships and you know how to storytell, the beauty is generative AI can definitely cut time when you’re, hey, you know, what are we trying to land on? What are the three most important points here?

It helps with ideation and it helps with streamlining certain things. But if you don’t have the human relations, relationships and you’re relying on press a button and it’s going to build a blind list of people I don’t know to send a blind email to people that I don’t know, you’re just going to get blocked, block, block, block, block, block. If you aren’t taking the time to get to know these reporters, my work is so much easier for LA Comic Con.

I’ve been working with half of these media at least for eight years. They know my name. They know at NRPR Group, and they know that if someone is sending them an email or some sort of communication, it’s important. It’s thought through, and it’s trusted. AI is not doing that. At least right.

Host: At least right now. Surely there is a great distinction between what AI can replicate and what it can’t.

Nicole: That’s right.

Host: Moving ahead, we are seeing a major shift in how B2B buyers consume information, moving heavily towards video and shorter content loop. Are traditional press releases officially outdated, or are the tech companies just using them wrong?

Nicole: No, I think most companies are using them incorrectly. I think real media appreciate receiving a package of information that is easy to sift through, right? If you’re using a press release that’s three pages, overly done with too much information, you don’t get to the point, no one understands what you’re doing, well then it’s just a communication that’s going to become a miscommunication, you know, and people who are sitting in front of their computers checking email, which is most media, are still going to appreciate when you send them a good pitch that gives them the story idea. Then second is, okay, now you can see the press release, not, hey, here’s everything all at once. Ready?

Ready? Digest. Well, people are just going to hit delete because their attention spans are shorter, but even still, I’m not going to open up a video from an email that I don’t trust and waste my time.

A good press release, you could read and sift through and make a decision in 10 to 15 seconds. If you’re not getting that in a full video, it’s a full minute long. It feels like an eternity.

So, no matter what the communication, it just has to be done right.

Host: Right communication, and also concise and precise.

Nicole: That’s right. And clear- not just concise, but also clear, right?

Host: Clear and precise. So next up, the standard tech PR agency playbook relies heavily on a generic blast policy to get coverage. Why do you think so many tech companies still adopt such methods, and how is it not relevant every time? Additionally, how does NRPR’s model disrupt?

Nicole: Yeah, we don’t blast, right? Like, we absolutely have a policy against it. Like, we have a no-blast policy.

The only group of people that we will send a mass email to are our friends over at out like who do LA Comic Con stuff because it’s an event and because it’s like, hey guys, this is the, you know, these are where your tickets are. This is where to check in. This is whatever.

It’s informational. We’re not just pitching them blindly, don’t know them and waiting to get on a blacklist, right? We go, I would much rather pitch 20 media solidly than 200 in a blast and, and hoping for the best.

That’s what people forget. You know, again, public relations, the key word here is like public people, right? You’re dealing with humans, and then with those humans, your relations, relationship; you’re building a relationship.

How are you going to build a relationship by not getting to know who they are not caring how they want to be communicated with? So, most people are like, oh, it’s just not working. It’s not working because you’re not actually going the extra mile to build that relationship.

And even if you get a pitch wrong, hey, I might be off here, but it looks like you’ve been covering Microsoft in these key areas. Is this of interest that it’s a human saying, hey, this might, may, or may not be good for you, but just let me know. Cause I’m interested in getting to know what you need and if the person’s like, yeah, not a good fit.

Great. Thank you so much. Now I know.

Host: That’s a compelling way to look at disruption, building on that idea of what really works versus what just looks good.

A lot of tech startups measure PR success strictly by the sheer volume of logo placements and impressions. How do you handle a client who cares more about vanity metrics than actual business impact?

Nicole: Yeah. Those are just clients who are misinformed. They don’t know.

They’re easy to snowball. Oh, look at all these beautiful numbers, but is anyone calling you, are tickets going on sale? Has a partner reached out?

Has an investor reached out? That’s real business movement. And that’s what we even tell our clients, hey, we put out this announcement, we’ve got X, Y, Z, you know, people covering it, but did this land any great? You know, were you trying to close this client that maybe saw this and it helped them get them to the finish line?

Or, you know, did this make someone want your CEO to be a speaker at their next conference? Those are real business sort of implications that you want PR to impact. Vanity metrics, fine.

That just means that CEO is just easier to fool, right? You want them to be informed because you want them to hold you to a high standard so that all PR practitioners are actually basically working at that higher standard for the greater good, so that people don’t just think, well, oh, a monkey can press a keyboard and just do PR. That’s not what we do.

Host: Yeah. So, it’s more of a personal approach than just a broad, wide-spectrum approach.

Nicole: Absolutely. I’ve been doing this 26 years, the wide blind approach, anyone who is teaching people that that is what PR is. It’s a crime.

They should be arrested.

Host: Truly a practical way to reframe success for clients. Now in 2026, every firm adopts public relations and marketing irrespective of their headcount and industry. What are the biggest mistakes that are committed in the process, and how does NRPR Group address them?

Nicole: Yeah. I would say one of them, going back to what you just said, is relying on AI or someone to just come up with a blind list and then a pitch and assuming it’s going to work for everyone. That’s lazy.

Yes. It cuts time, but does it actually get to the heart of the matter, which is, are you getting those solid stories told? Is your voice being heard?

Is this clear? Do media understand who you are, and if they understand who you are, are they translating it well? Right?

So, people make mistakes on the onset, like, oh, all we need is a press release, a good list, a nice pitch, and let’s see what happens. They forget that in between needs to be research, thoughtfulness, thoroughness. That’s how you build the foundation.

If you’re not doing that, again, you’re building a house on sand. It’s not going to be sustainable.

Host: Those are really valuable lessons for any firm to keep in mind. Lastly, as a visionary PR leader, where do you believe the industry is heading? Which trends and practices are set to take the center stage in the upcoming decade?

Nicole: Yeah, so AI absolutely will be adopted more and more. I totally get that. So, I definitely see that helping cut time and streamline things for PR practitioners.

The scary part is, I think with so much automation, if people aren’t learning how to do PR the correct and impactful way, you’re going to get more and more media turned off by PR practitioners who are not doing their homework and who are not trying to go the long way to get results, which I always say, at first, the long way becomes the shorter way. Imagine building a great relationship with a press person, like I said, that is sustained over 20 years. I don’t need a big pitch anymore to go to the Rolodex of people that’s in my phone.

That is now the short way. I spent decades building relationships, talking to them, learning what their ins and outs are, learning what they want. And now I’m like, hey, I know I’m bringing this to you in the back of my mind.

I know you enough. And they’re like, yeah, great idea. Shoot this to me, get the CEO on the phone, done.

So, I do see that folks like me and people that I’m training and people who really think through when it comes to relationships and thinking for the media and wanting to build good relationships with them, it is going to be, how do I say this? We’re going to be much more appreciated than a lot more of the other PR folks who are just aim, fire, blast, blind, right? And you’re going to find a lot more CEOs and people like, oh, we could do PR ourselves.

You’re going to have a lot more rude awakenings when your competition who’s using the proper PR methods are getting more press than you are. Like that’s just going to be the reality of it. So, you know, everyone wants a shortcut.

But at the end of the day, when you’re working in an industry where relationships are key, the shortcuts just make you look lazy.

Host: The future of PR is sure to be an exciting one, with brands adopting advanced strategies and technologies to connect more meaningfully with their audiences and disseminate relevant, authentic, and impactful messages. And that’s a wrap. Thank you, Nicole, for accompanying us and sharing your leadership insights with us.

Nicole: Pleasure. Thank you so much for having me.

Host: All right. It was a pleasure as well. Also, a big thank you to our audience for being a part of ExtraMile by KnowledgeNile. We appreciate you tuning in to our conversation. We’ll be back with another insightful discussion. Until then, stay tuned.