How Can PR Agencies Stand Out in the Age of AI?

Justin Levinson (00:00)‍

Hey everybody, welcome back to yet another episode of the Agency Side Podcast. I'm your host, Justin Levinson, and today we're joined by Diane Schwartz, CEO of Reagan Communications. Diane started her career in journalism before eventually taking the reins at Reagan. We talk about her journey, how the PR industry is evolving in the age of AI, and why human connection and relationships remain more important than ever. I'm sure you'll get a lot of insights out of this one. Let's roll up.

Diane, thanks for being here today.

‍

Diane Schwartz (00:35)

Thanks for having me.

‍

Justin Levinson (00:36)

Yeah. So let's get into your personal journey to start off this conversation. You started out as as like a journalist all the way till to now, as CEO of Reagan Communications. Tell us about your journey and how you got started in this industry.

‍

Diane Schwartz (00:56)

Yeah, I spent a lot of time running a media and marketing division at a B to B media company called Access Intelligence. And on the B to B media side I was running a group of brands, everything from PR News, which is a competitor to Reagan, to Folio and Synopsis, which covered T V and entertainment. And prior to that I was a journalist and an editor.

So I got my degree in journalism and thought I'd be, you know, a journalist. And then I also got bit by the business bug and had the opportunity to get more on the business side, but also include my passion around content. And so for many years, I was running a media division. I'd known Mark Reagan during that time because we had these competing brands, and he passed the baton to me.

pinch me moment in my career because I was a senior vice president. And so leaping from that to CEO opens up a whole new host of challenges and things to learn. Yeah. As a leader. And so for the past since 2019, I've been here leading Reagan and it's been an absolute joy and a lot of learning. And

I I'm sure we'll get into some of the things we're doing at Regan, but my journey is really on consistently the through line is content and community. I mean, everything I've done has been, you know, with a con with content in mind, no matter whether it's on stage or written. You know, back in the day, I mean, I was working at newspapers, aging myself. Newspapers and then digital and

So it's very it's fun and the skills that I learned as a journalist have really taken me far in my career here.

‍

Justin Levinson (02:52)

Yeah. What what was it like going from like SVP to CEO? You know, what what did you, you know, find yourself in at that point?

‍

Diane Schwartz (03:01)

Yeah, it was heavy to to take a step back and think that my decisions and my team's decisions impacted that sort of that ripple effect of running a company and the impact you have not only on your employee, but your employee ha probably has other people, you know, family, not every not all of 'em, you know, necessarily, but it's the impact of um the decisions you make on people's lives.

running a company and the responsibility m at first was both you know a little scary at first, but very felt very empowering too to have that positive effect on so many people.

‍

Justin Levinson (03:44)

Yeah, what kind of like leadership you know, how would you describe your leadership?

‍

Diane Schwartz (03:49)

I would say fair and firm fair but firm. I'm a an active listener. I I do I I do veer toward um lots of question you know, I like a culture of questions and curiosity and you know, work hard, play hard kind of philosophy. I started when I started in two thousand nineteen at Reagan, that was a a year of figuring things out and yeah the first

hundred days kind of for three hundred and sixty-five days. And then COVID hit. And because our audience is communications professionals primarily, it actually was like the silver lining and a fast growth spurt for Regan because we we recognize the importance of our customers in the workplace in terms of communicating during this pandemic. And so it also became for me and my team

w there was a so much purpose behind what we were doing as a company and the impact we were having in the marketplace. So I like to think that a part of my leadership style is leading with purpose and meaning and answering the why of why we, you know, decisions being why we make certain decisions.

‍

Justin Levinson (05:10)

Yeah. Yeah, that's that's that's really fascinating. For our viewers who may not famili be familiar, um, you know, the writing communications, maybe you can just uh tell us briefly what you guys offered to the marketplace.

‍

Diane Schwartz (05:21)

Yeah, thank you. We are very focused on learning and development for communications, marketing, and HR professionals. And the two areas that are two are to our two pillars are learning and development and communitate. And so everything that we do, we like to be very practical and useful to our audience. So for those familiar or not familiar with Braggett, we have conferences.

We have online training. We have a learning platform for that. We have a membership community, the Communications Leadership Council, which is world class brands on that. We have subscription products, two websites. One is PR Daily, one is Regan.com. Some of our key conferences, we do a future of communications conference, which is held in November in Austin. And we have a social media conference that's every spring at Disney World. Last week

or actually this week, we were just at the internal communications conference where which is at the Microsoft headquarters. So we we like to bring people together but in unique environments where the experience is really meaningful because let's face it, you can learn a lot just sitting at your desk at a computer and just watching a video or something. So being together is um and having that

creating those experiences is a big part of what we do at Reagan. And so that's it. You know, w we are all about learning and development for communicators and connecting one communicator with another and and one plus one equals three sort of

‍

Justin Levinson (07:00)

What what is the what do the events look like?

‍

Diane Schwartz (07:03)

Well, we have anywhere from three hundred to eight hundred people that come to our events. The only exception is we do a small women's retreat that's purposely kept to under a hundred. And it looks like it it depends on the conference, of course, but we have tracks for you know, so people can choose their learning journey. But we do a lot of networking and peer to peer brainstorming because

Not only are the speakers experts, but the people who are attending have a lot to to share with one another. And so we recognize all the learning that can happen beside you in the hallway on the stage. And so we put our attendees in cohorts if they want to be in a small group so they can build those bonds, create those bonds with other attendees. We have entertainment. We have

Lots of we have after parties and dinners and round tables that happen during the event. And we have a lot of technology partners that are there too. And our events are one are those events where our attendees love meeting with the exhibitors. And so that's a great that's great too because we don't have to bribe them to talk to

‍

Justin Levinson (08:21)

That's cool. And so you guys service, you know, uh internal teams of brands and and agencies. Maybe you can tell us a little bit about um what kind of clients that that you help.

‍

Diane Schwartz (08:30)

Yeah, we have a lot of corporations. That's our biggest audience segment is a communications professional in a corporation. And we also have nonprofits and associations that are part of our market. And then agencies, we a lot of them are very active in the many awards programs that we have. We have um like a dozen awards programs, everything from employee communications awards to PR.

awards to top women. And so we're always benchmarking excellence through our awards programs and then bringing them together at our events. So agencies we also work with on the editorial side, the agencies have have their eye on a lot of interesting things going on in the marketplace, right? Because they have multiple clients and they're doing so many different kinds of campaigns and work for them.

that they bring great case studies to us and other insights.

‍

Justin Levinson (09:32)

Cool.

‍

Diane Schwartz (09:32)

Yeah.

‍

Justin Levinson (09:33)

Well, yeah, we you know obviously we we interview mostly folks that are within the agency space. So it was interested in digging a little deeper. And maybe you could offer some insights um to some of our our you know listeners on uh yeah, on PR agencies and and what what you think that you know they could they could do maybe better and what what could help them in in the industry. Thanks for tuning in, folks. This episode is brought to you by Coming Up Creative.

Relationship First Boutique Creative Recruitment Agency. We disrupt the creative ecosystem by running sophisticated multi-channel campaigns with custom video and voice outreach that actually gets responses. We actively market the agencies and brands we represent to help them stand out to today's industry's top talent, all backed by real human connection and AI-powered targeting. If you're ready for a modern recruitment approach, visit www.cominguplc.com.

get started today.

‍

Diane Schwartz (10:31)

It's just it's really a seminal moment for agencies. I mean, we have thousands of agencies that are among our customers and we also do a lot of round tables where there's agency participation and conversations that we have with agency execs and it's they know this, but it's there's this great opportunity now with agencies to be part of this answer economy.

where uh it seems easier said than done. It always seems easier said than I think agencies would agree, you know, it's you can't you you need partners to help you really elevate your brand and agencies do that. And their expertise around the a AI, you know, GEO and being the brand showing up in the LLMs, whether it's Chat GPT, Gemini, Claude or whatever, there is an art and a science to it.

in understanding both the art and the science of that, this is that moment for PR agencies to really shine. Now on the other side of it, there is a lot to be said for this moment that we're in, not only with AI, but just um the perma crisis that exists right now. It depends on the day. There's always there's there's something, but most companies right now are going through a transformation of some sort.

while they're dealing with just like the everyday possible crises that could happen. So agencies that are that trusted partner and strategic partner for the client is more important than ever, especially as corporations and other of clients are like downsizing or maybe not hiring as much because of AI, to have that partner, agency partner.

who can see around the corners and pull from the learnings of other clients, you know, to bring to bear for their other clients is really important. But there's a little bit of a sameness out there where the offerings, everybody's got a proprietary platform now, right? And and they have thought leadership.

And so how do you differentiate as an agency nowadays? And so much of that, I'll answer my own question, is that there's people skills that you need in the agency world. I mean, it's about relationships and trust between the client and the agency. And that's more powerful and important than ever for for for agencies to know. I mean, the GEO, that's like table stakes. I mean, that is you just have to know.

how to insert yourself in this answer economy and have proof of concept there. But the more fun work is in the strategic side and the counseling, brand and reputation side of things.

‍

Justin Levinson (13:33)

Yeah. So you believe that the even in all the change in technology that that these relationships are are are are gonna be paramount. How can you know, how do you think people can build like these stronger relationships? How is that possible? What what can they do?

‍

Diane Schwartz (13:53)

Well, it I think it need to get out there. I mean that person to person connection. We see that 'cause we do a lot of live events, but when you get people in a room together, it magic happens. And so it's harder to do that on a Zoom call. But that's not always practical or feasible, right? And so if you know, there's nothing right it's it's sort of the cobblers, kids having no shoes, you know, promoting your

great work and sort of bra little bit of bragging about it can go a long way. Um people just don't know people are busy, short attention spans being what they are. How do you tout what you're doing without giving away, you know, secrets from your clients? Yeah. How do you do that? Well, that's, you know, you have to do PR for your PR firm. Mm-hmm.

you have to show up in the LLMs too, right? Not just your clients. So really under and this has been a perennial problem actually in the communication space is just the PR around communications and the value of communications in the enterprise, you know, in a company is something that we work really hard to elevate, but and to advocate.

For the role of the communicator. So it's the same thing with agencies in terms of advocacy for the role of agencies with their partners and showing, not just telling, showing people what you've done. And some of that can be through awards programs, of course, but it's some of it is just instead of a thought leadership piece written in part by AI, like tell like real stories of or share practical.

advice to the community. Yeah, value. People wanna people want right now like those shortcuts and those insights and from other humans. And if you're with an agency, we have a lot of great partners out there who are super smart and use our platform to share their ideas, insights and tactics and there are other places aside from Reagan to do that. And I highly recommend cool. They take the time.

‍

Justin Levinson (16:10)

So people who who work with you, they're able to be part of a community of sharing ideas and and of sorts.

‍

Diane Schwartz (16:16)

Yeah, I mean, at our conferences, whether it's on stage, whether it's being interviewed for an article or writing an article, doing research, you know, research or some sort of co-branded. We do a lot of co-branded work with different partners, but the the research that you can bring into the marketplace that's legit, because anybody can do a survey or something, will can go a long way too and really help your agency to stand out.

‍

Justin Levinson (16:47)

Cool. Well what's your favorite part of the of your job?

‍

Diane Schwartz (16:51)

Every day is different. And I love that. I love the talking to our customers and hearing hearing how they're feeling, what their challenges are. It always sparks ideas, helps inform what we can do in the community for them just by talking. It goes such a long way. One conversation with the a custom is worth hours and weeks of sitting and just reading things, you know? Yeah. So that's

What I love is being able to talk to our customers and also because we're doing so many things at once, being able to shift gears, you know, a lot and have a lot of variety in my day.

‍

Justin Levinson (17:35)

Yeah. That's that's pretty fun. Yeah, so that's great that the the customers that you speak to are are probably filling you with ideas of new things that you can do and offer for for them in the future.

‍

Diane Schwartz (17:46)

Absolutely. And it's so much is about seeing around the corners, you know, and helping our customers be better at what they do, have the confidence. So one of the big issues across the board is and it's I hate to even say it out loud 'cause it's such a cliche, but you know, getting that seat at the table and there's variations on that, like

Bring your own seat or create your own table. And there's so many different spins on that. But end of the day, it's the idea of having influence, that communications, communicators having influence in their organization and not just being order takers. And that's where agencies, you know, for those listening from the agency side, is they can help their clients be more influential in their organization and prove the value.

of what they're doing and making sure it aligns with the business goals, then you're golden. Yeah.

‍

Justin Levinson (18:47)

Yep, I imagine that's how one client leads the next to the next to the next, if you sort of that proof of of delivery. Cool. I I guess outside of the whole working world and being CEO, which I'm sure is incredible responsibility, what uh what kind of things do you enjoy doing like outside of work? What kind of hobbies and things do you enjoy? I

‍

Diane Schwartz (19:06)

do enjoy well I get to travel a lot for my work 'cause we do conferences all over and I like to I really enjoy work travel, but I also enjoy traveling with my family. My kids are out of the house, so they're adult, they're adulting. So having on vacations with them and spending time with them is is a lot of fun. I write a writer. I've always been a writer. uh

I got woke, I think I was born and I had was looking for a pen or something. I was like, it's a baby. But I do love writing, so I do that in my spare time. Biking. I like to do charity bike rides when I can. I have a dog, an Australian Shepherd that keeps me busy, me and my husband, so but I'm not there's nothing out of the ordinary. I'm constantly I'm a very curious person. So I do I do read a lot and um

you know, whether it's I I still get magazines but I do a lot of reading. When I wake up in the morning I'm reading three on my phone, you know, at least three major from three major media outlets to get caught up in the day and I can't like get on with my day until I've done all that and my and my puzzles, my New York Times puzzles.

‍

Justin Levinson (20:25)

Nice. That's similar to me in a lot of ways. What's what what do you like to write about specifically?

‍

Diane Schwartz (20:31)

Both fiction and mostly fiction and some non fiction. I haven't I don't have a published book. I'm not I I like the the act of writing. I like to write for like I like to journal, but I like to write fiction. I like to write short stories, but they're mostly uh fiction. I am working on a book around leadership which hopefully will come out in twenty twenty seven.

‍

Justin Levinson (20:58)

Sweet, so that one could be potentially published for people to be able to purchase and read. That's

‍

Diane Schwartz (21:03)

Correct.

‍

Justin Levinson (21:04)

awesome. That must have been an amazing journey writing writing that a whole book like that. How how long did it take you? We haven't finished it.

‍

Diane Schwartz (21:11)

And it's been it's really great. I mean, I learned a long time ago back in when I was in college getting my journalism degree. If you can, you know, to let sing things sit for a while and come back to it. And what's been amaz there's been so much change in the last year or two that I'm so glad I've waited, that I've been a little slower in writing this because so much has changed. And

I have a sort of a different perspective on things because of AI and because of a lot of the things going on in the world has changed sort of my angle on writing nonfiction.

‍

Justin Levinson (21:51)

Yeah. That's great. Uh so yeah, well listeners can can keep an eye out for for that book. That's exciting. Awesome. Cool, man. Well, thanks so much for for being on the the pod today and and having a conversation and offering so much value to the com community. it's been a real wonderful chat. Um

‍

Diane Schwartz (22:07)

Yeah, thanks. Looking forward.

‍

Justin Levinson (22:09)

take it easy.

‍

Diane Schwartz (22:10)

You too. Bye.