How AI Impacts PR Agencies and Solos with Chip Griffin

0:00 Thank you for joining us for this episode of That's Solo Life, the podcast for PR pros and marketers who work for themselves. People like me, Michelle Kane with Voice Matters, my wonderful co-host Karen Swim of Solo PR Pro, and we are so excited to continue our crossover journey by welcoming Chip Griffin back to That's Solo Life. Chip, we joined you recently on your podcast and now here you are. Welcome. It's great to be here as always. I love being on your show. And we love you. You are by far one of our all-time favorite guests and our audience agrees because they're smart. Yes. Excellent. Love to hear it. But we may have to have a conversation about who's a better guest than me because then I might have to have a competition.

0:47 I don't think that there's anybody like you are. Like when we look at our analytics, you were always like Chip Griffin. It's like, yup. Guest emeritus. There we go. Not that old. Oh, no, no, no, no. But we're so glad you're with us today because today we're going to talk about the landscape of what we do, PR comms, all that good stuff. You know, really help our listeners and each other navigate how it's looking right now. To say it's been a weird year or a weird couple of years is kind of an under, you know, an understatement. So what are you seeing out there right now, Chip?

1:33 So, I mean, this is not the first time we've had a conversation similar to this on your show. I guess I'm sort of the go to for weird. So I'm not sure how to interpret that. But look, we are in a similar place to where we have been a number of times over the last five or six years, which is there's a lot of uncertainty. There's certainly economic and political and international uncertainty that's gripping a lot of folks right now. And so for the world of agencies and solos, that means we're kind of seeing a mixed bag. No, you know, I'm not hearing a lot of significant growth stories. I'm not hearing as many decline stories as we've heard in some past events. It's more stagnant. And so that's a tough place to be because it's, you know, you as a business owner, you sit there and say, well, you know, we're not doing great, but we're not doing terrible. So do I really want to change a lot or not? And then, of course, as we talked about in the first part of this crossover, we've got the whole umbrella of A.I. that is enveloping all of us and also making us think about, you know, what the future of our businesses and our careers are, frankly.

2:43 Yeah. Yeah, that is so true. I mean, what you just said is exactly what I've been telling people, you know, how's business? It's like it's it's decent, could be better. And honestly, I can't blame those prospects out there because every day it's a new issue to consider with running your business. And, you know, the business world loves continuity and, dare I say it, sanity and, you know, ways to project and plan. And this isn't it right now. So I empathize with other businesses, too. I mean, look, client clients are reluctant to to make additional investments right now. There's a lot of pressure on on their budgets and a lot of uncertainty on their side that causes them to want to hold on to their cash and not spend it. Obviously, that that A.I. factor is also there where people are like, well, you know, should I be spending this? Should I just be investing in the A.I. tools and doing it myself? Should I be paying the same rates that I've been paying? Because, geez, it should be cheaper to get this done now because I know that whoever I'm working with is using A.I. to be more efficient. And so there are a lot of pressures that are taking place. And unfortunately, I think some solos and agencies are are looking at A.I. as a cost cutting tool. And, you know, in the short term, yeah, it probably is that. But over the long term, you need to find new ways to create value, because if you're if you're just finding it as a tool to cut costs, you're in a race to the bottom and you're going to be in deep

4:16 trouble when the cost of A.I. starts going up, which we've already seen start to happen. We've already seen some of the providers start start drawing lines in the sand as far as usage. And, you know, at some point we're going to see the actual rates going up for all of us. And so it'll still be cheaper than humans in many cases, but not as cheap as it is today. So we need to focus on value, not on, you know, simply cost cutting. You know, one of the I'm interested to hear what you're hearing from people, because it feels like so, you know, economic turbulence. That's nothing new. We go through cycles. That's normal. So I think if it were just the economy, people would be OK. But there's so many shifts. And one thing that keeps coming up that I'm hearing a lot of is the frustration with the lack of transparency and communication from people. So business development, hot topic. People are doing it. They're being consistent.

5:14 They are getting meetings. They're getting interest. And they go down the road with people and then silence. They're just ghosted for months on end. And you could fill in the blanks yourself. You can make up stories in the absence of information. We always do. Right. And so people assume that sometimes they assume it's them. Like, what did we do? They just don't want to tell us they don't want to move forward. I suspect that it has a lot to do with the landscape. So what what are you hearing that, you know, is really challenging people? And how do we respond to that? I mean, look, ghosting has been an issue that has been discussed in the agency community for as long as I've been in it. So 30 plus years. It is it is not something new. Is there more of it today?

6:01 Maybe. But, you know, what I always tell people is that ghosting is an answer. At a minimum, it's not now because if someone actually wanted to move forward, they'd tell you. Right. Nobody is ghosting you because they just haven't gotten around to saying yes. That's that's not how it works. So so ghosting is, in fact, an answer. And you don't need to press for a further answer. It would be nice to have it and it would be be nice if people were, you know, upfront enough to say, hey, here's where we stand. But the reality is that makes a lot of people uncomfortable. People avoid uncomfortable conversations of all kinds and telling someone, you know, no, we're not ready for this yet or no, we went with somebody else. Really difficult. I think in most cases, it's not that they went with somebody else. It's just that they haven't done anything yet. I mean, that's we're seeing a lot of that right now where people are just in holding patterns. And so sometimes these folks come back months later, six months, eight months more, and they just say, yep, now we're ready. And that can be surprising. But again, that's happened throughout the course of my career.

7:00 My very first agency back in the late 90s, I remember I gave someone a proposal and didn't hear a word from them for over a year. And then like 14 months later, they called up and said, we accept your proposal. And I'm like, you're going to have to send it to me because this was in the floppy disk era and I had no idea which floppy disk I had saved that proposal on. So I'm like, can you fax it back to me so that I know what I promised you I would do and how much I told you I would charge? And I felt kind of stupid, but they had waited so long. I was like, OK, well, just we're going to have to do it this way. Yeah. I mean, obviously, these days, hopefully you still have a copy of it and won't be in that same embarrassing situation that I was. But it happens and always has. So you've just got to keep moving forward, keep having conversations.

7:44 And if you do enough of those, you will find the right opportunities. They may not come as quickly or as large as you'd like them, but they will come as long as you are continuing to have conversations. Yeah. And I think one thing does remain the same. You know, a fair amount of times I'll be talking with, you know, a potential client. And even as you go down the road of the conversations, you realize they have interest, but I see reasons why they're not ready to work with me. You know, they're excited. They want to achieve X. It's like, yeah, but you're doing this other thing that it would make sense to wait or you're not, you know, it's not for, you know, the jello isn't molded yet. So, no. And, you know, that can be frustrating during seasons like this.

8:29 Absolutely. But you do have to be a realist about it. And one of your roles when you're having conversations with prospects is, you know, not just to sell them on what you do, but to vet them. And you're vetting them for fit. You're vetting them for readiness. And if you see a mismatch, you need to be honest with yourself first and say, this is not the right fit or the right time. But then you need to be honest with them and let them know that, you know, it doesn't really make sense to engage me right now until you've gone through these, you know, preliminary steps that will help produce the results that you're really looking for. Because, first of all, they'll trust you more if you, I mean, any time you make yourself seem, you know, less eager, you're more likely to have the other side interested. So, you know, and I know it's tough when you're short on revenue and you're sitting there looking at the bank account, you're like, wow, you know, I got to get some cash flowing here. So I'll say yes to almost anything right now. You really have to discipline yourself and say, no, this is not the right fit or the right time because you're setting yourself up for failure otherwise, which has long term negative consequences for your business and your reputation.

9:35 I agree. You know, I also think that we're in this time now where leaning on the earned media lever for all of those years, and I've been saying this for a long time, but I think a lot of people hit that lever, hit that lever, hit that lever, and they were churning out hits and that's all they focused on. They didn't do any strategy. They didn't put their value anywhere else, even though they are, you know, skilled practitioners, they just push that lever. And big agencies did this too. Well, now that's changed. The media landscape has changed. And so we're left with people thinking that we're just a bunch of media monkeys and why can't you get me in the Wall Street Journal right now? And they don't understand the bigger value. Are you seeing agencies finally make the shift of going levels deeper and really being able to articulate their value and win business for things other than earned media or what are you seeing? Yeah. So, I mean, I think it's a mixed bag. I think there are there are too many that are resisting the necessary evolution that has to take place. And ultimately, you need to look around at this landscape and you need to say, OK, what do clients really need?

11:01 How can I help them with the skill sets that I bring to the table or my team brings to the table if you're not a solo? And how can I bring that to bear to actually help achieve those results? And if you are insisting on maintaining things the way that they have always been, you're not going to succeed. And particularly in the current environment where things are evolving so quickly, it's the media landscape is changing. The influencer landscape is having a real impact on things. We can debate whether that's a good title for it or not, but that's I mean, that's the reality. That's how it gets communicated in the marketplace. And then, of course, as we talked about on the earlier episode, part one of this, AI is having a real impact on how we all do our business. And so we need to think about every aspect of what we're doing in the work that we're doing for clients, how we execute on it, what we're executing on, how we're developing the strategies. And if we're not rethinking every aspect of that, we are not setting ourselves up for future success. And so we need to be much more aggressive at rethinking things because we just we can't simply do the same things we did five or 10 years ago.

12:12 So true. So true. And I think, too, I mean, the very nature of what we do, we should be on the forefront. I mean, because so often we are, right? It's our job to notice trends and to pay attention to them and to, you know, heed them. And sadly, you know, the demise or the, you know, the downturn in earned media opportunities has been a long, sad time coming. And, you know, so it's it's certainly not a surprise. And it's it's really on us to to keep up and be innovative and find a way, you know, at the end of the day, it's still all about storytelling. What story are you telling about about your client and what they have to say?

12:55 And OK, well, how can I get that heard? Yep. And that's a key point because it's you know, Yep. And that's a key point because it's, you know, none of this is it's change, but not really at the same time, because it's the same set of skills that are simply transferred to different targets. So instead of trying to place an op ed in a paper, you're trying to place a blog post somewhere, you're creating owned content or social content instead of trying to build relationships with a reporter. Maybe you're building it with an influencer or, you know, a quasi professional journalist who has a YouTube channel or something like that. There's a lot of the same skills that are easily transferred. And even the strategies are pretty easily transferred. It's just you have to be open to that and not say, well, I'm sorry, I only talk to people from the major media outlets in my markets or my trade press or whatever. You've got to be thinking much more broadly than that if you want to be successful. And all of us need to be thinking more about, dare I say, the peso model, which, of course, I would be remiss not to point out because my co-host on the Agency Leadership Podcast, Jenny Dietrich, created it. So shout out to Jenny. There we go. We've given you credit appropriately. So please don't send me a cease and desist letter. But the peso model is really something that we all need to be thinking about because there's not really a place, in my view, for many practitioners or agencies who are focused just on traditional media relations. You've got to go beyond that. There's a small sliver where that still works, but it's a very small sliver and it's decreasing by the day.

14:29 It's a really good point. I mean, are there any skill sets that you think we're missing? Like, do you see something that pops out at you like people are not getting this and they really need to learn or utilize this skill set to survive? I mean, look, I think the top of my list, and perhaps this is just because of what I do most days, but it's business sense. I mean, unfortunately, most people who are agency owners or solos have very, very poor business sense. And that affects you in two ways. First of all, it hurts you in how you run your own business because you're not thinking about things, whether it's pricing or budgeting or those kinds of things properly. But also, it hinders you in the work that you're doing for your clients because whether you're a for-profit or a nonprofit business, you still have business goals that you're trying to achieve. And the more that we all understand about business, the better partner we can be to our clients. So it helps you two ways. And so I think really improving your business sense, your business skills would be top of my list for every agency owner and solo out there.

15:40 Yeah, definitely. I agree. I mean, I always talk about learning to speak the language of the C-suite. And I do think that that's where PR people really need to live there. We've talked for years about having a seat at the table. But if you get to the table and you're speaking like you're still at the kids table, that's not going to help. And speaking the language means that you actually understand it. And then when you understand what really matters to them, then you can align your impact against what's really important to them. Yeah. And you've got to understand the business impact of your communications, right? So a lot of times I'll see communicators who propose something that's a perfectly fine communication strategy that might help you get more coverage or more positive reviews of what you're doing, but they don't necessarily contribute to the business goals of the organization. And so when I see communicators do that, and they say they want a seat at the table, and then they come in and they start telling other departments what they should be doing. And it's not grounded in, you know, the actual business case for it. It's grounded in what would be helpful for them from a communication standpoint. And so, you know, you've really got to make sure that you can balance those two together, because ultimately, the only reason that communicators and marketers exist within the business is to achieve the business goals. Right. And so if we're not aligned with that, we're never going to be successful.

17:06 So true. So true. It's my highbrow phrase to use is, so what? It's the so what factor, you know? Oh, so we get this attention for that. So what? What is, how does that contribute, you know, to the end goal of you making more money or of you growing, you know, your membership or whatever that looks like? So yeah, it's definitely important to have that mindset going in. Yeah, I think if we don't get to that, if we don't get to the impact our work has rather than just outputs, we're going to suffer from, you know, misaligned expectations, and that's the quickest way to lose a client. And that's why when you're talking with prospects or clients, you need to understand what they're really trying to achieve. Yes. And so when someone comes to you and they say, you know, we need an earned media plan to get us in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, well, why? What's, what are you trying to achieve with that? Because that way you can figure out, is this a reasonable way to achieve that goal? Or is there some better path that you can follow? Or should you just tell them, yeah, that's not possible. And so maybe we're not the right fit, but we're, we tend to be very excited about new opportunities that come in front of us. We tend to fall in love with our clients very, very quickly with our prospects and the ideas of being able to be creative and all of that. But we need to use our judgment. We are the experts. We are here for a reason, and we need to evaluate it and say, yes, this makes sense, or no, this is not the right path. I mean, I regularly have people who come to me for help with their

18:37 agency, and I'll send them somewhere else, or I'll tell them, no, you're not ready for it yet. Because I could, I mean, I've had plenty of cases where I could take someone's money, but they're not going to get the result they're looking for. That doesn't really serve anybody's purpose. And over the long term, I'm in a better place for being honest about that than I am about the short-term cash I might collect. Absolutely. Absolutely agree. Chip Griffin, man of integrity. Well, let's not go too far. I just start in politics after all. So, you know, I have to be careful how deeply I can claim that. Well... But that was a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. When the integrity existed in politics. Well, I wouldn't say it existed, but it was certainly better than it is today, which I guess doesn't really say much.

19:23 It's inexistent today. Thank you, influencer culture and social media algorithms, because I feel like that's ruined so many things. Yeah, so true. Sometime we could have a long conversation about what is ruined. It's a confluence of different factors, some economic, some otherwise. Yeah, but that's not for today's show. Sounds like a fun topic for the future, though. Maybe not recorded, though. We'll have to see. No, no, you're sure. Yes, yes. That's solo life in the green room. What would you say, you know, if you're an agency owner or a solo listening to us and you're like, OK, well, that's great, but like, what's one or two solid, what's a thing or two I can try and do in the next quarter or two to take a positive step?

20:13 So I think that the two key things at moments like this are to listen and learn. And so the first part, listening. So we need to be doing more to ask questions of our prospects of our clients and really listen to what they're saying, understand how are their businesses changing, how are their jobs changing, and then thinking about what does that mean for me. And then the learning piece right now is to me, it's squarely around AI. I mean, I think that that we have we have reached a point where all of us need to be not necessarily experts in AI to the point where we can tell you the nuances between the different models. And unfortunately, a lot of the content that's out there right now around AI is this super geeky stuff, which I appreciate, but it's not accessible to most people. We need to be thinking more in practical terms. How can we use the tools that already exist to help us do what we're doing, not just more efficiently, but better. And I think that the more that we're learning and experimenting, the more we're talking with our peers about how they're using the different tools and tactics, the more we can develop and really evolve our businesses. Because if our businesses look the same two years from now, as they do today, they're not going to look the same because they're going to be smaller, a lot smaller. Yeah, true. That's very true. So true.

21:35 Well, what a great note to end on, Chip. We so value you giving us your time. This crossover event has been so much fun. So we hope you want to do it again sometime soon. To our, you up for it? Love to. Love to. I mean, you know me, you give me a microphone and a camera, you can't stop me. I mean, I have never said no to a microphone anywhere, ever. And just to remind everyone, Chip, what's a good way for our listeners to get in touch with you, to find you out there on the Internet? Sure. You can find me at sagaimpact.com and all of my resources are there, contact forms, microchip, my little AI assistant that will answer questions as if it was me.

22:18 My gosh, stop. In text form. That's adorable. I love it. Well, trained on thousands of my articles and transcripts and that sort of thing. It's, it is remarkable how similar it is to the advice I give. That is fantastic. Well, to our listeners, we know you've got value out of this. So I'm not even going to say I hope you did. And because of that, please do share this episode around. Hit us up at soloprpro.com with any questions or comments. And until next time, thanks for listening to That's Solo Life.