The Hidden Messages for Solo PR Pros in the Muck Rack State of PR Report

That Solo Life, Episode 348: The Hidden Messages for Solo PR Pros in the Muck Rack State of PR Report

Karen Swim, APR (00:03):
Quick question before we even say hello. Did you read Muck Rack's new state of PR report and feel like it was describing someone else's job?
Michelle Kane (00:17):
Yeah. You know what? I pored through it, and only 18% of the respondents were solos. And then across every chart, stress, hours pitching, GEO. I'm like, I'm sorry, where are we? There's no solo column.
Karen Swim, APR (00:38):
Yeah. So today we're going to just build that column ourselves. So welcome back to That Solo Life, the show for independent PR pros, micro agency owners, and anyone doing this job as a department of one. I'm Karen Swim, president of Solo PR Pro.
Michelle Kane (01:02):
And I'm Michelle Kane, the principal here at Voice Matters. And today, we are digging into Muck Rack's State of PR 2026 report, where they talked to 971 PR professionals. Actually, no, they took the survey. And these were mostly PR pros who are in agencies and in-house, and it was just published just this summer.
Karen Swim, APR (01:31):
Yeah. And if you already scanned the headlines, AI adoption is up, earned media, LinkedIn, when social, you might be thinking nothing new here. We thought the same thing at first.
Michelle Kane (01:49):
We did until we started reading it as solos instead of as someone in the PR industry. So three things jumped out that this report never says directly, but that matter enormously if you're a strategist or a writer or a pitcher or the invoice sender all wrapped up in one person, which we as solos pretty much are. So let's go with segment number one.
Karen Swim, APR (02:17):
So it's clear this report wasn't built for you, right? Let's start off with a number that frames everything else. 971 usable responses that were 56% agencies and 18% solo. And I want to say that that is definitely not a knock on the methodology as someone who does a lot of data studies. Muck Rack is transparent about it, but it means that when we read that 66% of PR pros rate their work stress above five out of 10, or that 55% worked more than 40 hours last week, we're mostly hearing from people with a team that is absorbing some of that load.
Michelle Kane (03:07):
Yeah. Yeah, exactly. And of those 77% are saying that they worked after hours at least once in the last week and nearly a third worked late nights, early mornings, or on weekends three or more days. I mean, a lot of it, that's the nature of our beast sometimes, right? That's the aggregate. But if you take away the roles of the account coordinator, they can pick up an email thread. The intern that they might have who can build the coverage report, you have your colleague who can cover a sick day.
Karen Swim, APR (03:43):
Yeah, there's no chart in this report for that, but there is research outside of the PR industry that sort of gets at it.
Michelle Kane (03:55):
Right, right. And that's broader freelance and creative industry research that's not PR specific. So we're going to figure this kind of as a parallel comparison, right? They found that the majority of, and I know for freelancers, which this word often gets applied to us, but just say so lives in your head. The majority of freelancers are reporting burnout symptoms and a notable share describe energy depletion even when logging fewer hours than a traditional employee, of course. The theory is that when you're responsible for delivery and sales and admin and income security all at once, oh my gosh, yeah, the load doesn't show up as more hours. It shows up as more weight per hour. And boy, isn't that the truth?
Karen Swim, APR (04:51):
That really is the truth. So if you listen to the stress numbers and this report and thought, that's not even close to how heavy this fills, you’re probably right. The data almost certainly underscores it for us or understates it for us as solos. And it's not because Muckrack got it wrong. It's just because the question was never asked of solos specifically.
Michelle Kane (05:18):
Which is why we're here. That's why this podcast exists. We are trying to help us as solos make our way in all of this. Because if you read that report and you think, "Well, that doesn't really feel like me. " Well, like we say, Muck Rack’s not wrong, but you're not wrong either. So we're naming that gap out loud. That's the first step. You're not overreacting to your workload. The weight is heavy. You're running the numbers that this report didn't collect.
Karen Swim, APR (05:53):
Here's where it gets tactical. So let's talk about precision over volume. The report I'm pitching said that 49% of PR pros say that they pitch more than 20 journalists per campaign and 24% pitch more than 50. That's the industry's default, cast a wide net.
Michelle Kane (06:19):
It's almost like throwing it against the wall to see what's going to stick, right? But personalization is moving in the other direction. Only 66% of the respondents say that they usually always personalize their pitches, which is down slightly, but still down from 70% last year. And of those who do personalize their pitches, 73% say that they're only changing a few sentences, they're not really changing the substance of the pitch. So it's just enough to make it look tailored, which I kind of understand, but how's that affecting the recipient?
Karen Swim, APR (06:56):
Yeah. So here's the trend line, pitch more people, customize less per person. And here's the number that should stop everyone who's doing that cold. We also pulled Muck Rack's Companion State of Journalism 2026 report directly and we confirmed it. 88% of journalists say they immediately delete a pitch that's irrelevant to their coverage. That is the biggest reason pitches get trashed. Ahead of being overly promotional at 71% ahead of looking like a mass email at 50%.
Michelle Kane (07:39):
But wait, there's more. 70% of journalists say the number one thing a pitch should demonstrate is clear relevance to their beat. I mean, could it get any clearer? And this is ahead of interview access, ahead of data, ahead of everything else on the list. 43% say relevant pitches are seldom or never what they actually receive. And 54% are seldom or never respond to a PR pitch at all. And just talking to ourselves here, it's not just that you should know the beat of who you're sending this stuff to. They're going to remember your name. So chances are when you do send them something relevant, are they going to open it? They're going to think, "Ugh, it's this person again who doesn't know what I do.”
Karen Swim, APR (08:28):
Yeah. And I mean, again, let's keep in mind as we're sharing these statistics, think of this through the Solo PR Pro lens because you're probably like, "Who does that? " But it's still good to know. So one journalist in the report put it quite bluntly in the open-ended responses. This journalist said, "Don't pitch widely, pitch selectively and then widen as needed." And you know what? That's not PR advice. That's not coming from PR practitioners. That's coming straight from the inbox that we're all trying to land in.
Michelle Kane (09:11):
Right, right. So this notion of how to pitch, it's as if it ever was. It's not up for debate anymore. It's confirmed on both sides on PR pros and the journalists receiving the pitches. Relevance is the whole game for journalists. And the volume first approach is the industry's growing habit for us. But that is a huge ever widening gap.
Karen Swim, APR (09:42):
Yeah. And I would say that the reframe for solo listeners is that you were never going to outblast a team with a subscription database and three account coordinators. You physically cannot pitch 50 people with real personalization by yourself. I mean, you can, but why would you want to?
Michelle Kane (10:09):
Well, exactly. And that feels like a disadvantage anyway, right? But here we have, thankfully, this data telling us that the industry is trading relevance for reach at the exact moment that reporters are coming from the opposite direction and they're punishing that by thinking, well, that doesn't mean no good. So what we think is a constraint, of being a solo, might be by default pointing us at the right strategy, which is a good thing.
Karen Swim, APR (10:43):
I agree. So it's not that you need a bigger list, you just need a sharper one. And 15 relationships that you actually work with outperform 50 cold leads and this report's data backs that up. So keep in mind that only 27% of pitchers, solo PR pros, say that those are probably the solos in this study worked with most or all of the reporters on their list. Most people are pitching partial strangers at scale, but solos don't have to do that. And I mean, we're saying this tongue in cheek, but realistically we know that because we're solos and because we have accountability in the business, we really do focus on strategy even when pitching. So we were not the people that were sending cold emails out and just doing a pray and spray approach. And so in my mind, this data is good news for us because it's saying that the thing that journalists want is a thing that we're actually doing.
Michelle Kane (11:53):
Yeah. Yeah. Well, here's some more good news. Good news for solos. So another thing that this report revealed is the GEO ownership vacuum. And we've talked about this here before. This is a great way to really stand out amongst the crowd when you're pitching new business or serving your clients. So GEO is generative engine optimization and all it is making sure your content and coverage are showing up in AI generated answers, not just search results. Huge. And 73% of PR pros say it's at least somewhat important to their strategy right now.
Karen Swim, APR (12:40):
Wow. But 29%, which is the single largest group, say that no one owns it at their organization. And another 13%, they're not really sure who does. And PR and comms claim it 24% at the time. SEO or content teams claim it 15% at the time. Marketing leadership, 11%. And a dedicated AI team, 9%. So clearly it's scattered.
Michelle Kane (13:14):
Yeah. Yeah. Which is a real organizational headache. If you're inside a company with five different departments, each one could conceivably claim this, but you've got committees, turf, budget conversations. Whereas for us as solos, there's no committee. You just have to decide, "Oh, hey, hey client, we really need to be doing this and do it.”
Karen Swim, APR (13:37):
Yeah. I mean, so we already own it, right? Whatever GEO ends up meaning for your clients or your own visibility, there's no one to loop in. No meeting is scheduled to decide whose job it is. That decision was made the day you went solo.
Michelle Kane (16:34):
And the tactics that report lists are ones we're already positioned to move on. 55% are securing coverage in high authority publications to build AI visibility. Half are creating more authoritative or data-driven content. Half of them are optimizing for search and 44% are structuring content, meaning writing content with clear answers, FAQs, and not just FAQs on your FAQ page, having little FAQs on various pages so that the AI tools can gobble this up more easily. And the beauty of it is it's good content from you.
Karen Swim, APR (17:21):
Yeah. And every one of those is a single person task. So pitch for the authoritative placement, write the data-driven piece, structure the FAQ. None of it requires a cross-functional sign off. However, I will say that even though we don't have unlimited hours either, you want to be strategic. Our solo PR Pro premium members, we've really been trying to jump in and provide some guidance around this. But I think the bigger thing is that this data tells us how scattered GEO ownership is within an organization. So it's an opportunity for us to take some leadership and know that you need to call that out as well and be able to work with whatever departments have that ownership and understand that they're speaking the language a little bit differently than we might see it in a broader sense.
Michelle Kane (18:18):
So true. So true. And really what it means is if you start now informally, you're not behind. You may genuinely be ahead of these larger organizations that are still arguing about who's going to handle this hot potato.
Karen Swim, APR (18:33):
So true. So here's a few takeaways. If you've been listening, solo PR Pro person, one, you want to trust your own stress and workload data more than what's reported in this report. If it feels heavier than 55% working over 40 hours, it's because the report was never measuring a department of one.
Michelle Kane (19:02):
So true. So true. Second, shrink your pitch list and go deeper. This report shows that the industry is moving toward more volume and less personalization at just the moment that journalists are rewarding your relevance and your personalization. So let the data give you permission to stop trying to outvolume agencies with 10 times your headcount.
Karen Swim, APR (19:30):
Yeah. And then the third thing is claim GEO now informally before anyone tells you it's yours to claim. Pick one tactic from the list, a data-driven piece, a tighter FAQ structure on a site, and just start.
Michelle Kane (19:48):
Yep, exactly. And underneath all three of these takeaways, it's the same thing we say most every week. Doing this alone doesn't mean doing it in isolation. That's the whole reason Solo PR Pro exists. It's a place to ask the question. You can't ask out loud at a firm that has layers of managers who are not just, you're not just working for them, they're evaluating you because there aren't any layers between you and the work.
Karen Swim, APR (20:17):
Yeah, I agree. And if today's conversation hit home, please share it with a friend. Tag another solo or tag someone that is in-house and maybe they're in a small department or in a big agency because we're all in this together.
Michelle Kane (20:33):
We are. We are. And of course we're going to include links to all of these reports and stats that we mentioned. They're going to be in the show notes at thatsololife.com.
Karen Swim, APR (20:46):
Yep. And thank you so much for spending this time with us. If the episode was useful, as we mentioned, send it to a solo practitioner who needs to hear that the data undercounts them and remind them how valuable they are and that somebody sees them and understands the challenges that we face.
Michelle Kane (21:07):
So true because at the risk of being a cheese ball, we are all in this together. So until next time,
Karen Swim, APR (21:14):
That's Solo Life.