Are You in PR? Welcome to the Sales Team

By Dustin Siggins

Last month, Semafor’s Ben Smith reported that consumers’ reliance on AI for research, news, and entertainment has created more value for public relations professionals. The reason? Large language model AI systems value journalism above many other sources—and guess who provides journalists many of their stories, data, and sources.

It’s a breath of fresh air for the industry, which has been pummeled for years by the fast-changing media environment.

But it’s only that—a single breath—because it can’t be assumed that those who make the decisions to hire and empower PR firms will a) see Smith’s article and b) understand its implications.

It's important to translate this good news into the C-Suite’s language: how it will drive sales. Otherwise, it's just shouting into the wind about “brand awareness” and “media coverage” instead of driving the value and earning the respect PR deserves.

Wait...talk about sales?

When Aaron Gouveia left sales for journalism and public relations, he was relieved. “I hated sales,” he said. “And I despised the idea that the new job had anything to do with it.”

That was almost 20 years ago. But just two months ago, Gouveia—now PR director for Mass Audubon— said he had to eat his words.

“We had a dream month in April, with placements ranging from a state-based newsletter that reaches state and local policymakers all the way to NPR and CBS,” he explained. “By working with the business development and marketing teams, those placements were put on all of our social platforms and newsletters. And thanks to the partnership of placements and newsletters, the Mass Audubon Society got tens of thousands of donations.”

Of course, not everyone can apply PR success to a direct bottom-line impact. Sometimes, you just have to admit that media coverage won’t pay dividends for years—or even that there won’t ever be a linear relationship between the placement and profit.

That’s when it becomes important to take a page out of the marketing handbook. Many CMOs have ditched technical language and begun analyzing data from management’s perspective. That analysis is then issued in reports that are customized to management’s language.

“When we secure coverage, we don’t just report on outlets and impressions,” says Sarah Evans, Partner and Head of PR for Zen Media. “We break it down by business function. For one client, we included a section dedicated specifically to their CMO, translating what the earned media means for their goals, KPIs, and reporting language. We also tied the coverage to generative search visibility and brand narrative reinforcement.”

It’s a lot of work. But according to Evans, it turned media coverage from “just a placement” into “a strategic asset” that achieved several goals.

“Our internal champion looks good to their boss, the CMO looks good to theirs, and we’re aligning PR with broader business objectives,” she said.

Want more respect and authority? Get coffee with the sales folks

With the amount of bifurcated, niche content consumers absorb every day, nobody can see every piece of media content. That’s why most PR professionals work with their marketing colleagues to repurpose content. It can be called surround-sound marketing—you can call it whatever you want, as long as it drives the types of outcomes Evans and Gouveia described above.

The key here is to integrate PR and marketing from the start to drive more value for both. But before that, you’ll also want to grab coffee with the sales team—the frontline, customer-facing teammates who are hearing concerns, successes, fears and pains in real-time.

“Public relations is not about getting coverage for its own sake,” says Sage Communications President Julie Murphy. “There cannot be silos—everything must work together like a symphony, especially when the vast majority of customers aren’t getting their information in a sales call—but through online research, friends and trusted advisors.”

“I might be biased,” Murphy continued. “A lot of our customers are in the government contracting space, where our biggest internal champion is often a sales leader. But that also validates how much PR can, when used as the proper strategic resource, truly impact corporate growth and revenue.”

Dustin Siggins is Founder of Proven Media Solutions.
This article originally appeared in the June 6, 2025 issue of PR NEWS.