What Do In-House PRs Do Differently?

Glad to be here. So, I did seven years total in two different agencies, working on pretty much everything across the board of what we do in Digital PR: Team management, outreach, ideation, production, and working externally with designers, clients, and freelancers.

AC: So even when you were agency-side you wore different hats in your role. Did you find that multiple hat-wearing translated well to the role you are doing now at Remitly?

GD: It’s been really useful. When you're in-house your responsibilities change. All of a sudden you're like a brand guardian. You don’t really have that responsibility agency-side, because you know that your client is going to be able to fill in the gaps. At Remitly we touch on a lot of topics that can be quite challenging—like finance and migration—where taking care on how the brand is represented is crucial.

AC: That brand guardianship can be quite tricky for agencies to execute. When they work on sometimes upwards of 20 clients at a time, it’s not always possible to keep up with everything happening within the business and the wider world.

GD: Definitely. I thought after being in agencies for seven years, and having done lots of client management that I had a pretty good sense of what clients needed. Then a few months into being in-house I realised I didn't have a clue. Even down to the basics of understanding priorities.

Agencies might think: “How has a client not got round to X?”, but there are so many other things that we're working on and so many other teams that we're working with that time management becomes so much more valuable. 

AC: Also the relationship building internally is much more critical.

GD: That's right. You’re constantly trying to think of the best way to collaborate with other teams to get the most of our Digital PR and SEO work. Which in turn means I might be getting brought in on things that may have a Digital PR consideration in six months, just because I need to plan and strategise ahead of time.

AC: I remember from my brief time as a client that the meeting number was a lot higher than in agency. It creeped up because of the cross-pollination you discussed, which is always encouraged.

GD: Definitely, if you’re in an agency role and didn't really love the client comms or the meeting side of things, I don't think you're going to have a good time in-house!

AC: One thing I struggled with in-house was motivating a team to get links and experiment without the jeopardy of a client's expectations. I know your team does your own link building activity as well as working with agencies, how do you balance that?

GD: I think it comes down to a culture of experimentation. It helps that I'm at a tech company, so it's ingrained in how we approach everything. Whatever role you're doing, you need to be trying new things. 

I produced a data storytelling campaign relatively early, on my own from start to finish. It did fine, but didn’t pop off. And I remember having a meeting with my then manager. He said: "Okay, cool. What do we learn from it? And now, on to the next one." The big thing for me was realising that, because of my commitments internally, I didn’t have enough time to do the campaigns justice. 

Which, when coupled with the hangover from my agency mindset of "Here's what we need to do to fix this campaign before moving on", probably hindered the campaign. But as long as you are trying new things and testing new approaches I think that's the difference. Versus just doing the same thing over again and expecting different results.

AC: If you have the luxury of experimentation, make sure you take advantage of it! 

GD: Definitely, and just ensuring there's a safe foundation of solid digital PR which will keep results going, means that you can then maybe try something a bit weird or different. 

AC: That said, because you're in a regulated industry, do you find that agencies struggle to pitch original ideas because there are a lot of constraints?

GD: We do get the same kind of ideas over and over again on pitches. But I understand why and I know if I was in their shoes, I'd be worried to give a different kind of idea because it's regulated. 

Personally, I encourage it. If you do have something you think might be a bit ‘out there’, just bring it up and have a conversation with your client because you never know. There might either be a version that could work or maybe we're up for it as pitched. Regulated doesn't mean boring, it just means safe guardrails. You can have safe guardrails around a wacky idea. 

AC: I was on the Digital PR Podcast recently and one of the things we discussed was the use of generative AI from an agency perspective. What’s your view from the client side of the incorporation of ChatGPT et al. into processes?

GD: That's a big thing. For me, the question is whether generative AI has been used to make what is presented as unique content? If yes, then from a legal perspective, how do I know this whole paragraph is original? How do I know we haven't just accidentally lifted from a blog and we're about to put it live? With the way the technology is at the moment I would not feel comfortable when working with an agency that's going to rely on AI to make copy or data or graphics.  

AC: We’ve said before that using it for anything that requires accuracy or originality is dangerous.

GD:  On the flip side, working for a tech company, I want my agency to test things and learn each year and improve and experiment. 

The hard thing is finding the right degree of using AI but not in a dangerous way. But as a client, if an agency says we're using AI loads, I also wonder what the impact is on me? Is this cheaper now because you don't have to use as many hours? If not, and the results also don't get better, you have then worked yourself into a corner where you've got to defend your AI and strategy. I’d be cautious of putting the client in a position to start questioning the strategy and the workflows that you've got implemented. 

AC: I agree, and a big part of the responsibility in thought leadership is understanding how these tools work, the impact that it’s having on the present of our work and how it will affect the future too. 

GD: For sure, I think that's cool. That's a healthy approach to work. When you're in an agency you're absorbing so much from everywhere all at once, whereas in-house—especially if you're in a smaller team—it's much harder to keep up to date with things.

So there's that benefit as well of just trying out tools and being able to engage in that conversation, as long as it’s clear how it’s being implemented.