Эксперт по PR объяснил, как в эпоху ИИ выстроить доверие и измерить эффективность коммуникаций

172 Views by Ed Garsten, TTAC Creator (IC: ) Published:  September 8th, 2026 Host/journalist Ed Garsten welcomes Steve Turner to the podcast. He's the co-owner/principal of St. Louis-based Solomon Turner PR and author of the book "PR That Works." They discuss what PR tactics work, don't work, the role of AI and how you accurately measure whether or not those tactics had any positive effect. { "id": "9863998", "alt": "", "title": "", "video_link": "https://www.youtube.com/embed/se3bz-cgdV4", "youtube_video_id": "se3bz-cgdV4" } { "width": 634, "height": 357, "showRelated": true } TTAC Creator Ed Garsten hosts "  Tales from the Beat," a podcast about the automotive and media worlds. A veteran reporter and public relations operative, Garsten worked for CNN, The Associated Press,  The Detroit News, Chrysler's PR department and Franco Public Relations. He is currently a senior contributor for Forbes. The  TTAC Creators Series  tells stories and amplifies creators from all corners of the car world, including culture, dealerships, collections, modified builds and more. An AI-summarized transcript and edited by a staffer is below. Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by  subscribing to our newsletter. Summary This episode of  Tales from the Beat  features host Ed Garsten interviewing  Steve Turner, co-owner and principal of Solomon Turner PR and author of  PR That Works. The conversation focuses on how public relations has changed in the age of AI while the fundamental principles of effective PR remain largely the same.  Turner argues that successful PR begins with clearly defined business objectives, a precise understanding of the target audience, a differentiated message, appropriate media channels, and meaningful measurement.  Turner's Five-Step PR Process Turner outlines a five-step approach to developing an effective PR campaign: Define the objective. PR should connect directly to a company's broader business goals, such as increasing product sales, generating revenue, or supporting the launch of a service. Without a specific objective, it is difficult to determine whether a PR campaign is accomplishing anything. He uses the example of a toy-truck company seeking to sell 100,000 trucks in six months and asks how PR can contribute to that goal.  Define the audience at a micro level. Turner believes broad demographic categories aren't specific enough. Instead of targeting something like "women 25 to 54," PR professionals should understand exactly who the customer is, what they read and watch, where they spend time, and what motivates them. Developing detailed customer personas allows campaigns to target the people most likely to buy.  Develop the message. Companies need to articulate what makes them different. Turner stresses that the message should be simple, compelling and understood throughout the organization. He favors niche marketing over vague claims aimed at "everyone." A company that discovers it has particular success with engineers, for example, might focus its PR efforts specifically on that professional group.  Choose the delivery system. The appropriate media channels depend on the audience. These might include trade publications, Substacks, podcasts, social media, television or other outlets. Turner emphasizes that simply obtaining a television appearance isn't necessarily useful if the target audience isn't watching that particular program.  Measure the results. Measurement must relate back to the original objective. Rather than celebrating every media placement, PR professionals should determine which tactics are producing useful results and invest more heavily in those. Turner describes this as amplifying what works instead of continuing to spend resources on ineffective tactics.  Moving Beyond Vanity Metrics A major theme is the industry's historical reliance on  media impressions and audience numbers. Garsten recalls his experience in corporate PR, where satellite media tours could produce impressive-looking potential audience figures even when there was little evidence that they actually generated vehicle sales. Turner acknowledges that large reach numbers can make executives and boards feel good but argues that companies increasingly need to understand  where leads and business are actually coming from. He also discusses the tension between pursuing potentially transformative campaigns and protecting short-term financial results. Companies may favor incremental growth because it is easier to defend internally than taking a risk on a campaign or product launch that could initially hurt financial performance.  PR Is About Trust and Credibility Turner makes an important distinction between  PR and direct lead generation. He says PR's primary purpose is to build awareness, trust and credibility over the long term rather than immediately generate sales. Media coverage can also become a tool for salespeople. Instead of simply telling prospective customers that their company is great, sales representatives can point to newspaper and magazine articles, television appearances, awards and industry recognition as independent validation. Turner also emphasizes  "HR PR"  — using PR to build an organization's reputation among prospective employees. Stories showing what it is like to work at a company can help lesser-known businesses attract stronger candidates by increasing awareness and credibility.  The Press Release Is Changing The discussion then turns to journalists and the traditional press release. Turner says his firm generally  doesn't send conventional press releases to journalists anymore. Instead, it creates short, personalized pitches built around bullet points explaining why a particular story would interest that journalist's audience. The key is doing research first. PR professionals should actually read the publications they are pitching, understand what individual journalists cover and make sure they are contacting the right person. Sending a banking story to a reporter who only covers insurance, for example, wastes everyone's time.  AI Is Making Personalization More Important Both participants criticize the growing volume of generic, apparently AI-generated PR pitches. Garsten describes receiving emails that aren't actually news and require him to figure out for himself what the supposed story is. Turner says journalists can increasingly recognize formulaic AI-generated releases. His advice is to use technology where appropriate but  retain human judgment and personalization. PR professionals need to understand the journalist, their beat and their previous work rather than simply generating a generic pitch and sending it to a large mailing list.  Relationships Still Matter One of Turner's strongest arguments is that  personal relationships between PR professionals and journalists remain extremely valuable, despite the growth of digital communication and AI. He recommends meeting journalists in person whenever possible — at media events, conferences, breakfasts, lunches or other gatherings. Once a journalist knows that a PR professional consistently provides useful stories and credible sources, subsequent pitches have a better chance of receiving attention. Turner also describes using social media to follow journalists, engage with their work and gradually establish familiarity rather than immediately pitching them.  Two Examples Illustrate the Strategy Turner provides several examples of PR succeeding because the  story itself was genuinely interesting and the relationships were already in place. One involved a classic-car company selling a vehicle that had once belonged to  Frank Sinatra. Rather than simply promoting the sale, Turner developed the Sinatra connection into a compelling story, resulting in coverage from outlets including  Robb Report.  Another example involved a technology client during the  CrowdStrike/Microsoft computer outage. Turner had previously developed a relationship with a former television news anchor who later became a news director. When the station needed a technology expert on extremely short notice, Turner was able to get his client on television within an hour. The client ultimately appeared across several newscasts and accumulated roughly 17 minutes of television coverage in one day. Turner attributes the opportunity partly to the client's ability to perform well on camera, but also to the relationship that had been established with the news director.  Central Takeaway The interview's central message is that  the fundamentals of PR haven't changed, but the tools and methods have. Effective PR requires: Business objective → precise audience → clear message → appropriate media → measurable results The episode also argues that modern PR should move away from mass distribution, generic press releases and vanity metrics toward  targeted storytelling, genuine news value, personalized journalist outreach, relationship building, trust and business-oriented measurement. AI may change how PR professionals create and distribute information, but Turner suggests that it makes the human elements —  knowing the audience, understanding the journalist, finding a genuinely interesting story and building credibility — more important rather than less. #TalesFromtheBeat #EdGarsten #PRThatWorks #SteveTurnerpublicrelations #publicrelationspodcast Add/Edit + Add Hashtags Ed Garsten, TTAC Creator TTAC Creator Ed Garsten hosts " Tales from the Beat," a podcast about the automotive and media worlds. A veteran reporter and public relations operative, Garsten worked for CNN, The Associated Press, The Detroit News, Chrysler's PR department and Franco Public Relations. He is currently a senior contributor for Forbes. More by Ed Garsten, TTAC Creator