In this episode of Cited Sidebars, Stacker CEO Noah Greenberg spoke with Amanda Coffee, the Head of Public Relations at AI-native creative suite Higgsfield.
After holding senior communications roles at PayPal and Under Armour, Amanda ran her own agency for AI-first startups before joining Higgsfield earlier this year.
Below, find Amanda's thoughts on what successful communications strategies look like right now, how companies are measuring the value of their PR efforts, and how to get the coverage you really want.
1. A good PR strategy is all about relationships
An effective communications strategy is built on relationships, Amanda said — but not only with the media.
"One thing that a lot of comms people overlook is networking with their peers at other companies," she said. "When I was at PayPal, meeting with the Mastercard and Goldman Sachs teams, I got so many ideas from them."
Plus, she points out, these connections can provide useful knowledge on how various publications work with other brands, help with quick wins when you change industries, and facilitate mutually beneficial media connections. "We all have so much insight that doesn't live on the internet or doesn't live in a book," she said.
"I think the way to be successful is to reach out to your community of PR people and learn," she said later in the conversation, "because the interesting thing about doing comms in AI is: This is all new. We're all learning. I compare notes with my peers all the time."
Amanda says that in the past five years, she has seen C-Suite leaders come around to a longer-term strategy of relationship-building. Whereas she found they used to ask a lot of questions about the benefit of inviting other CEOs or communications professionals to an event, now they're all-in. "Now people really understand the benefit of building those relationships and having that network," she said.
2. Don't discount the value of meeting in person
Building those relationships in person is just as important as ever, Amanda said — especially in newer fields like AI.
She highlighted the fact that many companies are moving into live events. "It's because some of these new technologies, AI included, could be a little scary or confusing" to some people, she said. But when you demonstrate the technology in person, "it's like an aha moment," she continued. "They're like, 'This is so good!' It gets them excited."
She credits some of her own biggest hits to in-person meetings with reporters.
"Right now in the attention economy, people are so busy," she continued, "and with all these reporters getting so many pitches that are written by AI, you really have to know someone in person in order to make that connection."
3. The value of PR should be directly tied to the company’s goals
"I think the biggest learning I've had across agency, in-house, all of that is that comms people don't show their work enough," Amanda said. It's not just about demonstrating the team's success; it's also about proving the team’s ROI.
She tells the story of when her team at PayPal rented out the biggest movie theater in San Jose to host a preview of a Star Wars movie before it was released. At the time, they were trying to hire engineers and demonstrate that the company was cool and relevant.
"We got great media coverage," she said. But after talking to her manager, she realized that she had missed an opportunity to communicate the strategy behind it. "Someone will see that and be like, 'Oh, the comms team threw a fun pizza party,'" she continued. "They don't know why we did it."
Now, Amanda says she’s "really deliberate" about sending reports to executives or while preparing for a board report or investor day. You have to really spell out the business driver, she explained. What is your campaign helping with? If you're doing a business profile in one of your key markets, what audience are you reaching? If you work for a public company, she recommends going through the earnings transcript and connecting your initiatives to the company’s success.
If the focus for your communications team is thinking about LLMs as an audience, she said, make sure you're really spelling that out. While executives often really care about appearing in print, for example, that's not the only thing a communications team can help with. For instance, she said, “If the LLMs don't understand one of your products, PR can help with that.”
Madeline Stone is the Content Manager for Editorial & Insights at Stacker. She was previously a longtime business and tech journalist at Business Insider and a content and communications consultant for startups.
