How to Follow Up With Reporters Without Hurting Your PR Strategy

Posted on September 20, 2026 by Mark Macias

By Mark Macias
Founder of MACIAS PR | Former NBC Executive Producer

When I was an Executive Producer with NBC in New York, I was the boss. I helped determine which stories we pursued, but that didn’t mean I walked around the newsroom telling experienced journalists exactly how to report their stories. That would have been a fast way to damage the creative process—and probably my relationship with the people producing the journalism.

Good journalists are independent thinkers. They want to investigate, ask their own questions and reach their own conclusions. You can give them direction. You can point out what they’re missing, and sometimes challenge them to look deeper. But there’s a difference between guiding a journalist and telling a journalist what to do.

That distinction is just as important in public relations, especially if you’re a CEO who typically tells others what to do. Persistence is necessary in PR. Aggression is different. And when you’re dealing with journalists, your approach can be just as important as your strategy.

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How Startups Can Get Media Attention: You Don’t Have to Be the Biggest Dog

Posted on September 18, 2026 by Mark Macias

By Mark Macias
Founder of MACIAS PR | Former NBC Executive Producer

The little dog in this photo is Einstein. He’s my dog, and despite his size, he has never had much trouble getting attention.

There’s a lesson here for startups trying to compete for media coverage against much larger companies: You don’t have to be the biggest dog to get attention. You just need to give people a reason to notice you.

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Why Creativity and Emotion Matter in PR

Posted on September 17, 2026 by Mark Macias

By Mark Macias
Founder of MACIAS PR | Former NBC Executive Producer

Walk into almost any industry and you’ll see the same problem. Companies describe themselves with similar words and repeat similar talking points. From the outside, they blur together. That’s why I believe emotion, ideas and individuality are some of the most important ingredients in public relations. These three elements influence how people experience a story, and ultimately whether they remember the company or person behind it.

Andy Warhol demonstrated this principle in a completely different medium. A can of soup is one of the most ordinary objects imaginable. Millions of people walk past Campbell’s soup cans in grocery stores without giving them a second thought. Warhol didn’t invent the soup can or change what was inside it. He changed the context and, in doing so, made people look at something familiar in an entirely different way.

Great public relations can accomplish something similar. The raw material might be a company, an executive, proprietary data, a customer experience or an idea. Creativity doesn’t require changing the facts. It requires recognizing the unexpected, emotional or individual element within those facts that can make another person see them differently.

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What Andy Warhol Can Teach Entrepreneurs About PR, Creativity and Business Growth

Posted on August 26, 2026 by Mark Macias

By Mark Macias
Founder of MACIAS PR | Former NBC Executive Producer

Andy Warhol built his reputation as an artist, but his approach to creativity, collaboration and publicity offers lessons that still apply to entrepreneurs and business leaders today.

I originally explored these ideas in an article I wrote for Forbes, which you can read here. But here is a different take on what we can learn from Warhol in this new era of AI.

Warhol was a great publicist as much as he was a great artist. He knew how to attract attention to his work, and every publicist today can learn from him. He understood how to frame ideas in ways that made people want to talk about them. More importantly, he repeatedly converted that attention into greater value for his work and his brand.

The media landscape has changed dramatically since Warhol’s era but the principles behind his success haven’t disappeared. Here are four lessons entrepreneurs can take from his approach.

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Formula for Earned Media Coverage Revealed

Posted on August 20, 2026 by Mark Macias

By Mark Macias
Founder of MACIAS PR | Former NBC Executive Producer

There is a formula behind successful media coverage, and it isn’t as simple as writing a strong pitch and sending it to the right reporter.

A story can have a compelling headline and still fail because the timing is wrong. An executive can possess deep expertise but lack the evidence needed to establish authority. Proprietary data can be genuinely revealing, yet never generate coverage because no one identified the larger trend hiding inside the numbers.

Earned media is the intersection of multiple variables: story, timing, news value, credibility, audience, reporter, evidence and execution.

Understanding how those variables interact is where MACIAS PR has an advantage. Our approach wasn’t developed from a PR textbook. It was shaped inside newsrooms, refined through journalism, and tested over 17 years of securing media coverage.

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Our Sources are Everywhere – How Media Experience and Colleagues Work Together

Posted on August 18, 2026 by Mark Macias

By Mark Macias
Founder of MACIAS PR | Former NBC Executive Producer

“Our sources are everywhere.” Yes, it’s playful, but there is a serious approach when it comes to newsrooms.

Successful PR requires access—to journalists, information, trends, industries and the conversations shaping the news. But access alone doesn’t get a company media coverage. You also need to know what to do with it.

I founded MACIAS PR in 2009 after spending years inside newsrooms, including as an Executive Producer with NBC and CBS in New York. That experience shaped a different approach to PR and media relations. We don’t begin campaigns by asking, “What does the client want to announce?” We start by asking the question I heard every day inside the newsroom:

That distinction influences everything we do.

MACIAS PR Approaches Publicity From the Newsroom Perspective

Most companies understandably approach PR from their own perspective. They want to promote a product, announce a funding round, introduce a new executive or tell reporters about a partnership.

Journalists don’t approach stories that way. A reporter wants to know why the development matters to readers or viewers. An editor wants to know why the story deserves space. A television producer needs to understand why audiences won’t change the channel. I sat on that side of the editorial table.

As an Executive Producer, I reviewed and approved story ideas while reporters and producers competed for limited airtime. That experience taught me how quickly journalists evaluate stories—and how quickly they reject ideas that sound like marketing.

Today, MACIAS PR applies that newsroom perspective before we ever contact a reporter.

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Who Really Controls Your Media Story? Inside the PR Ecosystem

Posted on August 15, 2026 by Mark Macias

By Mark Macias
Founder of MACIAS PR | Former NBC Executive Producer

Every company wants to be the one getting all the attention.

The CEO wants the interview. Investors want to see the company in respected business publications. Marketing wants the exposure. Competitors notice when another brand suddenly seems to be everywhere.

But there is an entire ecosystem between wanting media coverage and actually getting it.

The image accompanying this article is playful, but the hierarchy behind it is real. The client may be at the center of the story, but reporters decide whether to pursue it. Editors and producers determine whether it makes the cut. Audiences ultimately decide whether it matters. And competitors are always watching to see who is winning the conversation.

Before founding MACIAS PR, I worked inside this ecosystem as an Executive Producer with NBC and later at CBS. I reviewed and approved story ideas, worked with reporters and producers, and saw firsthand why some pitches moved forward while hundreds of others disappeared.

Understanding those different players—and what each of them needs—is one of the most important lessons in public relations.

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How Do Investors Research Startups Before Writing a Check?

Posted on July 23, 2026 by Mark Macias

By Mark Macias
Founder of MACIAS PR | Former NBC Executive Producer

Startup founders spends months preparing for their investor meeting but before their presentation even begins, most investors have already made up their minds.

Long before investors meet with you – or write a check, they’ve already researched your company online. News stories, executive backgrounds, LinkedIn profiles will influence their decisions before you even say a word. And what’s the common denominator between that research? The Media.

As an Executive Producer with NBC before founding MACIAS PR, I’ve seen firsthand how earned media shapes public perception. Journalists decide which companies deserve attention based on newsworthiness. Investors take the same approach to validate whether a company is gaining traction.

Public Relations Begins Before any Fundraising Campaign

Many startups wait until they’re raising capital before investing in public relations. That’s often too late. Credibility develops over time – not three weeks before your important VC meeting.

The strongest fundraising campaigns are supported by months of thoughtful media outreach, executive positioning and strategic storytelling. By the time investors begin researching the company, they’ve already encountered interviews, industry commentary and third-party news coverage that reinforces the startup’s market position.

Public relations doesn’t replace fundraising. It strengthens the environment in which fundraising happens.

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What Journalists Actually Look For in a Startup Story

Posted on July 17, 2026 by Mark Macias

By Mark Macias
Founder of MACIAS PR | Former NBC Executive Producer

“How do I get reporters interested in my company?”

It’s a popular question from all startups. Our conversation usually begins around a product launch, funding announcement or new partnership. These milestones are exciting for founders, but journalists rarely care about those topics.

Before founding MACIAS PR, I spent years approving story ideas as Executive Producer with NBC and CBS. Every day, we evaluated hundreds of pitches competing for a limited number of broadcast segments. The overwhelming majority never made it to air—not because the companies lacked innovation, but because they lacked a compelling story.

Understanding how journalists evaluate news is one of the biggest advantages a startup can have. Once founders begin thinking like reporters instead of marketers, media coverage becomes much more attainable.

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Guaranteed Media Coverage – A Closer Look at the Claim

Posted on May 20, 2026 by Mark Macias

By Mark Macias
Founder of MACIAS PR | Former NBC Executive Producer

“How many media stories can you guarantee?”

That is one of the most popular questions I hear from potential clients during our initial conversations. It’s a telling question because it helps me better understand how much they know about PR.

No matter what any publicist or PR agency tells you, no one can guarantee earned media coverage. You can’t buy a story with any major news organization. Yes, you can buy an advertisement or a commercial on TV but that is not the same as a news segment or article that relinquishes control to the editorial leaders.

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