How Do You Know If PR Is Working?

Posted on March 30, 2026 by Mark Macias

A Practical Guide to Measuring PR ROI

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

The biggest mistake most startups make is believing PR is measured by primarily one number. PR involves a combination of metrics that include visibility, credibility, leadership and action.

You need to take a closer look at multiple signals to understand whether a media strategy is delivering. But don’t base that measurement on: “Did we get coverage?” Instead, focus on how that coverage moved the business forward.

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MACIAS PR Named Among Best Tech and Healthcare PR Agencies

Posted on February 19, 2026 by Mark Macias

MACIAS PR was founded in 2009 by a former Executive Producer with NBC and Senior Producer with CBS in New York. Journalists and marketing peers consistently rank MACIAS PR as one of the best PR healthcare and tech agencies. City & State Magazine named Mark Macias a Top Political PR Power Player in New York in 2022 and 2024.

We help founders and brands tell stories that get noticed by the media. Our strategy is based on years inside NBC & CBS newsrooms where editorial judgment, timing and credibility are the currency for success.

At MACIAS PR, we turn complex brands into compelling media narratives that secure national headlines, elevate thought leadership, and drive real business outcomes. Links to client case studies for media deliverables are below.

Prominent Clients across Industries

Healthcare and Wellness
- Noom, WellRX, Meru Health, Lifesum, Columbia University Medical Center, Kilo Health, Burke Hospital
Consumer Tech
- Plenty of Fish, Welt, Abby Connect
Bootstrapped Startups
- MDAcne, TopPatch (Cyber Security)
Publicly Traded Companies
- Mawson Infrastructure (NASDAQ), Unusual Machines (NYSE), Banle International (NYSE)
Finance
- Provident Loan Society, Sag Harbor Advisors, Sansar Capital
Politics
- Former UN Executive Secretary on Climate Patricia Espinosa, Rep. Norma Torres (LA)

Our media campaigns helped these brands raise tens of millions of dollars with investors, while improving their name recognition with customers. Click here to review our case studies.

All of our clients always work with an experienced media strategist – regardless of size. And as a boutique PR consulting agency, our communications process is always streamlined, while our execution is hyper-focused.

PR Awards – Earned by MACIAS PR

City & State Magazine named Mark Macias a Top Political PR Power player in New York. Marketing peers have consistently recognized MACIAS PR for Strategic PR Firm of the Year from 2017-2021. Finance Monthly named our agency the 2015-2017 Financial PR Firm of the Year.

MACIAS PR has run B2B and B2C media and branding campaigns in healthcare, tech startups, financial services, asset management, nonprofits and service sector industries.

Message Mark at the bottom of this screen (green button on the right) if you would like to schedule a call. You can also get a free PR estimate by clicking here.

Why the Best PR Agencies Look Beyond Press Releases

Posted on September 17, 2024 by Mark Macias

The best PR firms don’t focus their efforts on press releases. They focus their creative energies around the editorial angle.

Yes, press releases are great for content marketing, and they can help communicate a tight, controlled message. But it’s unlikely they will lead to media coverage.

The most successful media campaigns will always include a proactive media outreach. And there is no cutting in line. This approach centers around manually researching and pitching reporters, journalists, producers and editors that are targeted.

MACIAS PR consistently secures coverage because this approach is at the center of our strategy.

The Best Strategy behind MACIAS PR

There are no rules when it comes to media coverage, but there are guidelines to effective campaigns.

Those guidelines include:

Identifying unique angles;
Finding characters needed for the story;
Pitching stories internally before we reach out to media.

Ultimately, a prominent feature in a targeted publication is better than any press release. Would you like to hear a media strategy for your brand? Send us a quick message and we’ll schedule a strategy call. Or, if you want a free PR estimate in less than 48 hours, click here.

About MACIAS PR

Marketing peers named MACIAS PR the 2017 and 2018 Strategic PR Firm of the Year. In 2015, 2016 and 2017, Finance Monthly named MACIAS PR the Financial PR Firm of the Year. The founder – Mark Macias – is a former Executive Producer with NBC and Senior Producer with CBS in New York. He’s also a frequent contributor with CNBC and author of the books, Beat the Press: Your Guide to Managing the Media and The Tao of PR.

Case Study – Branding Campaign for RX Brand in Provider Space

Posted on April 12, 2024 by Mark Macias

Rising prescription costs are at the forefront of the healthcare debate. Despite this timely news issue, one digital health company had trouble standing out even though it provided a unique value proposition that lowered prescription costs.

This case study looks at how MACIAS PR helped elevate the WellRx brand by placing targeted consumer stories across TV, print and influential online news publications. You can also read a Linkedin testimonial from the company executive who worked with our agency throughout our 3+ year relationship.

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PR Blueprint – Launch Successful Publicity Campaigns

Posted on October 30, 2023 by Mark Macias

Every business owner wants to get their story on their business. Unfortunately, there is no magic formula that reveals how to get news coverage, but there is a blueprint that can increase your chances for media placements.

As Executive Producer with NBC in New York, I approved story ideas from reporters, publicists and producers. Sometimes, stories were approved but later killed for various reasons.

Other times, I killed a story because it lacked visuals or had outdated information. The approval process in news is subjective, just like any other profession involving creativity, opinions and experiences. So if you get a bite from the media, move fast and don’t delay.

So how do you get journalists to cover your business?

You can increase your chances for coverage by identifying what is different, new or unique about your business. It sounds simple but a lot of people forget that news is based on the root “new.” They pitch stories but forget about timeliness. If you don’t have that “new” component, your story is at a disadvantage.

You can figure out what is new about your business by asking some simple questions: Is your business contributing to the local community in a unique way we might not expect? Are you about to accomplish a feat where others have failed? What is different between you and competitors?

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Cat and Mouse Strategy – How it applies to PR

Posted on September 30, 2023 by Mark Macias

Why does the cat always catch the mouse? When you think of how agile and quick a mouse can be, it should easily outmaneuver the cat. Yet, most of the time, the cat will catch the mouse.

That’s not just a fun question. It’s actually a way of thinking that applies to PR and business.

First off, I’m not an expert on mice or cats. I’m allergic to cats and I hate mice. But as a person who lives in Brooklyn, and every New Yorker will tell you – “if you have mice, get a cat and the problem will go away.”

I got to thinking about that concept when watching of all things – Tom and Jerry – with my son. It got me thinking of the relationship between cat and mice, and the reporter and publicist. Here’s a closer look at what the classic cat and mouse game can teach us about media strategy.

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Communications Crisis: How to Release Bad News

Posted on March 9, 2023 by Mark Macias

It’s the perennial crisis communications question: how do you control negative news once it’s out? And when you know more bad news is coming, how do you release it?

The end-game strategy of crisis communications is to get your business out of the news as quickly as possible. You don’t want a story to linger, or new developments to unfold because it keeps your story in the news cycle.

News is always about advancing a story. During my time as Executive Producer with NBC, we would frequently see a story in the morning’s New York Post or Daily News – and try to figure out how to advance it. No one wants to read old news. It’s why the phrase is a cliche.

Every day new information unfolds about your scandal, the more heavily favored your story is to remain in the news.

How do you Release Bad News?

If your business is in the headlines with negative news – and more bad news is still buried away – make sure you get it out as quickly as possible. All of it.

You don’t want a drip, drip, drip because it gives reporters new elements to advance their story. Every new release of more negative information gives your story another element to gain traction.

The challenge with managing negative news is you must provide a solution that demonstrates why the problem won’t happen again. Without that element, the story is still unresolved. The public also wants to know why this bad incident won’t happen again.

And it’s more than just issuing an apology. Many politicians wrongly believe an apology will lead to forgiveness with voters. Yes – Americans are very forgiving, but they don’t won’t support a hypocrite. Yet, another reason to reinforce why this pattern for negative behavior won’t return.

MACIAS PR has run crisis campaigns for politicians, nonprofits and financial organizations. If you’re facing a difficult situation and need private consultation, feel free to email us and we’ll coordinate a time to speak.

Insider Look: What Journalists Look for when Writing Stories

Posted on January 30, 2023 by Mark Macias

Every business owner wants to know how to get journalists to write a story on their business. Unfortunately, there is no magic formula that reveals how a story gets on the news or in the newspapers, but there are guidelines that can increase your chances for coverage.

The approval process in news is extremely subjective, just like any other profession involving creativity, opinions and experiences. During my time as Executive Producer with NBC in New York, I approved story ideas from reporters, publicists and producers.

Sometimes, stories were approved but later killed for various reasons, while other times, I had to kill a story because it lacked visuals or was outdated.

So how do you get journalists to cover your business? Here’s a general rule of the approaches our firm continues to take with our campaigns. These tactics are derived from my time inside the media.

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AI Producing More Content – How it Impacts PR

Posted on January 18, 2023 by Mark Macias

A recent article predicted artificial intelligence will generate 90 percent of all online content by 2025. Another news article revealed editors with the popular CNET tech site have already used AI to produce news articles.

Back in 2020, I wrote an article for Forbes exploring this topic, titled “Artificial Intelligence in PR: Is it Science Fiction?” You can read the entire article by clicking on that link, but if you’re short on time, here was my prediction from 2020.

AI won’t succeed with PR because news happens too quickly. During my time running the PR campaign for the popular weight loss program, Noom, I learned how quality data helps AI. It helps the machine learn, grow and predict overtime. Machine learning can’t learn without quality data.

PR and journalism are nowhere near gathering this kind of big data for news coverage. But even if this big data on news generation was available, we would still need critical and creative thinking to launch enterprise PR campaigns.

A different article in January’s Atlantic Monthly supported this thought. The Atlantic Monthly article states it best:

“Even if ChatGPT can spit out a pretty good paragraph on AI, it can’t interview AI and labor experts, nor can it find historical documents, nor can it assess the quality of studies of technological change and employment.

It creates content out of what is already out there, with no authority, no understanding, no ability to correct itself, no way to identify genuinely new or interesting ideas. That implies that AI might make original journalism more valuable and investigative journalists more productive, while creating an enormous profusion of simpler content.“

The key to that point? AI can’t interview people like a journalist and publicist can. AI can help publicists with their research but when it comes to creating campaigns from scratch, AI doesn’t create content from scratch. It only creates content from existing content.

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Bad Behaviors to Avoid on TV Interviews – Media Advice

Posted on August 16, 2022 by Mark Macias

By Mark Macias

So you’ve been invited to speak on cable TV, or maybe your local TV station. Now what? How do you prepare for the interview so you make the biggest impression with your potential customers or clients?

Let’s assume for the sake of this article that you already have your messaging down. You know what to say and are prepared for the questions. You’ve got the basics down.

Now it’s time to fine tune the overall image. As a former Executive Producer with NBC, I didn’t pay attention to every segment and observe how the guests fared in their appearance. The newscast was moving too fast, and I didn’t get to always observe the nuances in real time.

But it’s different today. CNBC and CNN are always on in our office, and when an interesting expert or topic pops up, I pay attention. I’ve started to get annoyed with a lot of behaviors that don’t work well on TV. And as a result, I train my clients to avoid these behaviors when getting interviewed on live TV.

Here’s a closer look at those behaviors that don’t work on TV, despite the common perspective that it’s the right thing to do.

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