By Mark Macias
Founder of MACIAS PR | Former NBC Executive Producer
Is it worth hiring a PR agency for just one media placement? This is a real question we got from a business today: “I’m looking for help getting our founder one credible TV interview. Do you take on fixed-scope, one-off broadcast projects?”
The value of public relations isn’t simply appearing on television. It’s what happens when credible media coverage begins establishing a pattern around your company, founder or expertise.
One interview can certainly be valuable. It can introduce an executive to a new audience and give the company an important piece of third-party credibility. But by itself, it doesn’t build a brand.
Brands are built through repetition and association. You want journalists, customers, investors and eventually search engines and AI platforms to repeatedly encounter your company in credible contexts.
Maybe a CEO first appears in a trade publication discussing an industry shift. A few weeks later, a national reporter interviews the executive about breaking news. Another outlet cites the company’s proprietary data. Eventually, a television producer sees that body of coverage and recognizes the CEO as someone who has already contributed intelligently to the conversation.
Each placement reinforces the others. That is very different from saying, We need one TV interview. Who can get it for us?
One Media Placement Isn’t Something a PR Firm Can Order
There’s another problem with the one-off approach: TV interviews aren’t inventory.
A PR firm doesn’t own a block of airtime at CNBC, Bloomberg, CBS or NBC to buy a media placement. Producers and editors independently decide which stories they cover and which guests they book.
As an Executive Producer with NBC and CBS in New York, I evaluated stories and worked with journalists developing them. A publicist couldn’t call me and purchase an interview. They had to give us a reason to care about the story and a reason to believe their spokesperson belonged in it.
That’s the fundamental difference between advertising and earned media. Advertising allows you to purchase access to an audience. PR requires you to earn editorial interest.
That editorial independence is also what gives credible media coverage much of its value.
The Question Shouldn’t Be “How Do We Get Our Founder on TV?”
When a company starts with the desired outlet rather than the story, it’s approaching PR backwards. You should first be identifying the story that best positions the brand – not identify the media outlet that bests broadcast the message.
Sometimes the fastest route to national television begins somewhere other than television. A compelling piece of original research might initially interest an industry reporter. That coverage can establish credibility with a larger publication. A developing news event might then create an opening for broadcast.
One-Off PR Can Encourage the Wrong Behavior
There’s another reason I’m cautious about these types of requests. If a PR firm’s success or failure is determined entirely by whether one specific outlet says yes, the incentives become distorted.
In those situations, nobody wins.
The best PR agencies understand persistence, and judgment. Sometimes the original idea isn’t the strongest story. Sometimes the timing is wrong. Sometimes another outlet is a better first step. A real media strategy needs enough flexibility to recognize those signals and adapt. That is difficult to do when the entire engagement has been reduced to one predetermined deliverable.
What Actually Builds a Brand Through PR?
The more valuable objective is not one interview. It’s reaching the point where your company or executive becomes associated with something journalists and audiences care about.
For one company, the CEO might gradually become a credible voice on how AI is changing an industry. Another company might own a conversation around new healthcare behavior. An investment executive might become useful to journalists because of a distinctive way of interpreting economic data. A startup might possess information that repeatedly gives reporters insight into a market larger competitors can’t see as clearly.
Over time, the company stops merely asking journalists for attention. It starts becoming useful to them. That’s when PR begins creating an asset rather than a clip.
If You Want One Appearance, Ask Yourself What Happens Next
There’s nothing wrong with wanting your founder on television. We pursue national television opportunities for clients, and a strong broadcast interview can be an important part of a media campaign.
The problem is making that one media placement the entire strategy.
You don’t build an advertising campaign around one commercial. And you don’t build a sales strategy around one phone call. So why would you build a credible brand around one media appearance.
The goal of PR isn’t to get on TV once. The goal is to build a story and reputation that keeps giving journalists reasons to come back. And reinforces your brand’s value to potential customers.
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If you’re preparing for a product launch, funding round or growth phase, contact MACIAS PR to learn how strategic public relations can help accelerate your business goals. You can get a customized PR quote for your business or product launch from MACIAS PR by clicking here.
About Mark Macias and MACIAS PR
Mark Macias is the founder of MACIAS PR, an earned-media public relations agency that develops media strategies and thought-leadership campaigns for companies across healthcare, technology, finance and other industries. Before founding MACIAS PR in 2009, Macias worked as an Executive Producer with NBC and Senior Producer with CBS in New York. His newsroom experience shapes the agency’s approach to earned media, storytelling and long-term brand building.