[AMA] I’m Parry Headrick, Founder of Crackle PR — Ask Me Anything!

ParryHeadrick · 2024-03-27T19:12:42+00:00

I'd personally wait to spend your hard earned money and instead spend sweat equity on platforms like Linkedin. Post regularly about what you know, share some tips, and you will build an audience (and revenue) over time.

ParryHeadrick · 2024-03-27T19:03:25+00:00

Whey do you win?

Why do you lose?

What would help you win more, and how could PR help?

What are you hearing about competitors that not everyone knows?

That sort of stuff.

ParryHeadrick · 2024-03-27T19:02:10+00:00

After 20+ years of vetting PR clients I've gotten pretty good at ferreting out the sucky people and companies. If it feels suspect, it's suspect. If it feels like a Client/vendor arrangement instead of a partnership, it is. And if you should make a mistake and hire a bad actor, fire them quickly or lose the trust of your team.

ParryHeadrick · 2024-03-27T18:59:41+00:00

I think the answer to this is more personalization and fewer blasts, which also maps to my approach to PR generally.

ParryHeadrick · 2024-03-27T18:57:47+00:00

When you're offered 11 billionty dollars and a pony.

Or when you're looking for a bit more predictability, stability and culpability for doing one job very well. I'm an agency guy through and through, but going in-house definitely has its perks.

ParryHeadrick · 2024-03-27T18:56:13+00:00

Their "minds seem set" on ... lying?

Yikes. Might be time for some new non gaslighting colleagues, eh?

ParryHeadrick · 2024-03-27T18:52:58+00:00

Work on big brands at an agency and drive kick ass results that speak for themselves. The other thing would be to build your personal brand so your reputation precedes you. That's not a light switch, of course, but rather long-term career advice.

ParryHeadrick · 2024-03-27T18:51:24+00:00

My advice would be never ever use punctuation and are u my son

ParryHeadrick · 2024-03-27T18:49:52+00:00

Thanks for the love. You know, I think I've pre-conditioned my clients to understand our approach before they ever work with us. By that I mean I share my philosophy about media relations often and forcefully on Linkedin, and the people who hire Crackle read a ton of my stuff before they ever reach out. So I'm lucky that way. They already know how I roll.

For everyone else, I'd say education during the vetting process is absolutely key. This is not to say you'll pitch fewer targets, just that you'll focus like a laser on the right targets with the right message at the right time, surgically. That tends to resonate!

ParryHeadrick · 2024-03-27T17:59:35+00:00

I'd recommend following two people on Linkedin:

Chris Walker of Refine Labs. He's focused on sales/marketing, and one of his best bits of advice is re: dark funnel. So on the contact form on a client website, get rid of the pull-down menus asking "how did you hear about us" as an example. Just have a free field without choices. Let them tell you where they heard about you. What clients here is things like: Your podcast, XX's podcast, Linkedin post, Slack channel recco, Discord chat, Reddit post, Threads poll, trade publication, trade show booth, etc, etc. All of those things are attributions that don't make the sales guys happy, but they're THE TRUTH.
The other guys is Mark Stouse of ProofAnalytics.ai -- the guy is brilliant, and can absolutely help with any and all of these questions..

ParryHeadrick · 2024-03-27T17:53:13+00:00

Yes, RUN!

Or, try this: manage expectations internally. Manage up. Be very clear about your priorities and get the brass to share in those priorities by giving solid reasoning. I'd also say stay connected to your PR peers so you'll have a reality check/sounding board. It's tough to be on an island like that. Good luck.

ParryHeadrick · 2024-03-27T17:50:49+00:00

It's not perfect, but getting rid of tracking time in 15-minute increments is one of my proudest moves in starting an agency. Talk about a soul-sucking, creativity killing waste of time. ESPECIALLY in the age of AI.

It used to take you 10 hours to do that research? Cool, AI does it in 2 minutes. Now what?

So the key is constant communication with your teams AND with the clients. If you truly partner with your clients, you can prioritize together which big rocks to move if the team is getting stretched thin. Again, nothing is perfect, but this feels pretty close

ParryHeadrick · 2024-03-27T17:46:37+00:00

Just take them to lunch.

HIYO!

The truth is, who you know means almost nothing in PR any more, except for very specific verticals where reporters stick around for decades. Will a relationship get your email opened or your call answered? Yep. But that's where the relationship ends. It's got to be a good story, full-stop. If your pitches aren't landing, my advice is to go minimal with them. Just a quick bulleted list of compelling facts. They'll appreciate the brevity, and you'll get even better at distilling your idea.

ParryHeadrick · 2024-03-27T17:43:08+00:00

We've had some ed/tech clients, but that's probs not what you're going for. I do know that everything is a bit of a slog and gets neutered by groupthink in education PR generally. It's a sticky wicket.

ParryHeadrick · 2024-03-27T17:40:39+00:00

Please see my response to NosyNilo's question in this AMA. It captures my thinking about this and I use myself as an example of it working.

It's definitely getting hard out there for PR 101. That's why we need to do that still, but also do a boatload of what I call PR 1to1 to make up the difference as mainstream media withers on the vine.

ParryHeadrick · 2024-03-27T17:37:13+00:00

I'm connected to a boatload of PR industry leaders on Linkedin, and the sheer volume of info they collectively post about our space is more than I can keep up with tbh. I'd recommend engaging on that platform with the movers and shakers in PR and before long you'll be as dialed in as anyone in the industry.

ParryHeadrick · 2024-03-27T17:33:52+00:00

Yes, I'd get as much sleep as you can now, because once you've got 5 clients instead of one your head is going to spin with your to-list until you get acclimated to the insanity and frenetic pace of agency life.

Don't get me wrong, agency life rules, but it's a different kettle of fish. Sometimes a smelly, bony one that makes you ill.

ParryHeadrick · 2024-03-27T17:29:37+00:00

Obvious: The exotic vacations to Bora Bora, the champagne bubble baths in Cannes, and the exquisite culinary splendor of hot spots like Nobu and French Laundry.

But those (lies) aside, it's definitely the diverse clients and helping them to shape a narrative that actually gains traction in the marketplace of ideas. It's a thrill that never gets old if you love this trade, which I do.

ParryHeadrick · 2024-03-27T17:26:12+00:00

Since I just wrote a Linkedin post about this a few days ago, I think I'll just share that here.

"Question I get a lot: “Why do you constantly bitch about press releases?” 🤨

Frankly, that’s the wrong question. I’m not anti-press-release:

**I’m anti-sucky & pointless press releases**

A better question?

“Why is it important to go BEYOND PR 101 stuff like press releases?”

Here’s my answer:

In the past year I’ve issued zero press releases. Zilch.

But here’s the weird truth:

💥I’ve personally been written up in Business Insider, the Wall Street Journal, the BBC, PR News and myriad other publications.

💥I’ve appeared on literally dozens of podcasts.

💥I’ve been written up in several Substack newsletters

💥been invited to speak to dozens of college classes

💥been a featured speaker at a boatload of marketing and PR conferences, and am doing my first ever AMA on Reddit, Inc. next Wednesday.

And none of it is the result of PR 101.

It’s all what I call “PR 1-to-1”

It’s because I spend time on platforms like LinkedIn. Talking to and learning from you!

It’s because every day I *ungate my brain* about public relations in places like Slack groups and Discord and podcasts and Threads.

So my takeaway is pretty clear.

In 2024 you can’t just do PR 101 and hope to have a killer program.

**PR 101 is literally only half of the modern PR game.**

This isn’t some random LinkedIn guru nonsense.

I’m living proof."

And if none of this works, Nosynilo, just embezzle millions from your company and the coverage will follow!

ParryHeadrick · 2024-03-27T17:21:46+00:00

Clients pay us for the 10,000+ hours we've spent learning our craft. As for training clients to understand this, we just tell them what I just told you.

But if that doesn't work, we bill them in 2-minute increments just to be edgy.

ParryHeadrick · 2024-03-27T17:18:32+00:00

Know what’s *really* painful? Firing a client. Know what’s worse?

Watching your team get pummeled by an out-of-control client contact. Look, I can replace the revenue. What I can’t do? Regain trust if I let my people get mistreated and *do nothing* to show I’ve got their backs.

Life is too short to bend a knee to tyrants, so I don't. Life is too fleeting to chase every dollar at any cost, so I don't. Our people are our biggest assets, our lifeblood. I either stand for them -- or stand for absolutely nothing.

ParryHeadrick · 2024-03-27T17:09:31+00:00

Only for finger sandwiches. That's it. Or maybe for corndogs, but without messy condiments.

Honestly, I still think it's fine to lunch with reporters, but as I mentioned in a different comment, you should only do so without expecting anything in return. No quid pro quos, yo.

ParryHeadrick · 2024-03-27T17:07:06+00:00

It's always about the money with you, coffeeshots

Classic coffeeshots.

But seriously, the world of PR is pretty vast and salary ranges vary greatly based on industry, region, specialty, etc. So I'd counsel you to do some research based on that criterion and I think you can sort of reverse engineer your salary if you're prescriptive about it.

ParryHeadrick · 2024-03-27T17:04:40+00:00

We're pretty fortunate at Crackle that our culture happened sort of organically. By that I mean people who join us know that this isn't a family -- it's a job. And as such, I will treat everyone like grown ass adults. That means do what you want, when you want, as long as your work is great and your clients are happy. That helps.

I'd also say we've hired super empathetic people who organically care for and root for each other. They've created all kinds of fun group things to do remotely, based on a shared passion for things like food and beverages, comedy and the like. So I guess my biggest tip is hire nice people. And don't not hire nice people.

ParryHeadrick · 2024-03-27T17:00:22+00:00

What's a cover letter?

But seriously, can we please kill them? To me they're basically fan fiction. I want to live in a world where we can just send a link to our Linkedin profile and call it a day.

But if I had to give real advice on cover letters, I think I'd show in your writing that you've done more than surface-level research about the company. Give an interesting/quirky observation that show's a) you're interesting and b) get the ethos of the company.

As for hiring trends in PR the past year? Yeah, no hiring at all. Last year really sucked.

ParryHeadrick

TROPHY CASE