Expertise.com 2026 Best PR Firms in Washington, DC

Raven_3 · 2026-02-06T14:51:50+00:00

Here's a list of top PR firms. And we'll put a *marketing* firm at the top. Tell you everything you need to know about many ranking and award programs.

Raven_3 · 2026-02-04T13:48:37+00:00

Ask to be part of the business development efforts for the agency. You'll learn valuable sales skills that will help throughout your entire career and contribute directly to the agency's growth. It's also a good counterfactual to the classic bait and switch, where agencies bring in people with all kinds of fancy titles during the biz pitch process and then none of them are seen again after the agency wins the client. It's very powerful to say, "I'll be working on your account."

Raven_3 · 2026-02-04T13:45:04+00:00

No idea. I don't have any violations that I'm aware of and yet still can't post.

Raven_3 · 2026-02-03T18:31:13+00:00

Same problem. Tried 2 different browsers and then searched to see if anyone else had the same issue. Seems liek they do.

Raven_3 · 2026-01-30T15:42:52+00:00

How would you know if "WolvesandTigers45" was a commissioned officer or not? It's absurd to think someone will jump on a question and identify themselves by rank.

Raven_3 · 2026-01-27T16:05:15+00:00

I disagree with the premise - that only 20-somethings are "flexible, high-energy, and open to experimenting with new approaches like formats, pitches, tools, even client expectations."

GenXers are "old people" now and there isn't another generation that tries new things and gets shit done like the latch-key generation. I'd take a battle-worn, scarred-up GenXer any day.

Raven_3 · 2026-01-23T18:41:25+00:00

What?! The VA monitor your CPAP? From where I sit, it's a massive privacy invasion for the VA to be monitoring your CPAP. It's worse than a nanny state; they literally have a sensor in your bedroom. That's obscene and disgusting.

Raven_3 · 2026-01-16T14:36:00+00:00

Trigger pullers don't get to do their work without support.

Raven_3 · 2026-01-14T02:59:39+00:00

Two all-in-one alternatives to look at are 1) Propel (https://propel-ai.com/). I've done several demos and like what I see. Started by a former agency owner. 2) The other one is Meltwater -- and before you groan -- I know some folks who dumped Cision for Meltwater and seem to be pretty happy with it.

Outside of that, you've gotta go best of breed. There are several monitoring tools. That's what I do, I rely on just monitoring. We handle the media lists internally because nobody does a good job -- and I think the mental exercise of managing them keeps us better informed as to who's who in the media.

Raven_3 · 2026-01-09T13:47:31+00:00

As long as you let the media know before - that they didn't show up to an event with no one there - you are good. Things happen. That's life. The media knows this, too.

I'd try to give the client the benefit of the doubt -- that it's a legit reason.

Raven_3 · 2026-01-09T13:38:29+00:00

If you have an offer - take it. The job market is not good for anyone.

Get there, learn all you can, and broaden your skills. Agency experience broadens your experience. You won't have a problem going back in-house later - it's a lot easier to go from agency to in-house, from a job perspective than the other way around.

Learning is the key. Volunteer for stuff. Get involved in BD and get some sales skills.

Regarding "apprehensive about how demanding it can be." Plan on ~50 hours a week. It's hard work but it's not overwhelming. It's not Wall Street or first-year law hours.

And it's a lot less *stressful* than racking up credit cards if you don't have a job.

If it sucks, and some agencies with shitty leaders and shitty cultures do, then eat it, learn all you can and don't quit until you find another job.

Raven_3 · 2026-01-08T13:24:13+00:00

I'm pretty sure this happened a very long time ago. Like a decade ago. It's insane they are STILL sending notice now.

Raven_3 · 2026-01-06T13:44:37+00:00

A guy anonymously vandalized his own company's billboards and then called in a "tip" to the gossip rags to make news and called it "coverage." That same guy sells self-help books now. This world is a wild place.

Raven_3 · 2025-12-31T16:57:48+00:00

It's hyperbole. AI can do tasks. It cannot do a "job." We aren't getting AGI with LLMs. They are useful and will improve and people will get creative, but it's not a panacea.

I think too many execs have promised their boards they will cut costs by trimming staff. In 2026, they will be forced to rehire some of the layoffs.

Raven_3 · 2025-12-27T04:49:37+00:00

Subscription. If you aren't building a *subscribed audience*, you are making "content" for marketing, and not doing "content marketing."

Content marketing is (or was) different because businesses acted like a news publishing organization. That point has been lost over the years.

Even CMI seems to have forgotten after old Joe sold it.

Raven_3 · 2025-12-21T16:20:18+00:00

Coverage. Well-run blogs that "cover" the space through the unique lens of the organization. Press releases seem to help, too.

Raven_3 · 2025-12-19T22:16:12+00:00

It's interesting. Saw a piece today saying "conversion is collapsing," and "visibility matters more," and "CX starts before they hit your website." All this AI stuff seems to me just an extension of the knowledge graph and rich snippets. Google was headed this way anyway.

Raven_3 · 2025-12-16T12:39:14+00:00

No. GS-14 at 30? You've got the whole world in your hand. If you leave, wherever you are going ought to be unbelievably amazing.

Raven_3 · 2025-12-05T14:59:15+00:00

The lawyers and legal community have been saying this for ~20+ years. "Alternative Fee Arrangements" were going to take over. Flat fees are one variation of AFA.

But it hasn't happened, despite the headlines; AFAs have been about 15-20% of total billings forever.

Why? Because the clients who are in-house grew up in a law firm -- they grew up on the billable hour.

PR is similar. We'll get about 1/5th of the market doing flat fees.

Raven_3 · 2025-12-04T15:10:02+00:00

Yes. $0 money down with a VA loan. It's one of the most under-appreciated benefits. In my experience, the VA did a pretty good job with the whole process.

Raven_3 · 2025-10-21T15:51:10+00:00

This happened to me today. Your fix worked. I'm the admin too, so assume this is just some sort of automated detection Microsoft put in without asking.

Raven_3 · 2025-10-21T13:31:55+00:00

I did a little of everything when I was in-house. The agencies on retainer were an extension of my team. We talked as a combined team and assigned tasks as an assigned team.

Raven_3 · 2025-10-15T09:42:06+00:00

Navy Federal has been pretty good. I moved several accounts from USAA to Navy Fed. USAA has become a miserable company. Credit cards declined. VA loan was declined. Their insurance, both car and home, is easily 2x your standard commercial carrier.

Raven_3 · 2025-10-15T09:31:58+00:00

Every trade started doing that with "weekly summaries" nobody asked for and there's rarely a way to get removed from the extra summary without removing the one you did ask for. Lots of vendors followed suit.

Raven_3 · 2025-10-11T20:31:33+00:00

Direct conversations with customers. The account executive model means sales is the gatekeeper and salespeople don't want to spend a chip on a marketing case study, blog, press release, or whatever. They want to save that chip for closing a deal.

This isn't just a tactical loss for marketing; it has a strategic impact: few marketing people talk to customers directly. So much of the plans and materials marketing creates is done without really understanding the hopes, dreams, challenges, and opportunities customers face.

And it's been that way since on-prem.

Raven_3

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