Why the press office is more alive than ever before

The need for brands to be the go-to for AI search results means that the press office is shedding its unfair reputation as the less stylish side of PR.

By Laura Rudolph

The traditional press office often gets unfairly labelled as the unglamorous side of PR. It’s considered the engine room no one fights to work in while shiny, big-budget brand campaigns take centre stage.

But that perception is outdated. In today’s search-led, AI-powered landscape, the press office is one of the most commercially valuable tools a brand has.

A modern press office is responsible for generating the high-authority, credible content that LLMs and AI search engines rely on to form answers and make recommendations. When Google, Gemini, ChatGPT, Perplexity and other AI tools decide which brands to suggest, they prioritise trusted, third-party validation. This is something only earned media can deliver.

Is PR is your most important tool for visibility in LLMs?

I’m here to tell you it is. To understand why, let’s look at what a press office function is.

1. Product placement

Product placement is the structured, always-on discipline of placing your brand’s products in the most relevant media for your audience. It requires seasoned PRs with strong relationships and an instinct for what journalists need. When done well, its impact is huge.

Why it matters for LLMs:

Lists and roundups (think ‘best of’, ‘top picks’ and gift guides) mirror how LLMs present information.
Industry and trade coverage acts as an authoritative signal to AI models, as these systems are designed to trust deep subject matter expertise.
Consistent placement creates a web of trusted references that LLMs repeatedly draw from.

In other words: the more high-quality placements you earn, the more visible your brand becomes in AI-generated recommendations.

2. Proactive storytelling

Proactive storytelling is how you shape your brand narrative, establish expertise and build topical authority. It’s the foundation of what you want to be known for and how you train both audiences and AI systems to associate your brand with key topics.

This type of storytelling generates expert commentary, trend stories, insight-led features and data-driven hooks.

These earned media mentions directly strengthen discoverability. They tell LLMs: this brand is relevant, trusted, and expert in this space.

3. Reactive PR

Reactive PR, when done well and at the speed of light, will see referring domains increase along with organic traffic. Speed is critical, and so long as you have planned for this occasion, it can be quite low effort but result in a huge impact.

Recency matters more than ever. ChatGPT shows a bias towards content published most recently (within the past two days), proving that freshness is a major ranking signal. Reactive PR ensures your client’s brand stays constantly present in the sources LLMs trust most.

Why this matters for brands

A press office can support growth at so many levels, attracting investors and building resilience by strengthening your reputation before a crisis ever hits.

Importantly, it supports sales, helping to improve brand trust when used as a long-term investment. We know that consumers shopping online are twice as likely to click on a brand that they recognise and trust, so brand trust is a hugely important purchase factor.

Top tips for working in a press office

Here are my eight top tips for PR professionals interested in taking their careers in this direction:

Relationships are everything so invest in expanding your little black book of media contacts.
Read a variety of media yourself to start naturally building an understanding of where your brand can fit in.
Write like a reader and make it interesting.
Be quick to respond to a media enquiry – remember, it’s often faster finger first.
Never miss a deadline.
Be a master communicator and know how to write a pitch that will stick.
Prepare for every eventuality whether it’s a reactive opportunity or a crisis.
Understand the power of the pivot – when a story doesn’t land, find a new way to push it out.

When executed well, the press office is one of the most powerful growth levers a modern brand can invest in.

A colour portrait of Laura Rudolph smiling at the camera. Laura is a white woman with long dark hair who is wearing dark clothes.