The communications industry has moved, customers’ expectations have changed and the old agency structure is just not catching up.
Many of you know that I plan to contact you each Tuesday morning. However, I held off putting out my weekly Substack until Thursday to make this one announcement today.
The Public Relations Collective has officially launched.
I am really proud to be considered one of the founders.
The Public Relations Collective brings together high-level public relations and communications professionals from across the country. All our founders own, lead or operate a private business, consultancy or boutique agency. We can combine our expertise and form a team to tackle a client’s needs, goals or market, in any combination they need.
That is the official description, but the real reason The Public Relations Collective was founded is simpler.
How businesses look for communications support has changed.
The old agency model has not changed enough to keep up.
Public relations isn’t so straightforward anymore.
Back in the day, businesses hired a public relations firm to focus primarily on getting press for them.
The firm would write press releases, pitch reporters, arrange interviews and track coverage.
That still matters. Unpaid media (AKA earned media) is still one of the most effective tools to build trust.
But public relations campaigns rarely stay in that lane these days.
A business might need national press, local press, executive branding, internal communications, crisis communications, brand positioning and messaging, thought leadership, content strategy and AI-optimized content development.
Sometimes (who am I kidding, most of the time), all in one go.
A potential business crisis might move from an internal e-mail to social media to a reporter’s inbox to an AI-generated overview of the firm.
A new product might require a national strategy as well as local market development in five cities.
A corporate merger might need investor relations, employee communications, customer outreach and press response.
These things aren’t just about headcount.
These things are about having the right experience.
The old model often starts with the wrong question.
Agencies often start assigning resources to a new account by asking who is available.
The Public Relations Collective starts with the question: what does this client actually need?
From there, we can determine which practitioners have the right background, knowledge and experience.
This is key.
You want a team based on the right expertise, not on who’s open.
A health care issue should have health care experts.
A crisis should have people who have handled hundreds of crises.
A local expansion should involve people who know those markets inside and out.
A complex national assignment should have multiple people with different specialties working on different sides.
We assemble the team based on what the client needs.
You shouldn’t fit the assignment around the company structure. The Public Relations Collective was founded on that premise.
Senior Access Means Senior Involvement
Everyone tells you in an agency presentation that you will have access to their senior counsel.
After the presentation, however, is when the problem begins.
Often, the executives who take the lead during the presentation are not the same people who will do the work. The work is then handed through a maze of management to junior people who do the actual work.
We know there is a place for junior people in this business. We all started somewhere. Good agencies should mentor and train.
But the problem isn’t junior people. The problem is selling people on one level of service while providing another.
Imagine hiring a law firm because its senior partners impressed you during the pitch, only to discover that a junior associate right out of law school is handling a high-stakes lawsuit. Or hiring a surgical team based on the reputation of a leading specialist, only to learn that person will not be in the operating room.
In either case, the issue is not that less experienced professionals have no role. The issue is that the buyer made a decision based on one level of expertise and received another. In public relations, that mismatch can be just as damaging when a crisis breaks, a reporter calls with a deadline, or a poorly judged response begins shaping public perception.
In The Public Relations Collective, the people doing the strategy also do the work.
Why is this important? Because you don’t make all communications decisions when everything is in control.
A reporter changes the topic.
A conversation moves on a social media channel in a direction you didn’t plan.
A C-suite member has a different idea for the response.
Someone on your team voices a concern you didn’t anticipate.
What is appropriate in a local community is not always what is appropriate in a market in another state.
These are situations that require judgment.
Judgment is only gained through experience - - decades of experience.
Why I Wanted TrizCom PR to Join
We’ve never been a big agency.
TrizCom PR has been designed to deliver senior counsel, personal attention, measurable results and tailored teams.
That said, we do work all over the country, too. Many of our clients are based outside Dallas, or work outside Dallas. We understand the power of local knowledge, trusted relationships and specialized expertise.
The Public Relations Collective allows us to deliver those things on a wider scale.
When TrizCom PR needs help in a particular city, I now know a senior person who knows the community, the business environment and what the local market needs.
When a client needs a specialty, I can call on a colleague who has that specialty.
When a situation calls for multiple disciplines, we don’t require the client to deal with three separate firms, we can organize them as one team.
This, obviously, means nothing if the client doesn’t feel like they are losing their relationship with TrizCom PR. The client still gets me; the client still has direct access to our senior team. All you really get is more resources.
But this is more than a referral group
I didn’t have to create a list. That’s not what we have.
The Public Relations Collective was born out of long-standing professional relationships. Our founding members have worked together, referred work to one another, filled in for each other and worked on assignments in different markets, different specialties.
I know our members. We know who operates most successfully when things get stressful.
We know who has the direct point of view you require.
We know who has the experience appropriate to a specific problem or challenge.
That trust matters because no client should have to pay a brand-new group to learn how to work together as a group. They should be functioning that way long before they walk in the door.
The Public Relations Collective has founding members in Boston, Park City, Roseville, Royal Oak, San Diego, Austin, Conshohocken, St. Louis, Victoria, Fort Lauderdale, Beaverton and Dallas. Their combined experience includes corporate communications, media relations, crisis and issues management, reputation management, executive visibility, internal communications, public affairs, content marketing, launches, and AI search communications. Additionally, our PR practitioners are experts in healthcare, government affairs, franchising, crisis and issues management, lifestyle PR and many others. And when I say experts, I mean it.
That allows us to provide scale while avoiding the creation of an expensive and cumbersome hierarchical structure.
Flexible Does Not Mean Unstructured
The beauty of The Public Relations Collective is that it’s flexible.
You can involve one expert or a whole host of experts.
The work can be project-based or ongoing, national or regional, aimed at addressing a particular type of communication issue.
An internal team might need the expertise of a seasoned leader for a few weeks.
An agency may want an additional set of skills behind the scenes.
A corporation might require immediate support in a crisis.
A growing company may need a communications team that evolves as its needs change.
But flexibility does not mean we assemble a collection of people with no real structure.
Every engagement we take on will be run by leaders whose job it is to take responsibility. We’ll define who is doing what and why and we’ll measure the results.
Our objective is not to dispense with the structure.
Rather, it is to dispense with the structure’s elements that don’t help our clients.
Why This Launch Matters
We launched The Public Relations Collective, not because the business world requires yet another agency.
We launched it, because companies require greater access to seasoned communications leadership.
They require specialized skills with few layers of unneeded staff.
They require a national network but without losing their local connections.
They require flexibility but without a diminished sense of accountability.
They require immediate access to the people who advise them and do their work.
They require work teams designed to address the issues that matter to them.
That is what The Public Relations Collective is all about.
For TrizCom PR’s customers, it means more scope, more expertise and more choices.
For me, it means working with seasoned leaders whose opinions I value and whose abilities I hold in high esteem.
And for the PR business, I hope it shows that scale can work without creating hierarchies and flexibility won’t mean diminished accountability.
We’re doing things differently because businesses are doing different things.
The PR business had an urgent need to get in step.
See What The Public Relations Collective Can Do
The Public Relations Collective gives organizations access to senior communications professionals across markets, industries and specialties. Take a look at The Public Relations Collective’s capabilities at thepublicrelationscollective.com/pr-capabilities.
Check out our launch announcement: The Public Relations Collective Launches Senior-Led Model for Full-Service Communications Support
To discuss how TrizCom PR and The Public Relations Collective could support your organization, reach out to me at Jo@TrizCom.com.
Keep on keeping on!
Jo Trizila, Founder and CEO, TrizCom Public Relations
Everyone has a story. Let TrizCom PR tell yours!
About the Author:
Jo Trizila – Founder & CEO of TrizCom PR
Jo Trizila is the founder and CEO of TrizCom PR, a leading Dallas-based public relations firm known for delivering strategic communications that drive business growth and enhance brand reputations, as well as Pitch PR, a press release distribution agency. Jo is also a proud founding member of The Public Relations Collective. With over 25 years of experience in PR and marketing, Jo has helped countless organizations navigate complex communication challenges, ranging from crisis management to brand storytelling. Under her leadership, TrizCom PR has earned recognition for its results-driven approach, combining traditional and integrated digital strategies to deliver impactful, measurable outcomes for clients across various industries, including healthcare, technology and nonprofit sectors. Jo is passionate about helping businesses amplify their voices and connect with audiences meaningfully. Her hands-on approach and commitment to excellence have established TrizCom PR as a trusted partner for companies seeking to elevate their brand and achieve lasting success. Contact Jo at jo@TrizCom.com.