What’s the deal

WITH LAUREL?

There are a few things you should know…

Public relations, as a profession, is in need of its own reputation management services.

Once celebrated, PR and traditional broadcast media outlets have been damaged by the 24-hour news cycle which often prioritizes profits and sensationalism over quality coverage.

The introduction of social media, AI and the creator economy made public relations strategy seem far less relevant than it was during the age of rolodexes, magazines and newspapers as the primary way to understand the world around you.

Especially now, public image can be purchased through awards, advertising and by leveraging tactics and strategies — like the ones we implement — to capture attention.

As a result, a lot of newsworthy leaders won’t touch it.

This is a problem for two reasons:

1 - It means leaders are forfeiting their potential impact.
2 - It discounts the public’s ability to learn about powerful innovation.

Those connection points are hugely pivotal for early ventures. So we considered how to fix it.

Repair starts with understanding what public relations is, what it means in the digital era and how essential it is to every leader who intends to make change.

So we set out to build something for the modern era…

At LAUREL, we celebrate innovation and integrate traditional journalism with niche platforms to drive results.

For us and the leaders who trust us to tell their stories, truth begins with owning your identity in all its parts and going where you are both relevant and celebrated before diversifying for scale.

According to the Public Relations Society of America, public relations “is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.”

This means PR is more than just media relations, but it’s the entire ecosystem of how brands and leaders connect with the public. That should be included in every growth strategy at every stage.

So, we launched LAUREL in 2017 as a support consultancy for early stage ventures - primarily legal and private equity startups.

As we worked with more leaders over the years, it became evident that by democratizing PR strategy, we could help innovators gain the social capital that welcomes investment. That’s capacity building.

To affect this work, we launched strategy consulting alongside our leadership profile series as a celebration of innovative leadership and provide early earned media placement for seasoned leaders who might be new to PR strategy. This has proved successful in its first year, connecting leaders featured to new press opportunities, speaking engagements and investment.

We’re the best at what we do for a reason.

Through PR strategy, we’ll continue to invest in bold leadership to help leaders scale. Please join us.

 

  • LAUREL is a media relations agency for bold leadership. We use the power of narrative and the momentum of distribution to build support for emerging brands and leaders.

  • LAUREL offers programs and services targeted at leadership to help build coherent narratives. We use these narratives to raise the profile on leadership and the brands and movements they’re building through digital, organic go-to-market strategy.

  • Our approach to media relations works best for leaders who are building a brand or mobilizing a community for impact. We spent the majority of our earlier years working with financial and technology startups and social impact organizations. We’ve since expanded to community advocates and executive leadership in niche markets.

  • Whether you engage in one of our programs, for a limited campaign or retain us as your agency of record, we’ll establish outcomes together at the beginning of our relationship. Our work as a media relations agency is focused on your relationship with the public and your reach as a brand.

  • We expect our clients come to us with either a purpose or a problem to address with a media strategy. During our engagement, you can expect transparency, simplicity, and support and we appreciate your professionalism in kind.

  • When you partner with LAUREL to execute your media strategy, we help establish relationships between you and journalists and outlets specific to your region or industry. We currently serve US-based businesses with our services. Our products were written for brands and professionals operating in the United States, but our strategies can be applied to any digital business.

  • Our company was founded in 2017 by Shelisa Demuth, a media relations executive who spent the majority of her career working with startups on product go-to-market strategies. Since its founding, LAUREL’s staff has expanded to include a team of experts who are contracted to specific projects based on scope. Our campaigns are made possible by a roster of partners with expertise in design, web development, video production, and ads management.

  • In October 2023, we launched the Force to ICON program, a guided approach to digital executive presence. To support the program, we developed Force to ICON: the workbook and dedicated a page on our website to feature the profiles of Rising ICONS. By definition, a Rising ICON is a leader who demonstrates a commitment to change for good, who is actively disrupting a space or professional industry, or is working in silence on an initiative more people should know about. We’re using our platform to highlight the work of Rising ICONS —whether or not they’ve worked with us — because we believe that raising the volume can change the world.

 
 
 

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