PR is one of those things that’s genuinely hard to evaluate from the inside. When you’re in it every day, sending releases, managing relationships, and keeping up with the news cycle, it’s easy to lose sight of whether the effort is translating into results.
That’s not a criticism. It’s just the nature of the work. And it’s exactly why we built something to help.
Introducing the PR Report Card Quiz
Today we’re launching the PR Report Card, a free, three-minute quiz designed to give your brand a clear-eyed look at where your PR stands today and where there’s room to grow.
You answer questions about your strategy, your content, your media relationships, and how you measure success. The quiz scores your responses and gives you a grade: A through F.
Think of it less as a test and more as a starting point. A way to get on the same page about what’s working, what’s not, and what the next level actually looks like for your brand.
The Opportunity Most Brands Haven’t Fully Tapped
Here’s something we find exciting rather than frustrating: most brands are already doing something with PR. They have a media list. They send press releases. Someone on the team owns the relationship with the press. That’s a real foundation.
What the data shows is how much more that foundation can do when it’s working at full strength:
- 92% of consumers trust earned media more than any other form of brand communication, and that trust compounds every time a credible outlet covers you. (Nielsen, Global Trust in Advertising)
- A well-placed editorial feature continues driving referral traffic and inbound interest for months after publication, often outlasting the campaign that launched it. (Baden Bower, 2026)
- 90% of B2B marketers rank earned media as effective or very effective for demand generation. (Piercom/LinkedIn B2B Marketing research)
- Buyers are 5x more likely to engage with a brand after seeing it covered by a publication they already read and trust. (Baden Bower, 2026)
There’s a lot of upside in PR that most brands haven’t fully reached yet. The quiz is a good way to see where yours is on that spectrum.
PR and GEO: The Connection That’s Changing Everything
There’s another reason to pay close attention to your earned media right now, and it goes beyond traditional SEO.
AI-powered search tools like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google’s AI Overviews are changing how people find and evaluate brands. Instead of clicking through a list of links, more buyers are getting direct answers generated by AI. And the brands showing up in those answers are the ones with a strong trail of credible, earned third-party coverage.
This is Generative Engine Optimization, or GEO. And earned media is one of the most powerful inputs feeding it.
The numbers make the connection clear: earned editorial placements are 20 times more likely to be cited by AI search engines than paid placements or wire releases. (Baden Bower, 2026) When an AI is deciding which brands to surface in response to a question your buyer just asked, it’s drawing from trusted editorial sources, not just your press release archive.
Strong PR has always built credibility with readers. Now it’s also building visibility with the AI tools those readers are using to make decisions. The two strategies are increasingly the same strategy.
What Strong PR Looks Like in Practice
The brands getting the most out of their PR tend to share a few things in common.
They lead with a real story. A product launch is a news peg, not a story. Editors want to know what’s changing, why it matters, and who it affects. When brands invest in developing that narrative, coverage follows.
They stay consistent. The brands with the strongest media relationships and the most GEO visibility aren’t the ones who sprint at trade show season and go quiet in between. They’re publishing, pitching, and showing up on a regular cadence.
They measure what moves the business. Impressions are a data point, not a result. The metrics worth tracking are placements in relevant publications, leads attributed to coverage, and how earned media is influencing the sales cycle.
They treat PR as a growth lever, not a line item. The brands that get the most out of earned media are the ones that treat it as an ongoing investment in visibility, trust, and discoverability, including in AI search.
Ready to See Where You Stand?
The PR Report Card quiz takes three minutes. It looks at your strategy, your content, your media relationships, and your measurement practices, and gives you a grade that reflects where you actually are today.
Whatever your grade turns out to be, it’s a useful starting point. And if you want a partner to help you build from there, that’s exactly what we do.
Or if you’d rather just have a conversation, reach out directly. We’d love to hear what you’re working on.
