Immo Studio Conversations: PR and Branding

PR can put your brand in front of more people. But if what they find when they get there isn't ready, more attention isn't necessarily a good thing. Understanding the difference between PR and branding, and how the two work together, can help businesses decide where to invest first.

In this conversation, Immo Studio founder Imogen Ley-Clowes speaks with Riannon Palmer, founder of Lem-uhn, about PR and branding, and when to hire a PR agency. They discuss what needs to be in place before investing in PR, why earned media is very different from advertising, and the growing relationship between PR and AI.

This conversation is the latest in our Immo Studio Conversations series, where we explore the disciplines that shape successful brands through discussions with the specialist partners we collaborate with.

Imogen:

Let’s get right into it. Was there a specific moment that made you think you needed to start your own company?

Riannon:

I can't remember the exact day, but I remember the moment. It was during the pandemic and I'd been furloughed, but only for about a month, so I was back with an even crazier workload than usual.

One day, something came through my inbox and I just thought, "Oh my God." I went outside, sat down and had a panic attack. I think that was the point where I realised I needed to do something different.

At first, I was thinking about freelancing under the Lem-uhn name, but it quickly became a business. 

Imogen:

I suppose getting that low in a job can also make you realise that you don't have to keep working that way. It sounds like that became a big part of the motivation to build something differently yourself.

How quickly did you go from thinking about freelancing to actually building an agency?

Riannon:

I always set myself up under the Lem-uhn name. As you know from branding, sometimes you have to present yourself as a little bigger than you are.

It was just me for the first month, but I'd already started winning business through cold outreach, so I began hiring quite quickly. My first hire started a couple of months later, and that's when it became a business rather than just me working under an agency name.

Imogen:

And what kind of things do founders say on the first call or meeting that  tells you they're ready for PR—or aren’t ready?

Riannon:

Sometimes it's more about what I see before the call. I'll look at someone's website and what's going on with their brand, and quite often you see that there are other things they need to solve first.

PR should come when you've got a brand that people are going to respond to when they discover it. If you're driving people towards something that isn't ready to convert, there are probably better places to invest first.

One red flag is when someone wants instant results. PR isn't really about that. If you want something immediate, paid advertising is probably more appropriate. PR is something you build over time.

And, for us, there's also a question of whether someone is going to be nice to work with. You can usually get a sense of that quite quickly. I don't want to put my team in front of people who aren't going to treat them well.

Imogen:

I imagine you sometimes find a mismatch between how someone talks about their business on a call and how it's presented through their brand or website.

Riannon:

Definitely. Your brand is your baby, so people are understandably attached to it. Sometimes they don't realise that their brand or website isn't working particularly well because they're too close to it.

There have been conversations where I've had to gently suggest that someone speaks to a branding or web specialist before investing in PR. 

That advice doesn't always land immediately, but I think being open to that kind of feedback is important. If you want to build a better business, you have to be prepared to hear advice from people with different expertise.

Imogen:

Once a client is ready and comes on board, what do those early stages look like?

Riannon:

We don't spend too long onboarding. At some agencies, you can spend months before getting anywhere near pitching, but particularly with startups and smaller brands, people understandably want to see things moving.

We try to get to pitching within weeks rather than months. Before that, we're understanding their audience, the media that audience engages with, the kinds of stories that might work and who the experts are within the business.

We gather as much as possible before we start through a questionnaire, so we're not using the first few weeks to ask basic questions about who their audience is or what they want to achieve.

Imogen:

Does the PR strategy tend to change as you learn more about the business?

Riannon:

Yes, although usually not dramatically. Sometimes there are things like compliance requirements that affect what a brand can say, or the business itself develops and that changes the approach.

Clients can also become more open to ideas we've suggested earlier once we've been working together for a while and built that trust. A lot of it is testing, learning, seeing what's working and then doing more of that.

Imogen:

For businesses that are too early for PR, are there particular things you look for beyond the brand and website?

Riannon:

One of the biggest things is whether they have a wider marketing strategy. I don't want PR to be the only thing they're doing. If there's nothing else in place, I'll often suggest they speak to a fractional CMO or get broader marketing support and then come back to us in six months.

One thing on its own isn't going to have as much impact as everything working together. You need the other pieces in place, like email marketing, social media, and the platforms people are going to look at before they buy.

It's less about saying you need to have raised a certain amount of money or reached a particular team size. We work with founder-led businesses with one or two people right through to organisations with thousands of employees. It's more about whether the foundations for PR are there.

Imogen:

That's something we see with branding too. The strongest launches tend to be the ones where people are thinking about brand, marketing and PR as connected rather than separate projects.

What would you say is the biggest misconception people have about PR?

Riannon:

Lots of people think PR is advertising.

With earned PR, which is what we focus on, you earn your space by creating interesting, relevant stories. You can't simply decide what you want a publication to say about you.

We once had a B2B client who wanted to be on the front cover of GQ. We had to explain that it probably wasn't going to happen and, more importantly, it wasn't necessarily going to help them.

We do paid PR too, where you have more control over the editorial content, but I'm always quite careful with that. If something feels too sales-led, people are likely to scroll straight past it.

Imogen:

AI search is changing the way people find companies. How is that affecting PR?

Riannon:

It's been really interesting because it's given PR a bit of a revamp.

For years, there's been an understanding that links from reputable publications can support SEO, and digital PR has played a role in that. AI search has created another reason to pay attention to those signals.

What I find interesting is that it reinforces the value of credibility. When you've earned coverage rather than paid for it, you're appearing in places that already have trust and authority. That matters to people, but increasingly it also matters to the systems they're using to find information. 

Strong media coverage can support traditional search visibility while also increasing the likelihood of a brand appearing in AI-generated results. PR has always been about building credibility, and now we’re seeing that credibility show up in some new places.

Imogen:

Finally, what's one piece of advice you'd give a founder looking for a PR partner?

Riannon:

Look at their credentials, but make sure you're looking at the right credentials.

Sometimes a smaller business will see that an agency has worked with Coca-Cola or another huge brand and assume they'll therefore be brilliant for them. But getting coverage for a startup or smaller business can actually be much harder. You want to see evidence that an agency has done good work for businesses at a similar stage to yours.

I'd also make sure you meet the people who are actually going to work on your account. A common frustration is that someone meets the senior person during the pitch and then never sees them again. There are brilliant junior people in PR, but you should understand who is leading the work and who you'll actually be working with. The right experience matters, but so does the team that's going to be in the room once the pitch is over.

Imogen:

I think this will be really valuable for people thinking about PR. I've definitely learned a few things. Thank you so much for your time.