News / Aug 27, 2025

Why PR Is the Missing Link in Most Digital Strategies

Geoff Wasserman

Founder/CEO

The trap most digital agencies fall into is treating PR as an afterthought, or worse, not considering it at all.

At The Brand Leader, we see it differently.

When we acquired our seasoned PR team in 2022 (complete with decades of experience in wine, spirits, and hospitality), we weren’t just expanding into another service. We were filling a critical gap. It gave us our New York office, yes. But more importantly, it gave our clients an advantage that’s increasingly rare in digital marketing: a PR team that understands how to build credibility and visibility in a way algorithms (and audiences) cannot ignore.

Why PR Belongs in Digital Strategy

Digital marketing today isn’t just about campaigns, channels, or performance dashboards. It’s about trust.

Search engines, social platforms, and now generative engines like Gemini and ChatGPT all rely on signals of authority. Those signals don’t just come from keyword optimization or content volume. They come from mentions, features, and coverage in credible publications and platforms.

That’s PR.

When done right, PR:

• Builds trust at scale: A feature in a respected outlet lends more weight than ten ad placements.
• Drives digital authority: Beyond backlinks, mentions are the new currency in generative engines, helping with entity discovery and semantic relationships.
• Shapes how AI sees you: Generative engines reference entity and semantic relationships—the “who, what, where, and why” around your brand. PR enhances these connections in ways pure digital tactics can’t.

Digital PR: More Than Links

Too often, “digital PR” gets reduced to chasing backlinks. But true digital PR is strategic. It’s about earning coverage that builds both reputation and relevance.

Every article, mention, and placement is a signal.

• A signal that tells search engines your brand is credible.
• A signal that tells AI engines your brand is relevant in the context of your industry.
• And a signal that tells people your story is worth hearing.

That’s the compounding effect of PR woven into digital strategy—it builds equity that outlasts any single campaign.

The Strategic Edge

When we brought PR into The Brand Leader, it wasn’t to chase headlines. It was to give our clients a strategic edge:

• Travel & tourism brands that need both performance marketing and cultural relevance.
• Wine and spirits labels that compete in crowded markets where reputation drives purchase.
• Outdoor/Active lifestyle brands here for community influence, credibility, and authentic storytelling drive loyalty more than paid impressions.

Our PR team doesn’t just secure placements. They integrate with our digital campaigns, ensuring the trust you build offline fuels the visibility you need online.

Why This Matters Now

As digital shifts from being purely transactional to deeply relational, the brands that win will be the ones that show up credibly everywhere conversations happen—whether that’s in Google search results, in ChatGPT answers, or in a national media feature.

That’s the future of digital PR. And it’s why we invested in it years ago, so our clients don’t just keep up with change—they lead it.

PR is no longer a nice-to-have. It’s the connective tissue of digital strategy, the trust engine behind the clicks. Without it, digital campaigns are a house built on sand. With it, your brand becomes the authority others reference.

And in an AI-driven world, being referenced is everything.

Geoff Wasserman

Founder/CEO

With over 30 years of experience, Geoff has developed a sixth sense for building businesses and growing leaders. And that’s where Geoff is literally and figuratively a boss. His insight and knowledge of business—from the fears and frustrations of CEOs and CFOs to the internal shenanigans of marketing departments and PR firms — make him an invaluable resource and partner.