Oct 7, 2026 · 43 min · 12 segments
About Alyssa Burns: Alyssa Burns is a communications expert, strategic advisor, and respected leader. As CEO of Alyssa Burns Communications, she brings extensive experience in strategic…
Alyssa BurnsGuestGeorg DautermanHostMegan QuickHostSo, you know, one of the things that always gets me is I think that 90% of people have no idea what PR does.
Like surprising, like surprise, like what they think it's like seeding stories or sort of some kind of weird 1920s, you know, influencer of that version.
So what are some things that would be surprising that people don't know about PR applications?
I think a lot of people think that public relations is about getting media coverage or writing press releases or throwing big flashy events.
So actually what public relations is about is helping organizations build and maintain trust.
So it's important to understand people, including like your employees, your customers, your clients, even communities.
So helping leaders communicate in ways that are authentic and timely and meaningful is a big part of PR.
Another thing that surprises people about public relations is how much of the work happens before anyone ever hears about it.
And when the reality is it's the classic iceberg problem where you don't see the bottom of the
if not weeks and months of work to kind of get the message honed and out the door and just convincing people to have this approach and mindset and all the pieces that go with it.
And speaking of that, you're working on both sides of the aisle, if you want to call it that.
You know, I know you work a lot with internal teams as sort of additional consulting or so that we always experience it.
How do you navigate that complexity of that internal team whose agenda might be different than, let's say, the leadership team or the client, you know, whoever? Like, how do you find that? I find it very challenging sometimes to say that out loud.
So, you know, one of the things that always gets me is I think that 90% of people have no idea what PR does.
Like surprising, like surprise, like what they think it's like seeding stories or sort of some kind of weird 1920s, you know, influencer of that version.
So what are some things that would be surprising that people don't know about PR applications?
I think a lot of people think that public relations is about getting media coverage or writing press releases or throwing big flashy events.
So actually what public relations is about is helping organizations build and maintain trust.
So it's important to understand people, including like your employees, your customers, your clients, even communities.
So helping leaders communicate in ways that are authentic and timely and meaningful is a big part of PR.
Another thing that surprises people about public relations is how much of the work happens before anyone ever hears about it.
And when the reality is it's the classic iceberg problem where you don't see the bottom of the
if not weeks and months of work to kind of get the message honed and out the door and just convincing people to have this approach and mindset and all the pieces that go with it.
And speaking of that, you're working on both sides of the aisle, if you want to call it that.
You know, I know you work a lot with internal teams as sort of additional consulting or so that we always experience it.
How do you navigate that complexity of that internal team whose agenda might be different than, let's say, the leadership team or the client, you know, whoever? Like, how do you find that? I find it very challenging sometimes to say that out loud.
The rest of this transcript — segmented and speaker-labeled, so you land on the exact moment something was said
Search every transcript — by keyword, by phrase, or by meaning, across every show Radar indexes
Trends — what is surging across podcasts, measured against its own baseline
Alerts — when a name you follow appears in a newly indexed episode
No account is needed to search Radar.
