Why We Founded Tell NY, or Why Real PR is All About Relationships

This tactic has earned the infamous label “spray and pray.” You reach out to hundreds of reporters – many only marginally relevant to your client – with a template email that lacks personalization. Unsurprisingly, most will ignore it. You can’t blame them – these tactics don’t serve reporters, nor do they serve you. And let’s be honest, they make our job a lot less fun.

In today’s PR landscape, the “spray and pray” approach has become so common hat it seems we’ve forgotten the core principle of public relations: it’s all about relationships. Not faceless email chains or one-sided connections with editors who ask to be taken off our lists. Genuine relationships, where you know their interests and tailor your offerings accordingly.

We all know how consuming day-to-day PR can be. Balancing press releases, media pitches, and endless client calls, especially with account loads climbing to six or eight per PR specialist (and sometimes even more), is no easy task. But maybe – just maybe – a brief coffee with a journalist could save you time in the long run.

When we founded Tell NY, relationship-building became our compass. The power of human connection was nothing new to us; we’d been cultivating these relationships for years, not just with media but also with clients, embedding ourselves deeply in their businesses. We always wanted to be more than just an external PR agency, aiming to be an extension of their leadership teams that aligns PR with their ever-
changing goals. Our approach was the same when it came to the global media: creating real connections, so we can reach the point in which each and every journalist in our fields of focus is a phone call away – for better or worse.

Initially, our mission was simple: we wanted to meet as many media professionals as possible to understand how global PR worked. But as we had more of these meetings—flying out to meet journalists wherever they were – we realized these weren’t just “getting-to-know-you” sessions. They were opportunities to understand what worked for them, what bothered them, and what they truly needed. And that understanding made our work easier, success rates higher, and clients happier.

I know I’m making it sound like this is easy – but it’s not. Building these relationships is hard, and maintaining them over time is even harder, as this approach requires constant relationship-building, resilience in the face of rejection, and deep engagement with the media landscape. I’ve sent countless emails that were never answered, and I’ve received my fair share of polite rejections to invitations for coffee or drinks. Don’t take it personally. Reporters are busy, and they have a clear sense of what matters to them in the moment. Some of my best media relationships have emerged out of instances where an unanswered email later became relevant, and a journalist eventually reached out to form that connection.

My advice? Keep trying. Those meetings will not only break up the monotony of your workday, but they’ll give you the drive to excel – and the tools to do so. In the end, we’re all here for the same reason: to tell great stories. And when you truly understand what makes a story resonate, you’ll do it better – and that’s a win for everyone involved. Great PR isn’t about sending mass emails; it’s about building
trust, one conversation at a time.