What XL PR is narrowing down on:

I’ve always believed that entrepreneurs were born to make a difference AND build something wildly successful. I always hoped I didn’t have to pick one, and I’ve always tried to do it all. To make a difference, my company gives contractors access to a career coach, 4 team retreats a year, a book club, and membership to the BEST media relations training out there among other things. And on the business side, let me give you a peek.

For a while, we were losing clients faster than we were signing them. And if you’ve ever been the founder, the one everybody is counting on, you know that exact feeling.

Being everything to everyone meant we were the obvious choice for nobody. I thought staying broad helped us serve a LOT of clients (15 different industries to be exact), but it turns out maybe I was missing something,

If we represent clients in the same industry, am I about to walk into a reporter’s inbox with 30 versions of the same client? Won’t they start to blur together? Won’t I be competing against myself?

So I had to step back and look at the clients who we were passionate about including ones who not only got the wildest results but actually listened to us and it was a true collaboration.

Some of our biggest wins? We took BookSmarts to $13.73M in earned media value, landed 140 placements, built a 25% revenue lift, grew their organic SEO by 700%, brought in 60+ new clients, earned them awards, and won a Golden Spike against billion-dollar competitors while shedding light on her personal financial journey of paying off over $200k in student loans in under 3 years. Utah Radon: 6,000 test requests and partnerships with major hospitals. North Star Recovery: investor relations and five recovering addicts furnished and moved into homes. Youth Futures: more donors and real brand awareness for homeless youth.

What are XL PR’s strengths?

When we looked back at the clients who brought out our best work, we expected to see a list of unrelated industries. An accounting firm. A radon-testing company. A recovery center. A tulip farm. A homebuilder. A children’s book company. On paper, they have almost nothing in common.

But realized they could be grouped into two categories: Behavioral finance and behavioral health.

Behavioral finance is the people and businesses helping everyday Americans build a healthier relationship with their money. Accounting and bookkeeping that takes the shame out of the numbers. Homeownership is made attainable for working families. Employees finally are able to save for a place of their own.

Behavioral and environmental health is addiction recovery, trauma, mental health, and the physical environments we live inside every day.

A lot of these stories most people are too scared to say out loud, but we want to tell these stories.

Here is a visual that will help:

Why does XL PR care so much about Behavioral Finance and Behavioral and Environmental Health?

These are industries so personal to me.

I don’t just talk about financial discipline, I live it. I read Dave Ramsey in high school, tracked every expense for seven years straight, bought my first home on my own income, put money in a Roth IRA every single month for over four years even when money was tight, and never once took on a car loan, and implemented profit first in my company. I’ve been the breadwinner for years and built XL PR from zero to $715K in under three years. And you know what I STILL have triggers and shame around money that I’m working through!!

I bring that same lived experience to behavioral health. I have three neurodiverse kids. There have been social workers in my home three days a week. I walked my husband through two years of long COVID and years of other behavioral issues. My dad has Parkinson’s and is slowing declining. I have a therapist, somatic worker, anger management coach, and a nervous system regulation women’s group and do couples therapy. The taboo stuff that keeps most people quiet is exactly where I’m most at home.

And my business partner in crime aka success also lives in those same veins with me. Rachelle also lives debt free, makes no excuses, and fights hard for the companies trying to make the world healthier and better, with the exception of Diet Coke/Coca-Cola, she fights hard for that company too ;). She has a public health degree from UVU, led the school’s first-ever student-to-student giving campaign, planned events and prevention education for The Center for Women and Children in Crisis, and led the financial services PR work behind BookSmarts’s whole campaign.

What can XL PR do?

So here’s what we’re building from here. XL PR is the go-to agency in these two spaces, behavioral finance and behavioral health. We are working on the podcast connections, the earned media relationships, we will be facilitating collaborations between clients so they grow faster together, we know the events our clients need to be attending in the industry, and we have a real, deep understanding of the strategy. We deliver PR that drives real business results.

And we aren’t stopping at media placements either. There’s more coming: full funnel PR. But more on that soon.

For now, we’ve got a few more fun things landing this summer, including a brand-new website that brings all of this to life, coming toward the beginning of July.

There’s so much to be excited about, and XL PR is so excited. So if you’re a founder in behavioral finance or behavioral health sitting on a story that deserves to be heard, don’t hesitate to reach out. Let’s chat!

Schedule a call with us to discuss how we can help your business!

Here’s what I know after working with mission-driven organizations: crises are inevitable. But reputation destruction is optional.

The problem is most people don’t know how to prepare for a PR crisis.

Most leaders think crisis management is about damage control, minimizing the fallout, issuing a statement, and moving on. But that’s not what the most resilient companies do. The ones who emerge from a crisis stronger than before? They understand something most people miss: a crisis is actually a reputation-building opportunity if you handle it right.

This doesn’t mean we’re grateful for crises. It means we’re strategic about them.

What Even Is a Crisis?

Before we talk about how to navigate one, let’s define what we’re actually dealing with.

A crisis is an unintended event—a threat to your organization’s reputation, operations, or stakeholders. It’s not your fault that it happened. But how you respond? That’s entirely on you.

The reality is that crises come in three flavors:

1. Those you WANT the public to know about (policy stance, plaintiff suit, death of a public figure, etc.)

2. Those you DON’T want the public to know about (mistakes that don’t affect the public, just hurt your reputation)

3. Those the public DOES or SHOULD know about (data breach, health hazard, etc.)

No matter which type hits you, the path forward is the same: preparation, speed, and intention.

The Three Phases of Crisis Management (And Why Most People Only Understand One)

Here’s the problem: most organizations only think about phase two: The Crisis. They prepare for the moment of crisis but ignore the before and the after. That’s a missed opportunity.

Effective crisis management happens in three distinct phases, and you need a crisis communications strategy for each one.

Phase 1: Crisis Planning (The Work You Do Before You Need It)

Key Takeaway: Preparation Protects Reputation

This is the phase where you’re sitting in relative calm, and frankly, it’s boring. Nobody wants to think about worst-case scenarios when everything is running smoothly. But here’s the hard truth: your crisis response is only as good as your planning.

But how do you plan for an unexpected situation?

How to Prepare for a PR Crisis

You may not know exactly what will happen, but you can predict and plan for most likely scenarios.

During the planning phase, you will need to build a crisis communications strategy, which should include:

• A crisis team with defined roles: Who makes decisions? Who talks to the media? Who manages internal communications? If you don’t have clear roles assigned before a crisis hits, you’ll waste critical time figuring it out while the situation escalates.

• Team logistics: Where will your team convene? How will you notify them if something breaks at 2 a.m.? What communication channels will you use? Decide this now.

• Likely scenarios: You can’t plan for every possible crisis, but you can anticipate the ones most likely to hit your organization. Map those out. Build individual plans for each scenario.

• Holding statements: Create template statements that can be customized and released within the first 45 minutes of a crisis. These are your fast-response tools. Have them ready.

• Key messages: What are your primary messages? What are your secondary messages? Make sure every person on your team knows them and can speak to them consistently. Nothing destroys credibility faster than mixed messaging.

• Clear communication protocols: Your best scenario is one where the public finds out from YOU, not from a secondary reporting source. This means you have to have protocols in place to communicate to each public, and you need to act fast.

Make sure to run everything by your legal counsel before you finalize it. Crisis communication and legal strategy need to be aligned.

The organizations that handle crises with grace? They did this work in advance. They don’t react. They execute.

Phase 2: Crisis Response (The Critical First Hours)

Key Takeaway: Speed + Clarity Build Credibility

This is where most organizations lose the narrative.

The first 45 to 90 minutes after a crisis event are make-or-break. In that window, journalists are calling, social media is spinning, rumors are spreading, and your stakeholders are looking to you for clarity. If you don’t provide it, someone else will.

The goal during this phase isn’t to have all the answers. It’s to communicate that you’re taking it seriously and you’re in control.

Here’s where strategic response beats reactive panic:

Strategic Response looks like:

• Goal-oriented messaging

• Defined objectives, roles, and messages

• Alignment across your entire organization

Reactive Panic looks like:

• Scattered, emotional messaging

• Unclear objectives and muddy roles

• Mixed messages and rogue spokespeople (the kiss of death)

During this phase, you need a messaging formula. Here’s what we recommend:

1. Acknowledge and validate the concern. Show you understand the impact this has on your stakeholders.

2. Provide known facts. Only state what you know for certain. Speculation is the enemy.

3. State next steps. What are you doing about this? What will the community see from you?

4. Reinforce values. Connect your response back to who you are as an organization.

The language matters here. You’re not being defensive. You’re being clear. There’s a huge difference.

Let me address the elephant in the room because I get asked this constantly: “But what do I do when rumors are flying? When the media is pressuring me for answers I don’t have? When people are reporting incorrect information?”

Here’s what you don’t do: you don’t panic. You don’t speculate. You don’t get defensive.

Here’s what you do: you acknowledge the situation, you commit to a transparent investigation, and you refuse to comment on specifics until you have verified information. You say things like:

“We’re aware of these reports, and we take them seriously. We’re conducting a thorough investigation and will share verified information as it becomes available. In the meantime, we’re committed to ensuring the safety and support of our community.”

That’s not evasive. That’s credible.

Phase 3: Reputation Rebuild (The Golden Opportunity Most Organizations Miss)

Key Takeaway: Recovery is Where Reputation Is Built

This is the phase I get most excited about because here’s what most organizations don’t realize: how you show up during recovery determines how people remember the crisis itself.

You have a golden window after the immediate crisis passes to rebuild trust, and the way you do that isn’t by pretending nothing happened. It’s by being intentional about moving forward.

During this phase, focus on three things:

1. Transparency: Keep giving updates. Show that you’re taking responsibility and making systemic changes to prevent similar crises.

2. Leadership highlights: Help people see that competent, caring people are steering the ship.

3. Mission and values: Tell stories about who you are and what you stand for. Use this moment to actually connect with your community.

4. Reputation management: How can you use your current position in the public eye to make a positive impact on your reputation?

We like to use the Aftercare Method, a tool that separates organizations that rebuild from those that just survive:

• Follow-up updates. Don’t disappear after the crisis passes. Keep the community informed of progress and changes.

• Community listening. Hear what people are feeling. Their feedback will shape how you move forward.

• Internal morale support. Your team has been through something. Make sure they feel supported and valued.

• Strategic storytelling. What positive stories can you tell that reinforce the values you’re claiming to protect? Lean into these intentionally. You’re already in the news. Use it. Drown out the negative with the positive and control the narrative going forward.

Remember that reputation management after a crisis isn’t about returning to the same old, same old. It’s about building on that reputation and becoming something better.

Don’t miss the opportunity to keep your name in the public mind. This is where reputation gold gets made.

The Honest Truth

Here’s what I want you to know: every organization will face a crisis. The question isn’t if, but when.

The organizations that emerge stronger are the ones that:

• Prepare before they need to

• Respond with speed and clarity, not emotion

• Use the recovery phase as an intentional opportunity to rebuild trust

Your crisis doesn’t define you. How you respond to it does.

And the beautiful part? If you handle it right, you’ll rebuild a reputation even stronger than the one you had before the crisis hit.

Ready to prepare your organization for what might come? At XL PR, we help mission-driven organizations develop comprehensive crisis communication strategies that protect reputation and build resilience. Let’s talk about your preparedness plan.

Schedule a call with us to discuss your organization’s crisis readiness.

Here’s a confession: In November 2025, we had no idea what we were doing.

Here’s what happened: Novorésumé came to us in June 2025 with a problem we’d all been watching unfold across industries. Google’s search results were shifting because of AI, and Novorésumé could see their visibility declining in real time. We knew what to do with that. We’d done it many times before. Earned media. Journalist relationships. The traditional PR playbook. So that’s what we executed throughout the summer and fall.

But by late 2025, something became undeniable. Despite our best efforts, the algorithm shifts kept happening. Novorésumé’s traffic was still declining. The strategy we’d built—the one we knew inside and out—just wasn’t enough anymore.

That’s when Andrei showed us something. He’d come across a reel about GEO press releases—content written specifically for AI to crawl and surface instead of being written specifically for journalists. And he saw it immediately: this was the missing piece. We could keep doing traditional PR all day long, but if AI wasn’t surfacing Novorésumé’s content, we were fighting half the battle blindfolded.

We were hesitant at first. Honestly? Most of us had barely heard of GEO press releases. But Andrei’s vision was clear, and our team was committed to learning and executing this approach.

I’ll be honest. We had no idea what we were getting into. But it became clear pretty quickly how AI search is changing PR matters. It wasn’t a theory anymore. It was our reality.

The Moment We Realized Everything Was Different

A traditional press release pitches a story. It’s written for journalists. It’s newsworthy, timely, and crafted to answer why journalists should care.

A GEO press release? That’s a completely different animal.

GEO press releases are written for AI. They answer the queries people actually type into ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. They use headers that respond directly to search intent. They include FAQs that mirror real questions. They’re packed with credibility signals—stats, quotes from reputable sources, breadcrumbs that lead AI to authoritative references.

Throughout the project, we consumed any content and training on GEO we could find: trainings, articles, industry resources. We immersed ourselves in understanding how AI indexes content and how AI search is changing PR across the industry. The publicist on our account had to unlearn everything she’d been taught about traditional press releases and rebuild her approach from the ground up.

The learning curve was steep. We tried things. Some worked. Some didn’t. We tweaked constantly. And here’s what I’m grateful for: Andrei understood this was new ground. He was patient with us in a way that frankly, not all clients are. He got that understanding how AI search is changing PR and his industry meant being willing to experiment, and he gave our team space to figure it out as we went.

The Strategy: Two Releases, One Pitched to Reporters, Both Optimized for AI

Beginning in November 2025, we committed to a rhythm: two press releases every month. This became the foundation of our AI visibility strategy.

Here’s how we structured it:

Release One was actively pitched to reporters and media outlets. It was traditional outreach, with journalists in mind. This maintained relationships and kept Novorésumé visible in conventional media. It was also optimized for GEO and distributed through EIN Presswire (a paid distribution service we use to get content syndicated across networks).

Release Two was GEO-optimized and distributed through EIN Presswire.

Two GEO-optimized press releases to feed LLMs with controlled content.

But here’s the secret sauce: The content didn’t stop there. The press releases often drew from Andrei’s blog and LinkedIn posts. Same information, different channels, repeated across multiple touchpoints. This multi-channel approach became the backbone of our digital PR strategy for the project.

The thinking was simple: if AI sees the same information show up in multiple places from credible sources, it starts to trust it and surface it when people ask questions. This is how you build a real AI visibility strategy—not through a single channel, but through coordinated, reinforced messaging.

The topics we chose were timely and specific. Each one was data-driven, useful, and designed to answer real questions people were actually asking.

The Proof: May Changed Everything

By May, something shifted.

We had released a press release on how hiring difficulty varies by location in early May, and we started running searches to see how AI was surfacing the content. We tested different queries across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude to see what AI was actually surfacing and how it was prioritizing information. What we found was encouraging.

• ChatGPT: When searching for information about difficult cities for job hunting in 2026, Novorésumé’s blog appeared as the top source, with the EIN Presswire press release ranking as the #2 source.

• Gemini: Novorésumé’s blog appeared in the top four sources for a similar query. The EIN Presswire press release was the 5th source cited.

• Claude: The National Law Review’s publication of the press release accounted for the first two sources, with Novorésumé’s blog listed as the 5th.

But here’s where things got really interesting: We started seeing genuine earned media pickups—the kind you can’t pay for, where journalists independently discovered our research and decided to use it.

Financial Express published an article on April 21st that utilized data from our AI in the workplace survey. We’re uncertain whether she found the data through the press release or the blog article, but it was a significant mention from a high-authority publication.

Forbes featured data from our January press release in an article published on May 12th. The article included a link to the press release as picked up by the Herald News, suggesting the reporter may have encountered it through their own research or media monitoring.

These earned media wins proved something important: our research was credible and useful enough that journalists were actively seeking it out and citing it in their coverage. That’s the validation you can’t manufacture.

Now, here’s the transparency piece: Both of our GEO-optimized releases were distributed through EIN Presswire, a paid service. We pay them to syndicate content across their network. That’s not organic earned media. It’s a tool in our toolkit, similar to paid distribution. But what we learned is that this tool, combined with our AI visibility strategy across multiple channels, actually works. The content got indexed. It got seen. And when paired with genuine earned media pickups and Andrei’s owned channels, it created a credible information ecosystem that both AI and journalists respect.

What We Actually Learned

This project taught me something bigger than just “how to build an AI visibility strategy.” It taught me about the power of coordinated messaging across channels. When you have credible information and you distribute it thoughtfully through multiple authoritative sources—some owned, some earned, some paid—something clicks. Both AI and humans respect it more.

It also taught me the value of working with clients who are willing to experiment. Andrei could have demanded immediate results. Instead, he knew that understanding how AI search is changing PR meant being uncomfortable, iterating, and trusting the process even when we were learning on the fly.

The Takeaway

We started this project knowing very little about GEO press releases. We’re still learning, but the results we’re seeing are evidence that the approach is working.

If you’re a business watching your visibility decline because of algorithm changes or AI shifts—whether you’re in financial services sharing research and insights, public health publishing important data, or any company with a compelling story to tell—don’t assume the old playbook will save you. The answer isn’t always to do PR better. Sometimes it’s to do PR differently—by understanding how AI search is changing PR and building a digital PR strategy that speaks to both humans and algorithms.

But here’s what we’re not abandoning: journalists and earned media are still essential. The Forbes and Financial Express pickups proved that reporters actively seek out quality research and information, regardless of industry. Our traditional media pitching didn’t stop just because we started thinking about AI. In fact, the best results came from doing both—building visibility for AI while maintaining relationships with journalists who value credible sources.

The future of visibility isn’t gatekept by journalists alone, and it’s not completely controlled by AI either. It’s a combination. The organizations winning right now? They’re the ones doing both. Building visibility for AI and maintaining relationships with journalists who actually care about good research. Whether they’re facing algorithm shifts, fighting bias in search results, or just trying to be found by the right audience—the organizations that figure out how to speak to both systems are the ones that succeed.

We’re still figuring this out, but the early evidence is encouraging. And honestly? That’s exactly the kind of challenge we want to be solving.

You Can’t Outsource Your Voice

Many founders think they can just hire a PR agency, hand over a check, and magically become an industry icon overnight. But here is the hard truth: you cannot outsource your voice. The founder’s role in PR is not just about being a talking head for a company; it is about being the beating heart of the strategy.

Why Founders Are the Story

We talk a lot about getting off autopilot and “disrupting the brain stem.” The media doesn’t care about your shiny product features or your corporate spreadsheets; they care about people. Your unique founding story, your grit, and your real-world journey are what create emotional resonance. In a landscape where everyone is just trying to sell something, a founder’s raw, authentic story is the actual hook. That is the essence of a real thought leadership PR strategy.

Common Founder Mistakes

When founders struggle to get traction, it usually comes down to three main missteps:

• Disengaged: They expect PR to behave like performance marketing with an immediate ROI without investing the 1 to 5 hours a week required to actually collaborate on the strategy.

• Over-scripted: They sound like walking, talking press releases. The absolute best PR comes from a natural conversation from the heart. If you sound like a robot, you are giving the media “fake flowers.”

• Unavailable: We once worked with a client who didn’t respond for weeks. The media moves fast, and when a founder goes dark, it is really hard for the PR team to build the confidence, excitement, and momentum needed for a true partnership. A successful founder’s role in PR demands responsiveness and active participation.

What Great Founders do Differently

Great founders don’t just sit back and wait for the magic to happen. They are deeply collaborative in the PR process. They bring fresh ideas, they provide substance and additional spokespeople for timely angles, they respond quickly, and they show up to meetings with insights into their culture and strategy that we can actively use for pitching. They embrace a true non-monetary investment and partnership mentality. This active founder’s role in PR is what separates the “okay” campaigns from the phenomenal ones.

How to Show up Effectively

I see this all the time: founders feeling completely inadequate to share their knowledge. This is especially true for women who feel like they don’t have enough knowledge or aren’t the “absolute best” in their field. But here is the reality: just being YOU is different, unique, and important enough.

Sometimes founders hide behind a whiteboard. They want more education, or they desperately want to look perfectly polished before they step in front of a camera. But in fact, the best PR is the most authentic version of you. People will be endeared to you simply because you have unique lived experiences.

On the flip side, a lot of founders are incredibly salesy, but they haven’t had any practice actually taking a stance on a certain issue. This is where CEO media training becomes absolutely critical. CEO media training helps you strip away the sales pitch and lean into your authority. Through rigorous CEO media training, you learn how to articulate your stance confidently so you aren’t just pushing a product, you are leading a conversation.

Service Highlight

Thought Leadership That Actually Moves the Needle

If you are ready to take up space, stop playing small, and act like a “wolf with a crown,” our thought leadership PR services are designed exactly for this. When a founder drops the script and fully commits to their thought leadership PR journey, the business impact isn’t vanity, it’s results.

Look at our partnership with Jenny Groberg, CEO of BookSmarts Accounting and Bookkeeping. We teamed up for a thought leadership campaign featuring aggressive media relations, recurring TV contributorships, and guest speaking.

Because Jenny was willing to step out from behind the whiteboard and take an authentic stance, the company saw a 25% increase in overall revenue, lowered customer acquisition costs (CAC), and over 140 media placements reaching 1.7 billion people (which is the equivalent of $15.73M in ad value) without spending a single ad dollar. All of this led to a 703% organic SEO boost.

On top of that, Jenny was named 2024 CEO of the Year by Utah Business and recognized as an INC. 2024 Female Founder.

That is what happens when you stop handing out fake flowers. If you are ready to do the same, let’s talk.