Introduction: What is ‘thought leadership’ and why does it matter?

Thought leadership is the practice of showcasing your company’s experience and authority in its field through content. At a time when brands are competing for attention and visibility via search engine optimisation (SEO) or on large language models (LLMs) via generative engine optimisation (GEO, or AI search), thought leadership has become critical.

Social media posts, LinkedIn articles, even trusted old-school blog posts are essential to demonstrate the values that search engines and LLMs are looking for, often summarised as ‘EEAT’, or Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.

From a content marketing perspective, these could include: 

• Experience: Case studies, tutorials, FAQs, walkthroughs, etc.
• Expertise: How-to guides, expert explainers, whitepapers, training, etc.
• Authoritativeness: Media citations, backlinks, guest posts, etc.
• Trustworthiness: Author biographies, clear sourcing, user reviews, etc.

Because recency is a big factor in GEO, especially, brands must publish consistently on topics that matter to them and their audience. 

People buy from people, so thought leadership offers brands the opportunity to feature their key spokespeople as human faces, rather than just generic branded content. 

It’s increasingly important to nurture and maintain an authentic voice. At a time when many brands are turning to AI to create masses of samey-sounding content, brands who resist the temptation to use AI and instead retain a human creator have a better chance of retaining a human voice and standing out. 

After all, if you’re turning to AI to come up with ‘thought leadership’, it’s not really your content; it’s a curation of other people’s surfaced by a machine.

Thought Leadership Formats

Thought leadership comes in several formats:

Short form: Media interviews and newsjacking comments, letters to editors, social media posts

Medium form (600-1,200 words): Blog posts, LinkedIn posts and articles

Long form (1,200+ words): White papers, in-depth reports, or podcasts (audio with transcripts)

Who should write thought leadership pieces?

Thought leaders rarely write pieces themselves; they do not have the time to do it, and writing may not be their forte. This is why they turn to PR teams and expert copywriters to craft the content for them.

Authority and authenticity are key. The company spokespeople should speak to topics within their realm of expertise, for example:

Founder/CEO: Top-level business topics, strategic direction and vision

CTO: Technical development and security

CFO: Financial matters

Product Marketing Manager: Product features and industry topics

As I mentioned at the outset, people buy from people, so they want to see and hear from people that speak to their exact remit and challenges. Matching company voices to a specific audience on specific topics makes perfect sense.

What makes an engaging piece of thought leadership content?

The unfortunate fact in the attention economy is that many people either skim-read content or even give up after the first paragraph. The age of AI summaries is changing reading behaviour, too. You have to hook people in early and keep them engaged.

Natural voice is essential here. It’s a differentiator in a world where so many brands are using AI to create their ‘original’ content.

The process behind thought leadership creation

It pays to have a content calendar with ‘known’ content tied to key events (e.g., calendar-specific events or annual reports) while leaving capacity to respond to events such as government budgets or news stories.

Content creation always starts with an interview. For short-form content, like a newsjacking opportunity or request for comment from the media, it can be as simple as leaving a WhatsApp voice note to the PR team for them to craft into a comment.

Medium-form comment requires more planning and insight. Medium-form content requires a story arc, supporting data and real-life examples, and takeaways, so an initial call to lay out the argument is critical. A comprehensive brief from the brand helps set expectations and makes the process easier, as the copywriter is clear on the objective. And, of course, there should be a clear call to action at the end. What do you want the reader to do with the information you have provided.

Even more planning is required for long-form content, like reports and white papers. This type of content will often be turned into a professionally designed PDF, which might be gated by an email for sales purposes. However, I have seen recent research from trusted search engine optimisation (SEO) consultants who have seen search visibility drop significantly for PDF material, so brands may be better off keeping content on webpages is search visibility is their objective.

For research, brands will often engage a third-party specialist research house. They will be able to guide on the wording of questions and the right target audiences. In a world where B2B opinion is increasingly generic, unique research becomes even more valuable and potentially newsworthy. They provide brands with exclusive data that they can analyse, thus showcasing their expertise.

Channel specificity is key

While content hosted on a brand’s website is valuable for search visibility, brands must also promote their spokespeople across channels. News channels and guest articles for trade publications are naturally important for thought leadership, but LinkedIn as a B2B channel requires its own strategy.

Why? Partly because that’s where B2B decision-makers are active, but also because LinkedIn’s algorithm favours content that keeps people engaged on the platform. So, brands should identify which spokespeople to promote and create regular, consistent, LinkedIn-specific content to build their profile.

LinkedIn requires its own content strategy, and brand pages aren’t that popular, so, again, it’s down to promoting the individual.

Measuring thought leaderhip

Once content is out there, brands must measure its impact. In the short term, look at social media engagement on posts, analyse genuine comments, measure click-throughs and assess intention thereafter. 

Over the long term, look at search performance and visitor performance. Consider the entire content campaign, not just individual pieces. Are your efforts increasing your visibility on search engines and within AI search (GEO)?

Conclusion

Thought leadership is critical to remain in the conversation and remain relevant. High-quality, relevant content gives brands a better chance to be found on search engines and LLMs when their potential customers search for their products or services. 

Given the lengthy B2B decision-making funnel, content plays a key role in informing and persuading audiences. However, it’s important to remember that thought leadership is not an opportunity to sell; it’s a way to demonstrate your value and that, in the long run, can help ‘sell’ you as a brand.

Be human, be useful, be consistent, and measure the impact of your work. It takes time to build up a presence and start to see results. 

If you need a content expert to help you with your thought leadership planning and creation, please contact me. I’ve been in B2B tech PR and journalism for 28 years, so I am a trusted pair of hands.

AI disclosure: I wrote this content myself and ran it through Grammarly to check for grammar/typos, etc.

“We’ve worked with Eight Moon Media for more than two years, and we’re always impressed with the quality of their copy, their responsiveness, and their friendly professionalism.”

Sue Glanville, Co-founder and Director, Catalyst Comms

The post The Ultimate Guide to B2B Thought Leadership appeared first on Eight Moon Media.

Background and disclosure

I’ve been covering AI in PR since 2018, when I wrote a piece for London’s City AM on the rise and potential use of AI in public relations. This was four years before large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT hit the market, changing the game entirely and introducing AI as a highly sophisticated and specific search tool.

I’ve been training on AI in PR since 2024, and it’s been really interesting to see several agencies launch their own AI for PR solutions in the last couple of years.

One of those is Agentcy from communications consultancy Resonance. I was introduced to Agentcy by Claire Williamson, Resonance’s CEO and a former colleague of mine. I initially had a free demo trial and then paid for a month to try it for myself.

Here’s what I thought.

About Agentcy

While my priority for this test run was AI search, I found that Agentcy is a fairly comprehensive PR platform. When you log in, you’re met with a home page that delivers news customised to your interests, based on your settings. In my case, that was B2B tech news.

The home page contains windows for four main sections – Monitor, Create, Media, Reports – which all have their own dedicated buttons on the left-hand menu, plus another option, Plan.

In detail, they include:

Monitor: Containing your customised news briefing, coverage reports, proposed newsjacking opportunities and social listening

Create: This space enables users to create press releases, blog posts, op-eds, newsjacks, and proactive pitches to media.

Media: This contains a journalist CRM (Customer Relationship Management), including an extensive suggested media list based on what the tool knows about you.

Reports: Contains AI visibility, competitor insights, and report-creating options.

Plan: Enables users to log notes, meetings and interviews

AI Visibility

The priority for me was testing the AI Visibility tool. I want to improve the AI visibility of this website, EightMoon.co.uk, as it’s my bread and butter. To get started, you need to set your target personas (e.g. chief marketing officers), your detailed prompts, and which stage of the decision-making process (e.g. awareness, consideration, or decision) your target personas are at. Obviously, prompts are unique to users and are way more lengthy and specific than basic terms used on search engines, so you have to speculate somewhat with your prompts or, in my case, I got some further ideas via Claude.

Agentcy’s AI Visibility function is fairly comprehensive, with access to Trends, Analysis, Accuracy, Citations, Brands, Deep Dive, Prompts, Personas, Insights and Content. What I like is that you can explore branded and non-branded searches. 

The results can be really quite surprising. As a freelance B2B tech copywriter and content strategist, I majored my prompt queries around the B2B tech copywriting space for three of my specialist fields: Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), cybersecurity, and FinTech. Agentcy surfaced my competitors and revealed where I enjoyed visibility and where I was nowhere to be seen.

Most usefully, Agentcy recommended remedial activities that I could take to be more competitive. Some of which I have already implemented. It’s too soon to see if they have made an impact.

I will combine Agentcy’s AI Visibility findings with my Google Search Console and GA4 data, where a new ‘AI Assistant’ stream has been added in recent weeks, which is handy, although I am still seeing LLM traffic recorded under ‘Referral’.

Verdict

Personally, I was only interested in the AI search capability of Agentcy, which I did find very useful but would need some assistance from the team there to set up properly once I start running AI visibility projects for clients. There is a comprehensive guide on how to get set up, and once you are, you are away. Plus, Agentcy are very hands-on with help if you need anything.

Of course, you get what you pay for, so it depends on what you want from such a system. I can see agencies finding a use for the tool, with perhaps some overlap with others (e.g. HubSpot on the CRM front). The AI Visibility function was incredibly useful. 

On the newsjacking front, I expect many agencies already have daily newsjacking alerts set up already in their LLMs, but it’s handy to have all activity in one place.

Disclosure: I used an initial free trial, then a paid-for version. I have never worked for/with Resonance or Agentcy. This post is 100% human-created with spellchecking conducted in Grammarly.

The post AI for PR: Review of AI-Powered PR Operating Platform, Agentcy appeared first on Eight Moon Media.

The EU has made some icons available for brands to include in their content. The rules apply to any brands whose content serves EU audiences, and the fines are substantial: up to €15 million or three percent of global turnover.

These moves have come in response to growing concerns around deepfake and AI-manipulated content, and to ensure transparency so that citizens can discern the difference between human-made content and AI-generated.

What does this mean for brands?

Please note this does not constitute ‘legal advice’, as I am not a lawyer, so I recommend brands consult their own legal teams for guidance. But it appears that if you use AI to generate images, video, or audio, you should disclose it. With text-based content, meaningful human intervention and overview appear to be critical, so check with your legal teams on how to proceed.

If you create your own content but only use AI to assist with improving it, then that appears to be different. In our About Us page, we are transparent about how we use AI. I draft from scratch and use Claude for ideation and critiquing (never mentioning the client’s name), and Grammarly for grammar and typo checks. While this may not constitute ‘AI-generated’ content and is fairly standard practice for copywriters, it may be best practice in the current environment to play it safe and include a disclosure note at the end of your posts.

I expect brands will move away from creating AI-generated content and revert to human-first generation. If you’d like to discuss your B2B copywriting requirements, please get in touch. 

Disclosure: Human-written text critiqued using Claude and grammar/spell-checked using Grammarly.

The post What do new European Union (EU) AI transparency rules mean for your content? appeared first on Eight Moon Media.

I went to London Tech Week 2026, and I was impressed by the buzz; there was a real, tangible and positive energy that I’ve not felt in a while. I spent a morning at the Transformation Stage listening to luminaries from the financial services sector discuss AI in finance.

Here are some observations and takeaways for financial sector communicators.

The value question hasn’t been answered yet

Despite the hype, according to the panels I listen to, it appears most financial institutions are still struggling to extract real returns from AI. One estimate from a major consultancy put the proportion of firms genuinely seeing value at just one in ten. Why? Many organisations treated AI as a technology problem rather than a business model question.

More than once, speakers used the analogy of an iceberg. Firms are so focused on the visible part that they often overlook what’s under the waterline, like the operating model, data strategy, and governance frameworks. The general consensus seemed to be to start with the outcome you want, not the technology you want to use.

Token costs are the new budget headache

A recurring practical concern was token inflation, the rising cost of running AI at scale. The question being asked internally is at what point does it make more sense to hire more people than burn through more tokens? Some banks have token deals with the big AI companies, but it’s still a cost-versus-return consideration.

Teams are having to prioritise where AI genuinely adds value. We’re still at the foothills of this technology, so it will be interesting to see how this influences decision-making.

Build or buy is the perennial question

There was a clear lean towards building in-house, particularly where data is the differentiator. The logic being that if your competitive advantage sits in proprietary data, you don’t want to hand it to a vendor.

That said, the consensus was less about build-versus-buy and more about staying modular. Lock yourself into a five-year contract, and you could be left behind as the tech changes so quickly. 

“If you’re going to buy, you need to be agile,” was one of the more quotable lines of the day.

AI as both an “antidote and poison” in modern fraud

The fraud session was blunt. Fraudsters are already using AI to attack at scale, and the industry is in a reactive position. One bank shared a specific example of a tool that flagged when a customer was simultaneously on a call and using the app, which cut bank impersonation scams significantly. Simple idea, serious result.

The broader frustration centred on liability. With over £1 billion in annual fraud losses across the sector in the UK per year, placing all responsibility on financial service providers is hampering innovation and redirecting capital that could go into prevention.

Regulation is less of a blocker than expected

There was cautious optimism around regulators. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) was specifically called out as more encouraging of AI adoption than many of its international counterparts. The US was cited as a reference point for governance frameworks, particularly around predictive AI.

So, regulators are also finding their way, but they’re not standing in the way. Financial institutions must build governance models that enable innovation without losing control, and even as agentic systems advance, humans must always be in the loop.

What the autonomous bank actually means

The “path to a fully autonomous bank” framing generated the most debate. The honest answer from practitioners is that it doesn’t exist yet, and anyone claiming otherwise is ahead of the evidence.

The more useful framing was around what autonomy means at different levels:

• Customer-facing: Personalised, bespoke experiences replace traditional, linear workflows
• Internal operations: Agentic AI handling compliance prep, AML anomaly detection, and communications surveillance
• Workforce: Not fewer people, but humans bring critical thinking, judgment, and communications skills

According to Deloitte research cited on the day, only 11% of customers, according to Deloitte research, want to make a complaint to a machine, so the human element isn’t going away.

The bottom line

I got the impression that the financial sector sees AI as an enabler, not a standalone strategy. The most advanced firms are the ones with a clear business outcome in mind. They have built strong data foundations and keep a human in the loop for key judgement calls.

My takeaway for communicators: As your institution unrolls its adoption of AI throughout the business, you will need to be able to communicate to customers and the market what your goals are and where AI is involved in their interactions with the bank. How will it benefit them? Is their data secure? These are things that matter to consumers and different demographics will have different expectations.

If you work in financial services and need any help with your content to tell your AI transition story, please contact us.

The post AI in Financial Services: Thoughts from London Tech Week 2026 appeared first on Eight Moon Media.

‘Show, don’t tell’ is a vital concept when informing and persuading audiences. In an era when decision-makers are increasingly turning to large language models (LLMs) to discover and evaluate service providers, case studies have never been more important.

The PR value of case studies

People can spot spin a mile off. What they really want to see is people like them who face the same challenges and understand how they overcame their challenges. The customer’s endorsement is a key, neutral proof that you’re a trustworthy partner and that your service or product delivers on its promise.

Case studies, whether written or video, are key persuasive content assets in the decision journey. They’re ‘mid-funnel’, so a potential customer may have heard about your brand and is assessing your viability for their needs, so they will want to see evidence of the value you deliver in the form of a proof point, like a case study.

In the era of LLMs, customer case studies are essential owned content. LLMs and ‘traditional’ search engines alike look for ‘EEAT’ content: Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness. Case studies straddle all these groups. Read this post for more on AI search and the role of PR content.

The challenge of getting customer case studies and how to solve it

I’ve been agency-side most of my career and have seen the frustrations that in-house comms leads face when trying to get hold of customer case studies. Sometimes, customers don’t want to talk or there are sensitivities (especially in cybersecurity).

Anonymous case studies are not ideal, but better than nothing. You can use ambiguous language to avoiding naming the customer directly, such as “a well-known insurance provider”.

So, who has access to customers? Sales teams and customer services. What really works is when the communications team educates sales teams about the value of PR and customer case studies and explains clearly what they need to open a pipeline of customer content.

Once you’ve got your customer case study out in the public domain, shout about it! Get it out there on LinkedIn and other social media. Empower sales teams to use them in their new business conversations.

The customer case study story arc

There is an art to brand storytelling, and customer case studies follow an arc:

1) Set the scene

What was the initial problem that needed solving? What was the existing process/technology, why wasn’t it working, and what was the cost to the business?

2) What was the customer selection process?

How did the customer come to hear of and select the service provider? What did they implement, what was the process?

3) What challenges did the customer face?

What challenges did the customer face during implementation, and how did the client help them overcome them?

4) What difference has the solution made?

What difference has the solution made to staff, productivity, efficiency and profitability (in that order)? Are there any stats you can use? (e.g. “we saved 25% on previous costs”, “we can now do this in half the time”, etc.)

5) What happens next?

What future plans does the customer have, and what advice would they give other people in their position? Most brands stop at step 4, but this extra step demonstrates the longevity and strength of the relationship.

Are you ready to discuss your customer case study requirements?

Case studies are essential marketing assets in the age of AI search (GEO/AEO), as LLMs become the main channel through which customers engage with brands.

At Eight Moon Media, we’ve written hundreds of customer case studies over the years that engage, inform, and persuade audiences. Whether intended for your website or for press use, we can craft expert customer case studies for you.

Please get in touch if you need help bringing your customer case studies to life.

The post Why customer case studies should be your priority right now appeared first on Eight Moon Media.

You are probably already using artificial intelligence (AI) in some context in your PR work. During my time training PR people to use AI, I’ve answered many questions about ‘Generative Engine Optimisation’ (GEO). 

I’ve summarised some of the key questions about GEO in this post.

What is ‘Generative Engine Optimisation’ (GEO)?

GEO, sometimes known as ‘AEO’ (Answer Engine Optimisation), is a term for helping your content stand the best chance of appearing when someone enters a specific, relevant query in the Large Language Model (LLM) that they use (e.g. ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, etc.).

Its name was inspired by Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), the long-established practice of aiming to understand what the algorithms of search engines like Google or Bing prioritise when surfacing results to users.

The good news for PR people is that earned media (e.g. media coverage) and owned content (your website or LinkedIn articles, for example) are highly regarded by LLMs. PR is so well-positioned to benefit from GEO that Gartner recently observed that PR budgets were likely to increase. 

How does GEO differ from SEO?

Users’ questions on LLMs are far more specific and contextualised, and therefore are likely to address questions further down the sales funnel/customer journey than answers surfaced by search engine results pages (SERPs). (NB – most search engines now have an AI summary box, or ‘no-click’ search).

With GEO, your aim is to earn accurate and relevant citations in AI-generated answers within the most-used LLMs. With SEO, your aim is to rank highly on search engines.

LLMs want detailed, structured content, while search engines reward longer articles and take into account brand mentions. Once upon a time, links were really important, but less so now.

With GEO, you need to measure results not only with visibility and share of voice, but answer accuracy. With SEO, the key is to rank highly and measure traffic and click-through-rates (CTRs). From what I’ve seen and heard, appearing in LLMs is comparatively fickle, and your brand could be in and out of visibility, depending on the context, while it takes longer with SEO for sites to rank, gain authority and rise, then fall if not supported.

Read this research from Profound for more on AI search volatility.

As with SEO, it’s important to factor in branded versus non-branded searches. An easy starter is to ask your LLM for an honest assessment of what it understands about your brand. Factor what comes back into your messaging planning. Next, ask who the key players in your space are and see how your brand compares. You can ask lots of product- or sector-specific questions at this stage. See below for some tools that could help.

What do LLMs want from PR content?

Like search engines, LLMs look for content that is high in ‘EEAT’ content, which stands for Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness.

You can demonstrate ‘Experience’ with case studies, customer tutorials, and FAQs (like this one). 

‘Expertise’ is more specific and in-depth, so think about how-to guides, whitepapers, step-by-step guides etc. 

What do LLMs class as ‘Authoritative’? Think about third-party endorsements and coverage, so media citations and backlinks to show that other content creators (especially in earned media) rate your brand.

‘Trustworthiness’ is demonstrated with clear sourcing, user reviews, and author biographies. It’s really important to build authority and trust in a specific area, which is why building executive profiles is essential.

Some LLMs have content tie-ins with specific media, so if your goal is to rank on LLMs, rather than solely secure high-profile coverage, consider targeting media that have arrangements with LLMs.

Another thing to consider is that recency matters. Keep your content up to date, and have a solid, useful, LLM-friendly content calendar to stand the best chance of ranking.

What does GEO mean for PR content?

LLMs love structured and contextualised information, so think about how to use listicles in blog posts, FAQs (per above), unique data studies (such as reports and white papers), customer case studies, step-by-step guides, and even press releases are coming into their own, as their structure is exactly what LLMs like.

Deploy a mix of both evergreen content and reactive content for in-the-moment marketing. Over the long term, continue to build a customer case study database for a wide range of service or product features. Build the profiles of your industry experts.

Also, when it comes to copywriting for LLMs, get the important stuff up front and structure pieces to be read by both humans and machines: use subheads, bullets etc.

Where should I start with GEO within my PR agency or in-house team?

It would be a great time to get some basic AI for PR training, which I offer, so everyone knows what they’re dealing with in the world of LLMs. 

I’d also recommend:

• Start with an audit of branded and unbranded searches on LLMs for 15-20 queries. Save your prompts for later, when you revisit to compare and contrast your progress.
• Understand prompting techniques. As above, build a database
• Identify company expert spokespeople
• Cover the technical basics of your website: data markup, ensure robot.txt files aren’t blocking LLMs, deploy a LLMs.txt file to help LLMs read your site
• Optimise/structure your content for readability. For example, here, I have used subheads and bullet points with common questions as the heading
• Create content hubs around relevant content to show your expertise. Create content that’s easy for LLMs to learn from
• Publish clear, fact-rich, accurate and well-structured information
• Explore AI tools to help you gauge how and where your brand or your clients appear on LLMs

AI visibility tools include:

• Profound
• Peec AI
• Otterly AI
• Ahrefs Brand Radar
• Similarweb AI Traffic Checker
• Similarweb AI Brand Visibility
• Semrush One
• Scrunch

Most importantly, be consistent across channels with your messaging. Monitor and iterate your progress and pivot your tactics accordingly. Be aware of the pitfalls of generative AI (they can hallucinate, so always double-check) and be transparent with how you use AI.

This field is fast-evolving, so keep up to date with the last thinking on LLMs. I will update this post when a major change happens. 

Finally, if you or your team needs AI training for PR, please drop me an email.

Disclosure: This piece was written entirely by me, a human! I used Grammarly to check for typos etc.

About me

I’m Chris Lee. I’ve worked in B2B technology PR and journalism since 1998. I have been tracking AI developments in PR since 2018, when I wrote this piece for City AM. Since 2024, I have been training PR teams how to use copywriting in the AI era. 

Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn here if you are a PR professional. 

The post What is ‘GEO’ and how does it impact public relations? appeared first on Eight Moon Media.

Copywriting has changed in the age of generative artificial intelligence (AI). I find myself doing a lot more editing of AI-generated content now, for example, but I believe the comeback in brand storytelling is a sign that the essential human skill of written communication matters more than ever. And it all starts with a comprehensive brief.

When you brief your copywriter, whether they’re human or an AI*, your output will only be as strong as your brief. ‘Prompt literacy’ is an issue in PR (get in touch if you want to learn more about that and my AI for PR training). I would always argue for human copywriters, because they have trained judgement and understand culture. 

A solid brief saves you time and money in the long run, making sure you get as close to your intended goal the first time.

Your checklist for briefing a copywriter

Here is a checklist of things to consider when briefing a copywriter or content creator. It may look like a lot, but they’re worth following so you’re clear in your own mind what you want from the piece:

• What is the format of the content? (e.g. blog post, article, case study, white paper, report, ebook etc.)
• What’s your business objective for the content? What do you want the reader to understand?
• Where does the content fit into your sales funnel?
• What are your key messages, and what information can you provide to support them?  
• Who is the main audience (persona)? What is their level of understanding of the topic? What is their need? Why should they be interested?
• What is the brand’s tone of voice? Can you provide examples of your house style or a few links to some writing styles that you like?
• Should the post be written in the first or third person? If it is written in first person, provide their name and role. A biography can also be helpful if your copywriter is not familiar with their background.
• What are your key takeaways? What information do you want readers to understand and remember?
• Any research/data, supporting assets or third-party quotes to include?
• Any links to include?
• Any keywords or phrases to include?
• Have you researched any queries from large language models (LLMs) that you want to include for GEO (AI search) reasons?
• How many words do you need?
• What timeframes are you working to?
• Who are the stakeholders?

How we work on copywriting projects at Eight Moon Media

When we engage with you, having received the brief, the process would typically include:

• An initial briefing call to clarify the brief and address any questions
• Interviews conducted over Zoom or Teams. We prefer to record interviews and use Otter.ai to make a transcription
• We use Grammarly to check our final draft for quality, grammar, and originality
• We will create the first draft and share it with you for your feedback
• Depending on the size of the project, we usually include one round of edits in our copywriting service, or two for longer projects (like reports)

We provide a briefing checklist to help us nail down the copy within that scope without the need for extra rewriting costs. However, it is worth us sharing a bit of insight around rewriting needs, because in our experience, when clients request rewriting, it’s nearly always down to stakeholders wanting to add extra information or different messaging to the original brief. 

Your brand will probably already have a brand guide with tone of voice and messaging guidance, which you can also give to your copywriter. If you don’t have a brand guide, we can help you to develop one. Please get in touch if you’d like to find out more.

Are you ready to brief out a copywriting project and in need of an expert B2B technology copywriter? Please drop me an email.

*I am typically against using AI to create content intended for publication because you run the risk of hallucination, plagiarism, and generating slop that a) requires a rewrite or edit, and/or b) can be detected by AI bots as AI-generated and therefore marked down for SEO and AI search (GEO). However, I use it to summarise my own content (e.g. podcast transcripts) and understand that companies can save time on repeatable content, such as press releases. However, with Anthropic (Claude) introducing invisible watermarks for content copied and pasted from its model, generating content exclusively via an LLM comes with a potential reputational risk.

The post How to brief a copywriter or content creator appeared first on Eight Moon Media.

You can’t help but notice the rise of ‘brand storyteller’ roles, some of which are paying high six-figure salaries. Also, you may have seen more chat around ‘personal branding’. Why now? For me, it’s all about differentiation in an age of AI slop and ‘comfortable sameness’ (my definition).

When you’ve been around the block as many times as I have, you get used to seeing things come around again. For example, all the boys seem to have the same curtains hair that I did at their age back in 1992; or explaining AI to the C-suite is just like describing social media to the same cohort in the late noughties. And so it is with two terms that are enjoying something of a moment, ‘brand storytelling’ and ‘personal branding’.

If you look at these Google Trends charts (screen-grabbed on 24 February 2026), you can see the recent explosion in comparative popularity of both in the last year. I remember ‘brand storytelling’ being a thing around 2014, although this chart doesn’t seem to imply it was as big a deal as I remember.

Differentiation in a sea of sameness is key

The challenge with AI-generated written content is that much of it looks the same. For B2B content strategy consultants and copywriters like me, the move towards generative AI has been a painful watch. Many brands and agencies believed they could generate the same quality of content via machines as they could with expert human copywriters. While some efficiencies can be found, often the result is samey-looking content, to the point where the media is sceptical of many PR approaches and associated content. 

And, given the many and diverse channels that brands must find/establish their voice on nowadays, it’s no surprise that many brands are looking for someone to lead that ‘brand storytelling’ in an era when there’s so much content out there, and so much of it feels the same.

I am hope we are either near, or over, the hype cycle when it comes to AI-generated written content.

What is ‘brand storytelling’ anyway? For me, it’s a handy (if Marmite/divisive, I’m not a fan personally) term to communicate a company’s core mission and showcase its value through human stories, in a way that resonates with audiences and drives engagement and sales while improving sentiment. The best device for brand storytelling, in my opinion, is the customer case study; show, don’t tell.

‘Personal branding’ is the other one that’s gaining traction. Again, promoting oneself has always been important, but more so now than ever, because of the reasons above (standing out) alongside the benefits of being perceived as an expert by large language models (LLMs) for AI search reasons.

We all have a personal brand. We’re all unique. We just need to get out there and tell that story in our own way.

The challenge for many B2B companies is that they don’t have the time or the resources to plan and create that brand storytelling content or develop personal branding in-house.

That’s where people like me come in… If you need a human expert to help you with your brand storytelling or to develop the personal brand of your senior executives, please drop me an email or DM me on LinkedIn.

The post ‘Brand Storytelling’ and ‘Personal Branding’ are making a comeback. Why now? appeared first on Eight Moon Media.

Did you see the CIPR and PRCA’s joint letter urging the media to verify the authenticity of their PR sources? Can you believe it’s come to this?

The use of AI in PR is, all too often, a lesson of the old adage, ‘just because you can, don’t mean you should.’

PR needs to get AI in perspective, use it for the right things, and stand out by refocusing on its core strength, building trust and authority through human-led communication.

“AI tools are changing our industry for the better in so many ways, but their power should only be harnessed in ways that play to our key objectives to inform and persuade, and build trust and authority.”

PR’s AI challenge

It’s been more than three years since publicly available generative AI tools first became available to PR professionals. The majority (two-thirds) of us are using AI to some degree, according to Muck Rack.

We should be using AI to help with our research, number crunching, reporting, and workflow improvements.

We should also be helping our clients to contextualise their AI search visibility, a huge growth opportunity for PR.

What we shouldn’t be doing as an industry is promoting fake experts or using AI to generate impersonal pitches to the media.

“The trustworthy PRs’ names stand out in the crowded email inbox. It’s their emails that journalists click.”

Get back to basics: Build trust and authority

As a former journalist, I can tell you that there are PR agencies and professionals whom you learn to trust over time; they only approach you when they have a story relevant to your audience, can provide a well-trained spokesperson, and don’t spam you with rubbish. The trustworthy PRs’ names stand out in the crowded email inbox. It’s their emails that journalists click.

The AI era drives home what should have always been PR best practice: only approach the media when you have a relevant story to tell. In a world where trust is at a premium, the PR industry has a chance to make a real positive difference.

Aside from being the right thing to do, there’s a secondary benefit to focusing on building trust and authority. When choosing which content to surface to users, search engines and large language models (LLMs) look for content that displays experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness, often called EEAT.

So, transparent content, such as customer case studies, user reviews, expert biographies, reports, whitepapers, training materials (how-to guides, FAQs, etc.), is great for search in the AI era.

How PR should use AI

In previous LinkedIn posts, I have summarised how PRs should approach AI:

Understand how LLMs work

Get the right tools in place

Build a narrative and content strategy based around search engines and LLMs

 Focus on the right media (some are more likely to surface in LLMs due to agreements etc.)

Use humans to write and pitch your content

Be flexible, so you can pivot quickly to changing audience needs

Monitor, measure, pivot

AI tools are changing our industry for the better in so many ways, but their power should be harnessed only to support our key objectives: informing and persuading, and building trust and authority.

I’ve been tracking AI in the PR industry since 2018, and train PR agencies and in-house teams on AI search(often called ‘GEO’). If your team needs training around AI and content strategy, please get in touch.

Syndicated from LinkedIn.

The post In the AI era, PR should refocus on core basics: Building trust and authority appeared first on Eight Moon Media.

[updated December 2025] Love them or loathe them, the press release seems set to stay as a PR tool. Very few of them are effective, so, having written hundreds and received tens of thousands of press releases in my career, here’s your guide on how to write an effective press release.

In the era of artificial intelligence (AI), the jury is out on the value and future of the press release, but the fact of the matter is that for most organisations, it is still the favoured mechanism by which comms professionals distribute stories to media and bloggers.

However, as a freelance digital consultant who’s worked in both tech journalism and PR, as well as being a football culture blogger, I have not only drafted hundreds of press releases but have been on the receiving end of tens of thousands. Many of these were deleted without being read.

It’s sad but true, having seen the effort and often protracted revision and approval processes: most releases will fail to generate the media interest that clients and agencies alike would hope for.

Why press releases fail, and how to change that

There are many reasons why press releases fail to get traction with the media or bloggers, which could be one or a combination of the below:

1) There was no story

Anecdotally, this is probably one of the main reasons press releases fail. Many releases are written for vanity reasons and lose sight of the target audience of the media they aim to send the release to.

The most important question to ask is why would anyone care? If you can’t answer that, then you don’t have a story. Write a blog post instead if you’re itching to say something.

2) The press release headline didn’t grab attention 

As a tech journalist in the newsroom, I used to receive upwards of 200 press releases each day. I recently asked a few contacts of mine, and they likewise tended to receive 50-200 each day. For nationals, expect that to be a lot higher. Of course, many of these will come from wires, reducing the personal approach and probably duplicating in the inbox, as the recipient may well have been pitched to personally.

No journalist ever has appreciated a phone call from a PR asking, “Did you get the press release?” And they have been telling PRs this for as long as I’ve been in this industry (27+ years), and yet it still happens!

If in doubt, make sure your team receives some influencer relations training.

3) The press release was badly written

One of my favourite football crowd banners was one that I spotted at a Fortuna Düsseldorf match in Germany a few years ago. It read “Copy and paste is not journalism”. While I don’t know which incident the banner specifically referred to, it does raise an interesting point. In an era when journalists are under extreme pressure to turn around stories quickly for a hungry online audience, there is a temptation to lift copy. 

Yet many stories, especially B2B, are written in dry, corporate speak, often with many niche acronyms and assumed knowledge. This turns journalists off as they have to effectively translate the article for their audiences.

Instead, try writing as close to media style as possible. This will require a cultural change in some organisations, but have a look at the tips below on how to write a great press release

4) There was no rich media to support the press release

Building on the ‘make it easy for the journalist’ theme, web publishers want rich content. That could be embeddable video, audio, images or infographics. How can you bring your story to life? Provide links to the content so the journalist can download and use in their own time. 

5) You sent the press release as an attachment

Seriously, this still happens… 

6) Your timing was off

Do you know when your target publication has its team meetings?

7) What you offered wasn’t unique

This applies to bloggers more than media. You cannot spam bloggers with press releases. They want unique experiences and content to share with their hard-earned audiences. 

8) A bigger story came along

This happens and is out of your control. If circumstances intervene, think about a new angle.

Hacks on how to write a great press release

There is no set formula or template for press releases, but the one I typically follow is:

Email subject

Generate a clickbaity title that entices the click. Add some mystery and use hyperbole within reason.

DO NOT USE CAPITALS. IT LOOKS LIKE SHOUTING!

Also, avoid using the words “Press Release” in your subject line. It uses up valuable space and is kind of self-evident.

I don’t believe PRs should use generative AI to draft press releases; the media dislikes it, for a start, plus it’s a) deeply impersonal and b) the PR risks sharing sensitive information with the whole world by helping to train the model (even if set to private). However, so long as the title is anonymised, I think large language models (LLMs) are really useful sounding tools for testing headers.

Top-line pitch

Before you launch into the meat of the release, write a personalised pitch to that journalist with some easy-to-scan key points. For example;

Hi Sandra

I saw your recent piece on X [link]. I can take this story further. Did you know that Y? That is important to your audience because Z.

In brief:

– Fact

– Stat

– Quote/citation

Please see below release and I have [spokesperson] available and images [link to Flickr, Dropbox, WeTransfer or similar] for you to use.

Many thanks

[Name]

[Contact details]

Press release title

Get to the point. Kill your darlings, less is more. 

Consider a subhead to get any secondary points in early.

Press release body

(Again) GET TO THE POINT. First para must both summarise and entice the reader to continue.

I write my copy in Word, then run it through Grammarly to ensure I use short, easy-to-read sentences and avoid adverbs and the passive voice.

Ditch corporate speak and write as close to the style of target publications as possible. If your words get copied and pasted by the media, great!

All quotes should focus on what the release means to publications’ target audiences, NOT your company. No one cares about your company. Sorry to break it to you.

I used to write for IT managers, so I spent time talking to them and understanding what kept them awake at night (security, uptime, return on investment, etc.). So, vendors should address the issues that matter to the audience, not flatter internal egos or aim to tick coverage boxes.

Rich content

Support your copy with rich content to bring it to life.

Are you trying to explain something complex? Would a video or podcast file help describe it?

Have you carried out research? Would an infographic or flowchart help articulate your findings?

Could your story be supported by impactful images, for example, photos of the spokespeople? If so, provide hi-res images via a download link, such as Flickr, Dropbox, WeTransfer or similar. Make the journalist’s job as easy as possible.

Press release flowchart

Make sure you follow the flowchart below when considering creating press releases.

[Updated for 2025] I would caution against using generative AI to create press releases, even in closed networks. You should focus on creating content with the brand voice in mind. Always.

If you need an expert press release writer, then please get in touch.

The post The Ultimate Guide: How to Write a Press Release appeared first on Eight Moon Media.