Public Relations Stories and Strategies

Every organization has a story people believe about it. Most leaders didn't choose that story. They inherited it, stumbled into it, or lost control of it somewhere along the way. Stories and Strategies is the podcast that changes that. Host Doug Downs talks with the communicators, executives, and strategists who understand that narrative isn't a marketing function. It's a leadership one. Each episode unpacks what actually shapes reputation, trust, and public perception at the highest levels, drawing on behavioral science, media intelligence, and the ethics that keep persuasion honest. This is public relations at the level serious leaders need it. Not tactics and press releases. The thinking behind why some stories win and others disappear. Ranked among the most listened-to public relations podcasts in the world, Stories and Strategies reaches leaders and communicators across six continents every week. If you are responsible for the story people believe about your organization, you cannot afford to guess. Follow Stories and Strategies wherever you listen to your public relations content.

  1. 4d ago

    Reputation Management vs Reputation Architecture

    Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode Reputation isn’t your shadow anymore. It’s your operating system.  It’s no longer something you manage. It has already been decided, by AI, based on patterns inside your organization you may not even know exist. Most leaders still think about reputation the old way: crisis plans, issue management, damage control after the fact. But AI now reads every signal a company puts out and connects them across every location and every stakeholder, drawing its own conclusion about who you really are. A bad manager in one city used to stay local. Now it can become your global reputation by tomorrow morning. There is a scale that runs from head in the sand to full reputation architect, and most organizations are stuck somewhere in the middle, reacting instead of designing. This episode gets into why reputation now functions like a credit score, why one recent report put a seven trillion dollar number on it globally, and why the real work ahead is not protecting your brand but architecting the patterns underneath it, before AI does that job for you.   Listen For 3:35 Why should organizations stop managing reputation and start architecting it? 5:13 How does reputation become operational currency across an organization? 7:48 Why is brand more than a logo or a “cowboy hat”? 10:45 How is AI becoming a stakeholder in your reputation? 16:35 How can leaders tell if they are reacting, managing, or architecting reputation? Guest: Bonnie Caver, Reputation Lighthouse LinkedIn | Website | Company LinkedIn Doug Downs Substack | Website | LinkedIn   Subscribe to the Stories and Strategies PR podcast newsletter   Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Support the show

    Reputation Management vs Reputation Architecture
  2. Jul 7

    Why the Future of IABC May Be Less Stage and More Circle

    Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode What happens when a conference has no keynote, no formal agenda, and no single expert at the front of the room?   The new IABC International Chair calls this an “unconference” model. And it’s one glimpse of how professional associations can evolve: by creating space for communicators to learn directly from one another.  Also in this episode – why community, credibility, and connection matter more than ever in a profession being reshaped by AI, shrinking budgets, and rising expectation, the changing role of communicators in the age of AI, and why earned media, credible third-party sources, FAQs, and even the press release may be gaining new relevance in AI search.    Listen For 4:13 Why was the ABC Designation Considered Tougher than the SCMP? 5:34 How is AI Making Earned Media and Press Releases Valuable Again? 8:09 Why Should Communicators Bring FAQ Pages Back for AI Search? 9:56 Why are Chief Communications Officers Gaining a Stronger Seat at the C-Suite Table? 17:11 How Is IABC Rethinking Chapters With Community Models and Unconferences? Guest: Richard Kies, Incoming IABC International Chair LinkedIn | Bio Page Doug Downs Substack | Website | LinkedIn   Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Support the show

    Why the Future of IABC May Be Less Stage and More Circle
  3. Jun 30

    Communications Needs a New Compass

    Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode As a communications professional you’re operating in the most complex information environment in history. Misinformation. Disinformation. AI generated deepfakes of executives saying things they never said. Audiences who have stopped trusting what organizations tell them. Employees who can't tell what's real. And somewhere in the middle of all of that noise you’re still expected to move people. To make them understand something, feel something, and do something. With the same frameworks you have always used. Dianne Chase has written a book that argues the profession needs a North Star more than it needs another tactical playbook. She’s the past International Chair of IABC, past Chair of the IABC Southern Region, and current president of IABC Charlotte. Her book is called The Seven C's of the New Communications Compass. And the argument she makes is both simple and urgent: in an era of collapsing trust, the communicators who will matter most are not the ones with the best tools. They’re the ones who remembered to be human. This episode was recorded on location in Toronto in June 2026 at IABC World Conference   Listen For 3:16 What Are the Seven Cs of the New Communications Compass? 6:16 Why Should Organizations Build Relationships Instead of Transactions? 8:19 How Does Compassion Become Empathy in Action? 13:09 Why Does Community Matter to Purpose-Driven Brands? 17:10 How Should Communicators Measure What Really Matters? Guest: Dianne Chase, President IABC Charlotte, past International Chair IABC, past Chair IABC Southern Region Website | LinkedIn Doug Downs Substack | Website | LinkedIn   Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Support the show

    Communications Needs a New Compass
  4. Jun 23

    The “Transmission” Problem in Public Relations

    Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode Communications has always been built around a sender mentality. We decide what people need to know, we package it, we push it out. That model came from journalism and broadcasting, three networks, eleven o'clock news, one message for everyone. It made sense then.  The infrastructure has changed completely since. Audiences have become producers. People choose what they consume, when they consume it, and they unsubscribe from what no longer serves them. That transformation happened entirely in the outside world. Inside organizations, almost nothing changed. And the question this episode keeps coming back to is a simple and uncomfortable one: why are we still broadcasting when everything outside us has already moved on? This episode was recorded ON LOCATION at IABC World Conference in Toronto in June 2026. Listen For 4:34 How did audiences become producers of their own news and information? 6:16 Why does internal communication need to become recipient-driven? 9:33 How can communicators create identity moments that cut through white noise? 11:28 How did opening in Spanish create a powerful diversity and inclusion moment? 16:51 How is AI changing the communicator’s role from creator to prompt strategist?   Guest: Brad Whitworth LinkedIn  The IABC Handbook of Organizational Communication The IABC Guide for Practical Business Communication: A Global Standard Primer Doug Substack | Website | LinkedIn   Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Support the show

    The “Transmission” Problem in Public Relations
  5. Jun 2

    Why Public Relations May Be the Secret Weapon in AI Search

    Send us a note about this episode. We'll reply and thank you on a future episode Every PR professional has sat in a meeting where leaders ask you to “show up in AI” Here’s the problem. The AEO/GEO industry has built an entire measurement apparatus around citations… the moment an AI visibly names your brand. But the research shows that moment is essentially an echo of a decision that was already made, upstream, in conversations that left no trace.  Brands have been optimizing for the receipt, when the purchase decision happened days ago. The deeper irony is that the work which does move the needle in those invisible conversations looks exactly like what PR teams have always done. Original research. Expert voice. Earned credibility. Third-party validation. The toolkit that has historically been the hardest to attribute is, it turns out, the one doing the most work in the AI era. The people who were always right about what good looks like just never had the data to prove it… until now. Listen For 3:35 Why Does AI Influence Start Before the Conversion Stage? 7:41 Is AEO Really Just Earned Media Strategy in Disguise? 10:09 What Are the Three Levers That Shape AI’s View of a Brand? 13:13 Are “Hey AI” Pages and Schema Tricks Ethical or Effective? 15:49 How Can PR Teams Prove Earned Media Builds AI Influence?   Guest: Tom Rudnai, Founder and CEO Demand-Genius Website | X | LinkedIn  Doug Substack | Website | LinkedIn   Are you a brand with a podcast that needs support? Book a meeting with Doug Downs to talk about it. Apply to be a guest on the podcast Connect with us LinkedIn | X | Instagram | You Tube | Facebook | Threads | Bluesky | Pinterest Support the show

    Why Public Relations May Be the Secret Weapon in AI Search
5
out of 5
14 Ratings

About

Every organization has a story people believe about it. Most leaders didn't choose that story. They inherited it, stumbled into it, or lost control of it somewhere along the way. Stories and Strategies is the podcast that changes that. Host Doug Downs talks with the communicators, executives, and strategists who understand that narrative isn't a marketing function. It's a leadership one. Each episode unpacks what actually shapes reputation, trust, and public perception at the highest levels, drawing on behavioral science, media intelligence, and the ethics that keep persuasion honest. This is public relations at the level serious leaders need it. Not tactics and press releases. The thinking behind why some stories win and others disappear. Ranked among the most listened-to public relations podcasts in the world, Stories and Strategies reaches leaders and communicators across six continents every week. If you are responsible for the story people believe about your organization, you cannot afford to guess. Follow Stories and Strategies wherever you listen to your public relations content.

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