#40: Harnessing the Power of PR to Scale B2B with Karla Jo Helms, JOTO PR Disruptors™

Summary

Podcast Summary: B2B Agility™ with Greg Kihlström
Episode #40: Harnessing the Power of PR to Scale B2B with Karla Jo Helms, JOTO PR Disruptors™
Release Date: March 25, 2025

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Introduction

In Episode #40 of B2B Agility™, host Greg Kilstrom engages in a thought-provoking conversation with Karla Jo Helms, the founder and CEO of Joto PR Disruptors™. Helms brings her extensive expertise in public relations (PR), focusing on transforming B2B brands through innovative PR strategies. The episode delves into the critical role PR plays in building trust, scaling businesses, and leveraging technology to enhance communication strategies.

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Guest Background

Timestamp: [02:10]

Helms shares her journey into crisis management PR, detailing her early career experiences that shaped her approach to PR:

“PR is used as a weapon in my line of work in crisis management. And I learned that if you can't take them out like the Wild West, you can print them out.”
– Carla Jo Helms [02:21]

Her exposure to high-stakes PR campaigns, often involving larger competitors attempting to undermine smaller, more agile businesses, motivated her to establish Joto PR Disruptors™. Her mission is to equip "the good guys" with the tools to proactively manage and control public opinion, turning PR from a defensive weapon into a strategic asset.

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Building Trust and Credibility

Timestamp: [04:43]

A central theme of the discussion is the importance of credibility and transparency in B2B partnerships. Helms emphasizes that the landscape has shifted from superficial marketing to a demand for authentic and truthful communication:

“Gone are the days of the fluffy priority, super polished jargon. We're so great, we're so this, we're that. You know, gone are those days, right.”
– Carla Jo Helms [04:43]

She highlights the fragmentation of media channels and the 24/7 news cycle as factors that necessitate continuous, authentic engagement to build and maintain trust.

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Cornerstones of Credibility

Timestamp: [06:38]

Helms identifies three fundamental elements essential for establishing credibility:

1. Truthfulness:

   “Truth, being truthful is the cornerstone.”
   – Carla Jo Helms [07:27]

2. Consistency:

   “Being consistent, filling that vacuum consistently, you know, creating that familiarity.”
   – Carla Jo Helms [07:27]

3. Alignment with Mission:

   “People buy into the why before they buy into the what. If you tell that story and if you align everything you do with your purpose, then that will keep you authentic and it will build your brand.”
   – Carla Jo Helms [07:27]

These pillars resonate strongly in today's business environment, where stakeholders demand genuine interactions and clear alignment between a company's mission and its actions.

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Practical Steps to Building Credibility

Timestamp: [07:58]

When asked about actionable strategies for companies struggling with trust and credibility, Helms advocates for leveraging earned media. She advises businesses to focus on storytelling that addresses real issues and positions them as thought leaders:

“If you can be the thought leader, right. And if you can give those tips and that advice and you can really educate people just like you would in sales about what's really happening and what people really need to do and be very forthcoming with your data and your advice, that is what companies can do to really drive their authenticity and truthfulness.”
– Carla Jo Helms [08:02]

She distinguishes PR from traditional content marketing by positioning PR as the initial stage that warms up the market, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of subsequent marketing and sales efforts.

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PR's Role in Scaling B2B

Timestamp: [11:14]

Discussing the integration of PR into the overall marketing funnel, Helms emphasizes its critical role in top-of-funnel activities. She explains how PR strategies can significantly influence brand awareness and market penetration:

“Companies today, especially companies that we work with, right, they're looking at like 30% of their entire marketing funnel is like PR. And a lot of companies today are upwards of 50% because they know that in this highly iterative, fast, you know, technological, fast growth process that, you know, the differentiators are the guys that control public opinion. It's not always the technology.”
– Carla Jo Helms [12:02]

Helms encourages brands to incrementally increase their PR investment, suggesting a strategic scaling that aligns with their growth objectives.

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PR and Talent Acquisition

Timestamp: [13:34]

Helms explores how a robust PR strategy not only enhances brand visibility but also serves as a magnet for attracting top-tier talent. She notes that:

“Good publicity, good PR, the byproduct is you get the better candidates. You bet you get the better candidates. When you're hiring winners want to work for winners.”
– Carla Jo Helms [13:34]

Moreover, she underscores the importance of internal PR campaigns to ensure that employees are well-informed ambassadors of the brand, thereby amplifying the PR efforts externally.

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Aligning Internal Culture with External Messaging

Timestamp: [16:19]

The conversation shifts to the alignment between a company's internal culture and its external messaging. Helms asserts that:

“If you align that in your external messaging, right. No matter what, no external message is going to go out unless it conceptually or even verbatim aligns with the mission statement of the company.”
– Carla Jo Helms [17:09]

She emphasizes that consistency between internal values and external communications fosters a cohesive brand image and strengthens stakeholder trust.

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The Role of AI and Data in PR

Timestamp: [19:28]

Addressing the intersection of AI, data analytics, and PR, Helms anticipates a transformative impact on the field:

“Agencies will really be able to connect the dots with the top of the funnel statistics that have been so nebulous for brands. Like why do we track impressions? What the hell is impressions?”
– Carla Jo Helms [19:28]

She foresees AI enabling PR professionals to quantify the effectiveness of campaigns more precisely, linking top-of-funnel activities to measurable business outcomes such as brand awareness, customer acquisition costs, and sales velocity.

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Balancing Data with Creativity

Timestamp: [24:38]

Helms discusses the symbiotic relationship between data-driven strategies and creative storytelling in PR:

“This is what I see. It is an accelerator or an amplifier for the creativity. When you manage by analytics, you can see what worked, what didn't work. Then it's like 'This worked so creatively. How can we strengthen that?'”
– Carla Jo Helms [24:38]

She argues that data analytics enhance creative efforts by providing insights into what resonates with audiences, thereby informing and refining narrative strategies.

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Future Opportunities in PR with Technology

Timestamp: [26:14]

Looking ahead, Helms identifies the integration of mathematical precision and emotional intelligence as the next frontier in PR:

“To really be able to mathematically figure out how many people you have to communicate to... to become the influencer in your market. To me, I see that as the biggest opportunity.”
– Carla Jo Helms [26:14]

She envisions technology enabling PR professionals to optimize communication strategies, efficiently target audiences, and swiftly adapt to shifts in public opinion, thereby leveling the playing field between smaller and larger enterprises.

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Staying Agile

Timestamp: [27:49]

In closing, when asked about maintaining agility in her role, Helms shares a personal strategy that underscores continuous learning and adaptability:

“I listen to podcasts. Seriously, I do. I listen to podcasts. I actually have a podcast myself. It's called Disruption Interruption, where I interview disruptive innovators that are really using technology to change some of the biggest problems...”
– Carla Jo Helms [27:49]

This approach keeps her informed about emerging trends and innovative practices, enabling her to adapt her PR strategies proactively.

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Conclusion

Episode #40 of B2B Agility™ offers invaluable insights into the strategic significance of PR in scaling B2B businesses. Karla Jo Helms articulates how authenticity, credibility, and alignment with a company’s mission are paramount in building trust. Moreover, she highlights the transformative potential of AI and data analytics in enhancing PR effectiveness, while also emphasizing the irreplaceable value of creative storytelling. For B2B marketers and brands aspiring to lead their categories, this episode underscores the imperative of integrating robust PR strategies with technological advancements to drive optimal business and customer outcomes.

For more information about Carla Jo Helms and Joto PR Disruptors™, listeners are encouraged to follow the links provided in the show notes.

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This summary was crafted based on the provided transcript, focusing solely on the substantive content shared between Greg Kilstrom and Carla Jo Helms, and excluding all advertisements, intros, outros, and non-content sections.

Transcript

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[Greg Kilstrom]

Welcome to the B2B Agility Podcast where we look at the factors that drive success in B2B marketing with a focus on the people, processes, data and platforms that make B2B brands stand out and thrive in a competitive marketplace. I'm your host Greg Kilstrom, advising Fortune 1000 brands on MarTech marketing operations and CX, bestselling author and speaker. Now let's get on to the show.

[Host]

Is your brand's story building trust or are you leaving credibility to chance? Our guest today is Carla Joe helms, founder and CEO of Joto PR Disruptors. Carla Jo is an expert in transforming B2B brands through innovative public relations strategies. With a career dedicated to building trust, managing crises, and leveraging data driven storytelling, she's helped countless businesses scale and thrive. She's going to share her insights on harnessing the power of PR to elevate B2B brands, even in the most challenging environments. Welcome to the show, Carla Jo.

[Carla Jo Helms]

Hey Greg, thank you. I appreciate it. Happy here.

[Host]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Looking forward to talking about all of this with you. Before we dive in, why don't you tell us a little bit more about your background and what led you to found Joto PR Disruptors.

[Carla Jo Helms]

Yeah, sure. Thanks. My background's in crisis management, so I kind of got into that right outta school. A little bit of a fluke, but for the first half of my career that's all I knew. I worked with Some of the best PRs in the world, litigation attorneys, private private investigators. I worked on some of the most challenging B2B embezzlement breaches, fraud campaigns, you name it. And I learned early on, kind of disillusioned me about the business world, but PR is used as a weapon in my line of work in crisis management. And I learned that if you can't take them out like the Wild west, you can print them out. And unfortunately, every campaign that I ever worked on, it was always a bigger competitor that was trying to take out a smaller competitor that had better technology, more agile technology, and were taking over market share. And they tried to take them out in the court of public opinion. And with that, I learned the playbook. I learned the black ops playbook. And I made a resolution in my early career that I was going to do everything I could to teach that playbook to the good guys so they could proactively guide and control public opinion to help them expand and never be in that situation again. And so that was the birth of Johto pr. We built a trademark process using all those techniques and the media's algorithm, and we call that anti PR today. So there you go.

[Host]

Yeah, Love it, Love it. Well, yeah, let's, let's dive in here. We're going to talk about a few things here, but want to start with building trust. And, you know, some of the, some of the things that you're taught, you just mentioned can kind of erode trust if, you know, if there's, if there's this kind of black ops process or whatever behind the scenes. So let's talk about the cornerstones of credibility. You've emphasized that credibility and transparency are vital for successful B2B partnerships. Maybe touched on this a little bit. How bad is it out there? You know, is credibility and transparency a big issue with companies these days? And is it getting better or worse? I know that was like five questions, but maybe just pick a question.

[Carla Jo Helms]

I mean, gosh, you know, it's, it's an issue. It will always be an issue. Gone are the days of the fluffy priority, super polished jargon. We're so great, we're so this, we're that. You know, gone are those days, right? And let me just give you a little bit of data about the media. I mean, it is a 247 news cycle. The US media controls the world and the rest of the media, right? We have the network media that pretty much took over like in 2016, where you don't have this geographical, centralized, mainstream media in New York Anymore that's controlling things, right? It's the network media all over the world. It exponentially increased in 2020. Today you have, you know, not only mainstream media, but what you have under that, that's the foundation for the mainstream media, is all your podcasters, right? Your thought leaders, your bloggers, you know, your B2B trade and publications that are catering now to super targeted segments of the B2B population.

[Co-Host]

Right.

[Carla Jo Helms]

There are so many channels today to get your message out on like, authentic message that if you aren't driving the conversations.

[Co-Host]

Right.

[Carla Jo Helms]

I had a client told me the other day, God, if you're not in the news, you're nothing.

[Co-Host]

Right.

[Carla Jo Helms]

It's like a, it's a PR world today. If you're not driving that conversation and driving it with authenticity, right. And continuously doing it, then it's sort of like at your peril.

[Host]

Yeah, yeah. What would you consider the cornerstones of building that credibility? You know, and, and you know what, why do you think these qualities would resonate so strongly in today's business landscape?

[Carla Jo Helms]

Yeah. Well, with the advent of social media and now people being able to publish so many things and you have so many channels, and also with technology, you can be quickly found out if you don't tell the truth. So truth, being truthful is the cornerstone. The other one is being consistent, filling that vacuum consistently, you know, creating that familiarity. And the other one is always tying it back to your mission. Like, people have a purpose for being in business. They have a purpose of why their technology or their services exist. People buy into the why before they buy into the what. If you tell that story and if you align everything you do with your purpose, then that will keep you authentic and it will build your brand. So those would be the three cornerstones?

[Host]

Yeah, I mean, let's say, you know, assuming that a brand knows its mission, because I think if it doesn't, that's a whole other. That's a whole other conversation, probably. But, you know, assuming they know their mission, you know, what are some practical steps? You know, those, those listening out there that, yeah, they've, they've got some of those things, but they're still. There's a lack of trust, there's a lack of perceived credibility. At the very least, you know, what are some practical steps they could take to start building that and working towards that with their customers and partners?

[Carla Jo Helms]

You know, a hundred percent would be earned media.

[Co-Host]

Right?

[Carla Jo Helms]

Listen, if you have a technology that's like saving lives or making things more transparent, say in finance or healthcare or whatever, right. The Types of stories and the communication that you really want to drive today is not how great you are, but it is really exploiting those issues and the controversies and the harm and the money wasted and the lack of transparency that your services and technology solves. People are looking for help today. They're looking for answers. And if you can be the thought leader, right. And if you can give those tips and that advice and you can really educate people just like you would in sales about what's really happening and what people really need to do and be very forthcoming with your data and your advice, that is what companies can do to really drive their authenticity and truthfulness.

[Host]

How do you separate that from. Because I think the on the one end of that spectrum is like content marketing. Right. And it's markety and it's salesy and you know, but I don't think that's what you're talking about. How do you, how do you differentiate what you just described from, okay, let's get the content team on it and you know, and, and start marketing stuff.

[Carla Jo Helms]

Yeah, it, it is market. PR is marketing's front. It's in, in an intelligent life cycle of pr, marketing, sales. PR is first, PR warms the markets up. It gets them to think newly, it gets people to change their minds. And then marketing starts the demand gen process, right. To a warmed up market. And then sales obviously closes. Whenever you're thinking of let's do the marketing and so forth, the practitioners in PR should be looking at, how do I put that even more top of funnel. How do I find out, okay, we're trying to sell this, but what's the pain that we're trying to solve? You know, what are those issues that really people are running into?

[Co-Host]

Right.

[Carla Jo Helms]

What are the troubles? I mean, you never see a good news story, right? But so like trace it back to the real harm, the real economic loss, the real transparency issues, the lack of democratization, you know, all of those stats, trace it all the way back, you know, what your customers are like experiencing.

[Co-Host]

Right.

[Carla Jo Helms]

Tell those stories without making it promotional.

[Co-Host]

Right.

[Carla Jo Helms]

As a news story. That's what news does. It's an automatic. Well, what is the solution when people read about that? And that's when you can like start your marketing process after that.

[Host]

Yeah, yeah, I love that.

[Carla Jo Helms]

Yeah.

[Host]

And so, you know, in, in the context, I mean, I like how you characterize the, you know, pr, marketing and sales relationship. Maybe the, you know, part, part of that I guess is using PR to scale. I mean, as, you know, marketing needs to scale, sales needs to Scale PR is part of that. How should brands, if they're not thinking about PR as, you know, bottom of the funnel, you know, sales acquisition, you know, per se, you know, how should they be thinking about using PR to scale their business?

[Carla Jo Helms]

Yeah, that's a really good question. PR is always top of funnel. Think about this. You have to look at your total addressable market. And I'm not talking about looking at it in terms of the revenues. Look at in terms of number, like who are your target audiences? Who influences those target audiences? How big is that? You know, 3 to 7%, roughly are people that are going to buy from you now, 3% now, the other 4% of that 7% later at any given time.

[Co-Host]

Right.

[Carla Jo Helms]

But then you have the other, you know, what, 90%, that's 93% that you have to continually educate and get them to change minds. When they change their minds or they think newly, then you have more people in that 3 to 7%. That's a continuous process at the top of funnel.

[Co-Host]

Right.

[Carla Jo Helms]

So companies today, especially companies that we work with, right, they're looking at like 30% of their entire marketing funnel is like PR. And a lot of companies today are upwards of 50% because they know that in this highly iterative, fast, you know, technological, fast growth process that, you know, the differentiators are the guys that control public opinion. It's not always the technology.

[Co-Host]

Right.

[Carla Jo Helms]

So they should really look at that. And if they aren't, you know, if they don't have that piece of the pie, you know, start off, you know, 5%, then work the 10%, then 15%, you don't have to do that overnight, but I would seriously start working on that if you haven't.

[Host]

Yeah, definitely. So I want to switch gears a little bit here and talk about the, the job market. You know, we've, we're in year seven of this show and I feel like we've been on this like roller coaster. Yeah, like seven different job markets in seven years or so. It feels like, it feels like it. At least. Whether, you know, times are good economically or bad. You know, the, the job market is always a, a challenge. But you know, approaching things in a strategic way can certainly help those brands that are, that are looking for the best talent. How do, how do you look at how a strong PR strategy can, you know, in this case help businesses attract and retain that top tier talent?

[Carla Jo Helms]

It's such a great question. It has always been known and I see this from my clients over and over again, good publicity, good priority. The byproduct is you get the better candidates. You bet you get the better candidates. When you're hiring winners want to work for winners. And how do you know you're a winner? You're in the news, right? And one of the biggest brand ambassadors in PR is, and it's the most overlooked, but it's the most profitable is when your employees, right, and your key executives, your stakeholders, they're, they see you in the news and you have to do your own internal campaigns around this, right? They'll tell people and you know, high producers have high producer friends, right? And you, you know, listen, PR has so many markers as far as, like how it impacts revenues, marketing, roi, you know, shareholder price and so forth. People know this intrinsically even if they don't know the numbers. And people that are looking to make their career, they want to stay with winners, right? So one of the biggest things you could do in a down market and an up market is not only proactively publicize your good works, but then have an internal campaign to make sure every one of your stakeholders, your employees know it, because they will share the love. It's like this force multiplier.

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[Host]

Yeah, well, and you know, back to the, back to the credibility and the authenticity conversation. You know, this is certainly an area where a lot of employees, you know, it may not even be the primary consideration, but it's definitely a top consideration is just the values and the culture of the company that they want to or do work for.

[Carla Jo Helms]

That's big today.

[Host]

Yeah, I mean it's, it's Huge. And yet it's also. It's huge when those things don't own align as well. Right. So, you know, how do you, how do you advise a company to, you know, align the. I mean, obviously you always want to say the. The best thing. And even if it's this tiny little program that does this one little thing like you want to talk about it, but how do you, how do you recommend aligning that, you know, internal culture with external messaging?

[Carla Jo Helms]

Yeah, I. Can you get great questions. You know, I. I'll go back to the mission of the company and people can pass this off as such a tiny little thing. They don't realize how incredibly impactful it is. You know, we put about us on our websites and it's almost just like this thing that we have to check off.

[Co-Host]

Right.

[Carla Jo Helms]

But the purpose of the campaign, the purpose of the company, those are very highly aligned.

[Co-Host]

Right.

[Carla Jo Helms]

And in order to achieve anything in business and even any administrative programs and so forth, it has to be aligned to the mission statement and the purpose of the company.

[Co-Host]

Right.

[Carla Jo Helms]

If you align that in your external messaging, right. No matter what, no external message is going to go out unless it conceptually or even verbatim aligns with the mission statement of the company. We're not going to be in that publication unless that publication aligns with that statement. We're not going to put out this statement unless it aligns with it. We're not going to answer this unless it aligns with it. We're not going to do this unless it aligns with it.

[Co-Host]

Right.

[Carla Jo Helms]

The more you ding in that message, right. Externally and internally, it does a couple of things.

[Co-Host]

Right.

[Carla Jo Helms]

It breeds familiarity. And then people start to buy into it.

[Co-Host]

Right.

[Carla Jo Helms]

They don't have to agree with it at first. I mean, most people that are a company do agree with it, Right. But they start to buy into it. But it also does something else. It creates this culture and a life of its own where that's what you want. You want people pushing the brand message and mission and the, the people to do it is the PR marketing, PR marketing teams.

[Co-Host]

Right.

[Carla Jo Helms]

It's probably the biggest thing that we advocate for and push in our PR strategies. And I think that's why we get so many, so much press for our clients.

[Host]

Yeah. So I want to talk a little bit about, you know, look, looking ahead. But also, you know, there's there. I have an unofficial rule that I have to bring up AI in every interview. So I'm, I'm gonna. Let's go there. You know, a lot of what we've been talking about is, is authenticity and you know, mission. And to some, those feel like kind of nebulous maybe, you know, soft things that are hard to define in some cases. But data analytics, AI, these things are shaping everything that everybody's doing really in business. How do you see AI and analytics reshaping your world of PR and communication strategies?

[Carla Jo Helms]

Well, I'm really glad you asked that question. I mean in guiding and controlling public opinion, it's based on three things. It's based on physics, it's based on math and it's based on emotion. So analytics and crisis management is something that we have always done. I see the way AI like transforming agencies is that they will really be able to connect the dots with the top of the funnel statistics that have been so nebulous for brands. Like why do we track impressions? What the hell is impressions? You know, it, it, you know, things like that.

[Co-Host]

Right.

[Carla Jo Helms]

How do we like connect the conversions and like show increased brand awareness?

[Co-Host]

Right.

[Carla Jo Helms]

How do we show customer acquisition cost, you know, improving sales velocity.

[Co-Host]

Right.

[Carla Jo Helms]

Improving things like that. Like this age we will, agencies will be able to do this better and better and better and be able to predict their comps plans, you know, like how much communication do we have to have?

[Co-Host]

Right.

[Carla Jo Helms]

And how many times consistently to reach our target audience? This many times to then get awareness that there is a problem and then move the person down the funnel to then get, you know, now conversions to then get sales and so forth. That is what AI and analytics will bring to the agencies.

[Host]

Yeah, and I think it, it underscores, you know what I was saying. It doesn't mean that strategy and insights and research were not guiding it previously. But it's, it's true that like better access to data and more visibility on that is going to, I think I'm an optimist when it comes to this. I think it's going to make it clearer and demonstrate value not only for those doing the work but for the brands benefiting from the work. Right. So like how does a, how does a company embrace that, you know, fully? Like how do they use data to enhance their PR strategies and, and strengthen these, you know, perception as well as the relationships?

[Carla Jo Helms]

Well, you know, tech's been doing that for quite a while now. Right. And we work with, you know, all tech companies but it's been, you know, benchmarked and known that long term PR campaigns really increase like brand awareness, 20% for brands.

[Co-Host]

Right.

[Carla Jo Helms]

But we've also seen numbers like reduce customer acquisition costs 10 to 30%.

[Host]

Right.

[Carla Jo Helms]

Right. Sales velocity increasing like 15%. You know, these are benchmarks that we've been able to track like 2x in sustainable growth. Right. Shareholder price like multiples increasing. What I think is going to happen now is like, you know, every industry and company is different.

[Co-Host]

Right.

[Carla Jo Helms]

But they are benchmarks that each industry and, and can look at and then be able to really like connect those like all the top of funnel statistics to the middle of funnel, to the bottom of funnel, to the sales. And then they'll be able to project out what they need to do just like sales.

[Co-Host]

Right.

[Carla Jo Helms]

What they need, how much they need in the pipeline. It'll be like how much communication do we need? They'll be able to do that.

[Host]

Yeah, that sounds amazing, by the way. It's amazing. So like it's going to take a.

[Carla Jo Helms]

Little bit of while because, you know, I'll tell you this about PR, right? Is that PR's job is to change minds and get people to think newly. It is not a sales lead conversion.

[Co-Host]

Right, right, right.

[Carla Jo Helms]

So there are specific statistics that have seemed nebulous to others in the past because they didn't know how they connected with middle and bottom of the funnel. That's going to be easier to show the board like in the future.

[Co-Host]

Right.

[Carla Jo Helms]

And it's also going to be like people are going to be very aware of what it takes to guide public opinion, to really help people. And so I'm happy when that day's, you know, coming and it's not that far out.

[Host]

Yeah, agreed. Yeah, I mean, I think we're, there's already, there's already pieces, lots of, as you already mentioned, like there's a lot of pieces of that in place already. And as, I mean even marketing has a long way to go to truly tell the full omnichannel story. Even though, you know, perhaps got a head start in some of these areas. But like I, yeah, it, it, I can see the pieces coming together as, as you're describing it. So that, that's great. Now that we've talked about data, let's maybe circle back to balancing that with, because again, as with anything, I mean, you know, I, I talk with a lot of people in the Martech world and, and as well and you know, so much focus on data and, and AI and all these things and perhaps less of a, of a focus on the creative and the brand side of things. So how do you look at, in the PR world balancing this focus on this amazing opportunity to have access to better data with keeping the creative part and telling that narrative. How should, how should brands be thinking?

[Carla Jo Helms]

Well, I mean, we're already doing it. And this is what I see. It is a accelerator or an amplifier for the creativity. When you manage by statistics, right, which we do, or you manage by analytics, you can see what worked, what didn't work, right? And then it's the it's no longer bright idea itis, right? Let's, let's pull it out of our you know what and try to figure it out. It's like this worked so creatively. How can we strengthen that, right? What is the narrative that we can continue to have long legs, right? What are the variety of ways that we can, you know, ding in that message, right, to different audiences? Who else can we get on our side to influence our target audience? That's all creative skill. And this is where AI and technology and analytics really facilitate the creators. Because there's nothing more disheartening than having bright idea itis and then doing something and it didn't work.

[Co-Host]

Right?

[Carla Jo Helms]

But you can see that like the ebbs and flows when something worked, you can creatively figure out how to continue that narrative. If it didn't work, you know exactly how to figure out what changed and turn it around. So to me, I think it makes people way more excited and way more creative.

[Host]

Yeah, I love that. So looking ahead, what do you see as the biggest opportunity for businesses to leverage technology, whether that's AI or data or other technology, what do you see as the biggest opportunity to leverage that in their PR efforts?

[Carla Jo Helms]

Gosh. To really be able to mathematically figure out how many people you have to communicate to. Who's the low hanging fruit, right? How to get those won over, how to get the influencers of those won over and mathematically fill that vacuum until you are the influencer in your market. To me, I see that as the biggest opportunity. It'll be a combination of math and emotion, it'll be a combination of analytics and creativity. And I see the people that are really, really talented are going to be able to use technology to rise above and be even more talented than what they are because they're not going to be mired down in a lot of the mundane tasks or the, you know, things that take too long to figure it out. Technology and AI will be able to do that much faster for them. And I think one of the things that you will see is that people will be able to respond faster to what's happening in public opinion and really take control of their narrative and not just have it like really level the playing field between smaller competitors and enterprise. And enterprise with other enterprise.

[Co-Host]

Right?

[Carla Jo Helms]

Yeah.

[Host]

Love it. Love it. Well, thank you so much for all your insights. One last question I like to ask everybody. What do you do to stay agile in your role and how do you find a way to do it consistently?

[Carla Jo Helms]

That's a great question. I listen to podcasts. Seriously, I do. I listen to podcasts. I actually have a podcast myself. It's called Disruption Interruption, where I interview disruptive innovators that are really using technology to change some of the biggest problems that we have in our world today, whether it's in finance or agriculture or education or insurance or healthcare, you name it. And I find out from them what they're doing, which and then the podcast that they listen to or the, you know, the media that they listen to or what they read, that keeps me pretty agile. So that's what I do.

[Host]

Yeah, that's great. Well, thanks again to Carla Jo Helms, Founder and CEO of Johto PR Disruptors for joining the show. You can learn more about Carla Joe and Joto PR Disruptors by following the links in the show notes.

[Greg Kilstrom]

Thanks again for listening to the B2B Agility podcast. If you enjoyed the show, please take a minute to subscribe and leave us a rating so that others can find the show more easily. You can access more episodes of the show at www.b2b agility.com. that's b2bagility.com while you're there, check out my series of best selling agile brand guides covering a wide variety of marketing technology topics. Or you can search for Greg Kilstrom on Amazon. Until next time, stay focused and stay agile.

[Carla Jo Helms]

Brand.

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