Digital PR agency shares their top tools for creating smarter, faster PR campaigns
The digital age is changing how every industry operates, and no one has felt this shift quite like those in the communications industry.
Gone are the days of manually cutting and scanning media coverage and painstakingly sending out media releases to hundreds of contacts one by one as AI tools and slick tech services are transforming the way our team works.
With over 2 decades of experience in the media industry our team at leading digital PR agency, Holyrood PR, have watched the industry transform from a sector dominated by print press to a fast-paced landscape defined by data-driven strategies and automation-powered precision.
We’ve tested countless tools and platforms over the years — and through all the trial and error, three solutions have consistently delivered the biggest impact on productivity, performance, and results.
Planning platforms
With over 20 years of experience executing award winning PR campaigns, we know that the key to a successful campaign is careful planning. Previously, this meant juggling timelines across emails, spreadsheets, and sticky notes, painstakingly updating progress manually and chasing approvals across scattered channels.
Digital planner platforms like Asana, Trello, and Monday.com have completely streamlined this process. These tools allow PR teams to map out entire campaigns in one central hub, assigning tasks, setting deadlines, and tracking progress in real time. With built-in notifications and shared visibility, everyone from account leads to junior execs stays aligned, reducing delays and ensuring nothing slips through the cracks. For agencies managing multiple clients and fast-moving campaigns, this level of organisation isn’t just helpful, it’s transformative.
The introduction of planning platforms has been revolutionary to our team, taking our time-consuming campaign planning meetings and turning them into simple online to do lists where every member of the team can understand what tasks they are assigned, hold each other accountable and stick to tight deadlines.
Transcription platforms
Capturing meeting notes also used to be a time-consuming chore that drained hours from busy account executives and left much room for human error. Teams were often left relying on scribbled notes, half-remembered quotes, or hours of manual typing just to produce a usable meeting summary.
Now, AI-powered transcription tools like Otter.ai, Trint, and Descript have changed the game entirely. These platforms can automatically convert audio and video recordings into accurate, searchable text within minutes — often with speaker identification and time stamps included. For PR teams handling media interviews, client briefings, or internal planning sessions, this not only saves time but also improves accuracy and accountability.
This also has a knock-on effect on the efficiency in which our team to gather the key information from the meeting and turn it into actionable tasks, saving further hours which were previously spent outlining the key meeting notes.
The introduction of transcribing tools has led to a significant reduction in the amount of time our team have to spend on boring admin tasks, allowing them to quickly gather the transcription and key notes and get on with the work that really matters – creating human-led stories that will connect with audiences across the UK.
AI Tools
Of all the rising pieces of technology we have discussed, nothing has been quite as culturally revisionary as the introduction of AI. From civil servants to auctioneers, every industry is using AI to streamline their operations.
But when it comes to the media, an industry defined by integrity, copy writing, and human led content, the introduction of AI has left many firms more fearful than fascinated
We’re here to put those fears to bed. While it’s true that AI can generate passable copy in a matter of minutes, that doesn’t mean skilled writers are becoming obsolete. In fact, there are several compelling reasons why machine-generated content still falls short of the craftsmanship and nuance found in traditional copywriting:
- They can’t replace your human touch: They may be able to generate content quickly, but they lack something you don’t: Human empathy and an understanding of others. AI hasn’t met the people you have, AI has not got a lifetime of opinions, thoughts and passions, which shine through human written work.
- AI content is generic: AI may be able to produce content very quickly, but it doesn’t always mean it’s the best. AI gathers its information from publicly available content and uses this to create the content it generates. Keeping this in mind, if AI is using a series of pre-existing content to generate new content, the likely hood of this content being unique or original is very low.
- AI content does not provide the same SEO incentive: Google also does not like AI content when it lacks originality, depth, or human insight. While automation can produce bulk content, it often fails to meet Google’s standards for helpfulness, expertise, and authenticity — all factors that influence how well a page ranks. In contrast, well-crafted, human-written copy demonstrates real value, experience, and perspective — qualities that search engines (and readers) prioritise.
That said, agencies should not entirely dismiss AI. Whilst it may never replace the creativity of a skilled writer, it can be an incredibly powerful assistant when used strategically.
Across the agency we have found AI to be revolutionary in taking the long-winded admin tasks our team loathed and turning them into a simple click of a button.
Here are some of the ways you can use AI to help your business, without feeling like it’s taking over:
- Create custom GTPs: Rather than relying on generic AI prompts, professionals can now create customised AI assistants trained on their specific tone, brand voice, and business objectives. These tailored models — known as Custom GPTs — can help generate media pitches, press release drafts, or social media content that sounds like you, not like a robot. With a bit of initial setup, these tools can save hours of time while keeping your messaging consistent and on-brand.
- Have it quickly pull together meeting notes: Tired of trawling through recordings or messy notes after a meeting? AI can instantly transcribe and summarise audio or video calls, providing clear action points, highlights, and follow-ups in minutes. This not only speeds up internal communication but also ensures nothing important gets missed, freeing up your team to focus on strategic tasks instead of admin.
- Get clever rather than just copy and pasting: The real power of AI lies in how you guide it. Instead of asking it to write something from scratch and hitting copy-paste, treat AI as a collaborator: give it your key points, ask it to rework existing copy, or use it to brainstorm alternatives when you’re stuck. This approach keeps your content original and rooted in your own expertise, with AI doing the heavy lifting in the background.
Conclusion
In the digital age, the communications industry is changing faster than ever and it’s easy to feel left behind. New platforms, smarter software, and AI-driven tools are reshaping the way we work on an almost daily basis. But this rapid evolution doesn’t mean abandoning the fundamentals of great PR, it means enhancing them.
By embracing tools such as planning platforms, transcription tools, and AI models in the right way, communications professionals can streamline their workflows without sacrificing quality or creativity. These tools aren’t here to replace people, they’re here to remove the roadblocks that slow us down, allowing more time for what truly matters: telling powerful, human-led stories that make an impact.
