Why Personal Brands CAN (and should) Manage their own Public Relations

I’m sick of seeing business owners invest in expensive public relations retainers when they don’t have to. 

There, I said it. It might be my hottest take as a personal branding and public relations expert myself, but it’s the foundation of my entire business and, up until now, I’ve shied away from writing about it.

But it’s 2025 and I promised myself I would be BOLD this year. 

Bold in my approach, my strategy, and my opinions, and it’s about time I get this down on (the virtual) paper. 

Now if you’re just tuning in, hi! I’m Katrina Owens, I’m the founder of Knockout Directive, which is a Personal Branding & Public Relations firm dedicated to helping business owners build FAMOUS personal brands. We started out as a traditional agency – offering a wide variety of branding, web design, social media and public relations management – but my passion has always been in education. Because of this, I’ve also offered personal branding and public relations coaching programs alongside my Done-for-You retainers. 

And you know what I’ve always found the most fulfilling? 

Watching business owners learn a new skill (in this case, public relations for personal brands) and executing far more meaningful results than an agency could achieve for them. 

Now, because I’m a bit new to this ‘sharing hot takes on the internet’ thing, I want to offer a disclaimer before you continue reading. 

This is not a slight against agencies and publicists. I’m not here to undo an entire industry, and I do believe that traditional PR retainers can achieve absolutely beautiful results for clients.

That’s not the problem I’m tackling here. 

The problem is that: 

• Most personal brands in their first few years of business simply cannot afford the retainer of a PR agency or publicist.

• Because of this, they believe that PR is something they “aren’t ready for yet”, or they see it as a tactic that “just isn’t for them”. So they avoid using it altogether, which is a major missed opportunity.

• Some agencies have attempted to service this need by offering a lower-priced retainer which simply doesn’t drive the best results, because there isn’t as much manpower behind it. This leads to the belief that “PR doesn’t work for my business.”

• If a personal brand does decide to invest in a standard PR retainer for say, a 4-month campaign, they may see amazing results over the 4-month period. But what happens after that? As professionals, we all know that media placements quickly become outdated, and short campaigns are not a sustainable way for building long-term Brand Awareness and Authority, especially for a personal brand who wants to sustain a position as a thought leader in their industry.

So now that we’ve got that out of the way, if you’re a Personal Brand (whether that means you’re the founder of a large organization, an executive at a mid-sized company, or a solopreneur), here’s why it’s to your benefit to learn how to master your own public relations.

At its core, public relations is relationship-building.

Somewhere between instant gratification, red carpets and clickbait headlines, we lost the plot on what public relations has meant for so long – relationship building. 

For a very long time, PR professionals were lauded for their connections to journalists, event coordinators and industry professionals that could snag a headline or coveted event invitation for their client; but every month, we see turnover at longstanding publications and media organizations. 

In the traditional media sense, it seems like opportunities are dwindling, but in my opinion, they’re exponentially increasing – just look at the rise of new, niche online publications and hot, new events popping up in cities of all sizes. It’s in the best interest of business owners to connect with the individuals (whether they’re writers, event hosts, or media journalists [TV, podcasting, etc.]) so they can continue to build authentic relationships that extend beyond just securing a press mention. 

Relationships are about long-term trust, collaboration, and mutual respect. And in the ever-evolving media landscape, business owners who take the initiative to engage with these key players are not just positioning themselves for one-off wins; they are establishing a network of genuine connections that will continue to open doors and create new opportunities throughout the length of their careers, regardless of the industry changes that may occur.

The internet is sick of hearing from publicists.

I’m a big fan of the social media platform Threads (it feels like a light, fun version of X; like Twitter in its early days); and I see journalists, podcast hosts, and event coordinators airing their gripes about the pitches in their inbox every single day. Some even posting screenshots as evidence on the platform.

To reinforce my first point, media contacts are people too. And they’re sick of being middle-manned while receiving bad information (or even, totally wrong information), unaligned pitches, and entitled requests. Business owners have the ability to create and nurture very real, mutually-beneficial relationships with those they want to eventually work with, without the pressure of having to achieve the immediate results that a lot of agencies and publicists are looking for.

Pitching is actually a really important skill for personal brands.

Pitching is an incredibly important skill for business owners to have. It’s also highly transferable, as all business owners will have to pitch themselves at some point in their career – whether it’s to the media, investors, or potential clients; it’s in everyone’s best interest to know what this looks like.

Through my Publicity Coaching programs, my clients have successfully pitched themselves to publications like Women’s Health Magazine, the New York Times, and podcasts and events around the world. By training and maintaining this skill in-house, we’re creating businesses that can self-sustain and achieve more for themselves, and who doesn’t want that?

I’m here to empower business owners with the information they need to execute their own public relations for their personal brand.

As someone who straddled both sides of the fence for a long time – offering both coaching and full-service retainers – I’ve had the unique opportunity to see what delivers the most impactful results. 

And when you read that, I’m sure you immediately think it’s done-for-you PR. 

But when I talk about impact, I’m not just talking about press mentions. I’m talking about building confidence in business owners, helping them grow talented teams and watching them create mutually-beneficial relationships that lead to far more opportunities than a one-off television segment.

In the end, it’s about building up the skillset and talent in yourself and your team. When you educate yourself on what public relations can actually look like for your business, you’re building a foundation that will serve your personal brand for years to come (long after the length of any campaign). 

Whether you’re just starting out or already established, learning to manage your own PR allows you to be more nimble, authentic, and proactive in pursuing opportunities.

And let’s be honest: no one knows the depths of your personal brand as well as you do, no matter how much information you share during your initial onboarding session.