Building Smarter Pitches and Smoother Approvals: How AI Can Fix PR Bottlenecks

Hi all – and a special thanks to those who have been sharing with friends and colleagues, it's been fantastic to see the subscriber count climbing! For this latest newsletter, I've been building actual AI tools, crafting prompts that generate brilliant media pitch subject lines, and discovering how simple folder organisation can transform your AI workflow.

Often fun and occasionally baffling, these experiments have been an insight into how AI can help for daily comms workflows, and with the news that OpenAI is getting set to launch GPT-5 in August, it feels like the capabilities will soon be increasing. With that in mind, there seems no better time to get stuck in…

1. Building in Public: The "AI Boss Approval Detector"

Creating functional AI tools without coding: complete with the mistakes, breakthroughs, and "oh, that's why it's broken" moments.

What I Built: The Faur Stakeholder Lens – an AI tool that analyses your content through different stakeholder perspectives before you hit send. Think of it as a digital focus group that's always available.

Why? Because we've all sent something that landed badly with a key stakeholder. Hours of crafting, endless tweaks, and you're still blindsided by someone's reaction. What if you could test your message through their eyes first?

How? Using Lovable (an AI-powered app builder), Claude Opus 4, and Supabase (an easily integrated database). The hypothesis: AI can simulate different stakeholder perspectives well enough to catch those "should've seen it coming" moments.

What Happened

Hour 1: The Reality Check

• Started with Claude-generated prompts. Immediate error. Welcome to no-coding.
• Basic UI working within 30 minutes, complete with persona dropdowns.
• Discovered Lovable's "Implement this plan" feature – it outlines your build, then executes at a click. Revelation for non-coders.

Hour 2: The "Everything is Fine" Bug

• Created user log-ins for tailored personas, hit Claude usage limits, switched to ChatGPT.
• Major discovery: wrote a deliberately terrible press release full of jargon and buried leads. The app gave it 95%.
• The reality: The app wasn't actually analysing anything! Everything defaulted to a generic score because things weren’t right under the hood.

Hour 3: The Breakthrough

• Fixed the issue (which was related to parsing). Suddenly awful content scored 10-20%. Success!
• Final sprint: Threw seven improvements at Lovable simultaneously. All implemented within minutes. Added sample content, copy functionality, keyboard shortcuts, visual indicators.

The Reality Check: For a final test, the Employee Rep persona instantly flagged missing staff impact messaging; Legal caught consultation requirements I'd missed. Five minutes versus potential hours of stakeholder review cycles before getting to the same stage.

Try It Out: https://comms-persona-preview.lovable.app/

2. Prompt Perfection: Media Pitch Subject Lines That Actually Work

Testing refined AI prompts for your own comms use.

Use Case: Every PR professional's nightmare: crafting the perfect pitch, then agonising over the subject line that determines if it even gets read.

How We Refined: Applied the Q&A Strategy (forcing AI to ask clarifying questions first), enhanced role assignment with specific domain expertise, and added structured output with risk assessment.

The Prompt

`You are an experienced PR professional specialising in media relations with 15+ years of crafting successful pitches. Your expertise includes understanding journalist psychology, news values, and inbox management patterns.

I need you to optimise email subject lines for media pitches using a systematic approach.

First, ask me these 5 strategic questions:

1. What's the core news angle of your story?
2. Which journalist/publication are you targeting and what's their typical beat?
3. What's the most surprising or counterintuitive element of your story?
4. Is there a timely hook?
5. Do you have any exclusive angles or data to offer?

Based on my answers, generate 5 optimised subject lines that:

• Are 6-10 words maximum (50-60 characters)
• Front-load the most newsworthy element
• Include specific numbers/data when relevant
• Avoid PR clichés
• Match the journalist's demonstrated interests

For each subject line, provide:

1. The subject line
2. Why it works (25 words)
3. Risk level (Low/Medium/High) for being ignored
4. Best time to send

Format as a table with clear rankings from strongest to weakest.`

In Practice: Instead of generic options, you get targeted suggestions written with the journalist firmly in mind. The risk assessment helps you choose between safe bets and attention-grabbing gambles.

3. Workflow Game-Changer: Why Project Folders Matter

Tests of AI-powered organisation – what's worthy of inclusion in your comms toolkit?

Tool Name & Category: Project Folders - ChatGPT & Claude (Workflow Organisation)

The Promise: Transform chaotic AI conversations into organised, accessible workspaces

The Test: Used folders across both platforms for client work, experiments, and content creation over several months

The Good:

• Instant organisation for multi-client juggling
• Upload files for constant reference (client strategies, brand positioning, stakeholder lists)
• Pick up exactly where you left off on any project
• Create dedicated conversations like "jargon busters" for quick reference

The Not-So-Good:

• Limited folder hierarchy (just lists, not folders-within-folders)
• File handling still hit-and-miss beyond Word and PDFs
• No cross-platform sync between ChatGPT and Claude

Best For: Anyone working across multiple clients, projects, or experiments who's tired of endless scrolling to find that brilliant conversation from last week

Pricing: Free with ChatGPT Plus and Claude Pro subscriptions (each £20 a month in the UK)

Comms AI in the Headlines

News and commentary of note this week:

• Ragan's new Center for AI Strategy 'puts people at the heart of AI for comms': "CAIS is founded in a belief that people will lead the AI revolution," said Diane Schwartz, CEO of Ragan Communications (Ragan)
• How the UK Government is pioneering AI for comms use: 'Government Communications has pioneered Assist, the first general purpose AI tool approved for use across the UK Government' (Gov.uk press release)
• PR's AI Originality Dilemma: 'Are PR firms willing to give up their own creativity for the sake of ease?' (PR Week)
• AI in customer communication: the opportunities and risks SMBs can't ignore: AI boosts SMB communications, but trust is critical (Tech Radar)

Thanks for Reading!

I appreciate all feedback, and do let me know if there's anything you would like to see in future editions.

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