"Reporters Are Working in Service of Their Audience, Not You": Lacy Talton on Co-Founding Evergreen & Oak, When Founders Actually Need PR, and Pricing Your Services Without Undervaluing Your Work
Lacy Talton is Partner and Co-Founder of Evergreen & Oak, a global PR and marketing agency headquartered in North Carolina's Research Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill). The agency specializes in B2B tech, including adtech, healthtech, and martech, and has secured coverage for clients in major publications like CNN, BBC, Fast Company, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, Adweek, and Ad Age.
Lacy co-founded Evergreen & Oak with Brook Terran. The two women built the agency to address the need for a trusted PR partner with a proactive approach and bespoke strategies. Prior to launching Evergreen & Oak, Lacy and Brook guided dozens of public and private companies around the world through mergers and acquisitions, IPOs, fundraising rounds, product launches, and program rollouts.
What makes Evergreen & Oak different? Lacy and Brook focus on what they call "narrative economics." They leverage storytelling to positively impact key business metrics. They shine a light on clients in a way that directly impacts their public presence, ultimately driving revenue. Because of their trusted client partnerships, clients share data so they can assess if their narratives are truly moving the needle. They confirm if top tier placements are growing market share and driving metrics like web traffic.
Unlike some PR agencies that sell in senior-level experts who barely touch the account, Lacy and Brook remain highly engaged with each client throughout the partnership. As Lacy explains, they focus on being a trusted advisor to reporters and clients alike rather than "just hammering them with press releases of what you think is interesting."
Lacy actively nurtures relationships with a personal "board of advisors." Her network of trusted peers who also run agencies, act as consultants, or lead in-house communication teams. They regularly compare notes on what they're seeing in the market related to business development trends, pricing expectations, response times, and ways they're evolving to meet client needs. This network gives them a reality check to ensure they're not working in a vacuum or underpricing their work.
One of the biggest lessons Lacy learned as a founder? In the early days, Evergreen & Oak experienced fast growth while she was actually expecting a baby. There was so much happening that they didn't take the time to really think about certain aspects of the business, specifically around operations. From this experience, Lacy recommends that founders "slow down" and celebrate accomplishments, and "push yourself to think bigger about the company too."
As she reflects on when founders are ready for PR: "The companies that are ready for PR usually have early proof that their product or service is resonating in the market. That looks like early traction with customers, a unique data set, a strong point of view about where their industry is heading, or a milestone accomplishment like fundraising or strategic partnerships."
Taking a "Reporter-First Approach" Without a Journalism Background - What That Actually Means
Q: You take a "reporter-first approach" at Evergreen and Oak. For female founders trying to get media coverage, what does thinking like a reporter actually mean when you're not a journalist yourself? What do most people misunderstand about what journalists actually want? What makes a pitch land versus get deleted immediately?
A: Journalists are under immense pressure right now. Newsrooms are shrinking, beats are constantly shifting, and the news cycle moves incredibly fast. A reporter-first approach simply means respecting that reality.
Reporters are working in service of their audience, not you or your company. Most founders assume journalists want company updates or announcements. In reality, reporters are looking for expertise that helps them and their readers understand broader trends happening in their industry.
The pitches that land usually do three things well. 1) They focus on a trend, not a company. 2) They offer a clear or even counterintuitive point of view. 3) They answer the question that the editor will ask the reporter: why does this matter right now?
A good pitch should make a reporter’s job easier. That means a short email, a clear angle and a subject line that reads like a headline.
The Honest Truth About When Founders Need PR vs. When They're Wasting Money
Q: For female founders considering hiring a PR agency, what are the signs that a business is actually ready for PR versus too early? What can founders realistically handle themselves versus what actually requires an agency? How do you know if PR is driving business results - revenue, partnerships, clients - versus just generating mentions that don't matter?
A: The companies that are ready for PR usually have early proof that their product or service is resonating in the market. That looks like early traction with customers, a unique data set, a strong point of view about where their industry is heading or a milestone accomplishment like fundraising or strategic partnerships.
PR becomes especially important during key moments when companies need to proactively shape how the market understands them. That could include raising capital, recruiting talent, launching a new product category or positioning the company for acquisition.
Founders can absolutely do some PR themselves early on such as building meaningful relationships with a handful of journalists. Doing this with a reporter-first mentality where you want to act in service of the reporter versus your own motivations is incredibly important for it to be meaningful. This also includes sharing thoughtful commentary on industry happenings or breaking news on platforms like LinkedIn.
Many women entrepreneurs are especially used to wearing multiple hats and building things from the ground up. But scaling a PR program while simultaneously running a company is challenging. Agencies bring the consistency and strategic positioning needed to sustain that work.
Ultimately, mapping PR to business outcomes requires open communication. The PR team has to be aligned with marketing, leadership and even sales to ensure that earned media is consistently being used effectively in conversations with prospects and partners.
One thing many founders overlook is that the most niche coverage can often deliver the biggest return. A highly targeted article read by the right audience can drive more meaningful business results than a broad mention that reaches everyone and no one at the same time.
How to Price Your Services Without Undervaluing Your Work
Q: As a co-founder of a boutique agency, how did you figure out what to charge when you started? What's your advice for female entrepreneurs building service businesses about pricing their expertise? How do you have the "pricing conversation" with clients who want boutique quality but commodity pricing?
A: In a services business, pricing should reflect the value of the expertise as well as the time spent delivering it. Strategic communications can help a company land enterprise clients, attract investors, recruit talent and establish market leadership. When you look at it through that lens, the value of the work becomes much clearer.
We actively nurture the relationships with a personal “board of advisors,” our network of trusted peers who also run agencies, act as consultants or lead in-house communication teams. We regularly compare notes on what we’re seeing in the market related to business development trends, pricing expectations, response times and ways we’re evolving to meet client needs. This network gives us a reality check to ensure that we’re not working in a vacuum or underpricing our work.
Your network is one of the most valuable things you build as your career grows. For female founders in particular, having open conversations with peers makes it easier to price your work confidently and sustainably, while also creating more transparency across the industry.
Ultimately, the pricing conversation comes down to alignment. The right clients understand the difference between transactional support and a strategic partner who is invested in helping their business grow.
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