James Crawford is the founder and Managing Director of PR Agency One, and a board director at AMEC, the International Association for PR Measurement.

In this conversation, we talk about why James started his agency, what the early days really looked like, and why he has spent his career pushing PR to prove its value beyond headlines. We get into measurement and attribution, the limits of what you can and cannot track, and how PR teams can use evidence to protect budgets, win trust, and show commercial impact.

We also cover GEO and how brands should respond right now, why “everything is dead” is usually the wrong take, and what it takes to build long term momentum in an industry that is constantly changing.

Find James Crawford:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameswdcrawford/

PR Agency One: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pr-agency-one/

Find Josh Wheeler:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshwheelerbroadcast/

Follow Be Broadcast: https://www.linkedin.com/company/be-broadcast/

https://www.pragencyone.co.uk/

https://bebroadcast.co.uk/

00:00 Intro

02:49 Meet James Crawford, PR Agency One and AMEC

04:25 Why James launched PR Agency One

06:51 The first wins, risk, and backing himself

09:44 Competing, then shifting to doing the work better

10:44 Why measurement became the edge

11:32 Roots, direct response, and early proof of impact

13:06 The limits of attribution and what to accept

14:30 Planning, prediction, and “interest graphs” in media

18:24 Early days of the agency, SEO and opportunity

19:44 Why media relations is tougher now

20:47 Moving from soft stories to bolder campaigns

23:01 Reactivity, brand purpose, and being ready for the BBC

24:03 Research that lasts longer than one news day

26:28 Cost of living era, weak leads, short term thinking

29:33 OneEval explained: Brand, Reputation, Commercial, and planning

33:03 Why evaluation protects teams when leadership changes

35:18 Innovation, AMEC, and staying on top of measurement shifts

38:27 Training the whole team to understand measurement

39:36 GEO, threats and opportunities

41:31 What actually influences LLM visibility right now

43:43 What clients are asking, and what they are missing

45:19 A practical GEO split: classical PR first, tests second

46:56 SEO is not dead, and why “everything is dead” is lazy thinking

48:17 Experimentation as the only sensible approach

48:50 BBC visibility, the long game, and building a track record

50:58 The thread through James’ career: hard work and showing up

53:24 “Accidentally brilliant” and managing people

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