Every PR Flack Calls Themselves a 'Strategist.' Most Are Just Guessing—And Hiding It.

Let’s talk about the word ‘strategist.’ It’s become the LinkedIn job title of choice for anyone who can string three PowerPoint slides together and call it a ‘deck.’ But ask most self-styled PR strategists on a Tuesday Zoom call to show you their research, measurement, or evaluation frameworks, and you’ll get blank stares or the world’s fastest pivot to ‘we don’t have the budget.’

This isn’t just a pet peeve—it’s the rot at the center of the PR and comms industry. Johna Burke, CEO at AMEC, nails it: if your so-called ‘strategy’ doesn’t start and end with hard metrics, you’re just doing expensive guesswork. The real crime? Agencies and in-house teams are still peddling this cargo cult thinking to clients, pushing gut feelings and vibes over data-backed plans.

Let’s get specific: Last week, an NYC tech PR agency billed a Fortune 500 client six figures for a ‘strategic roadmap’ that, upon inspection, contained not a single baseline KPI or plan for measurement. No tracking, no learning, just a glossy PDF and a list of ‘brand pillars.’ If I ran my dev shop like that, we’d be out of business by Halloween.

Here’s the uncomfortable truth: If you can’t show your client a before-and-after, prove delta, or even track basic outcomes, you’re not a strategist. You’re set dressing. And if you’re using ‘no budget’ as an excuse in 2026—when even the smallest SaaS tools offer built-in analytics—you deserve to lose the work.

Stop hiding behind buzzwords. Get your hands dirty with analytics, or get out of the way for someone who will. The industry doesn’t need another ‘strategist’; it needs fewer bullshit artists and a lot more evidence.