FAQ
Last updated: November 2026
These are the questions event producers, companies, and cultural clients ask before hiring a publicist in Los Angeles, answered with facts from Susan von Seggern's practice. Where a detail such as pricing is not published, the answer says so and explains how to confirm it.
Ask what tactics they will use, who will do the outreach, how they handle press releases and newswires, what they need from you, and what drives the cost. The groups below answer each of those for Susan von Seggern, starting with the basics.
Arts PR in Los Angeles is the work of getting newsworthy coverage for events, releases, and cultural projects from journalists, podcasts, and local outlets. Susan von Seggern does this through sustained media outreach, press releases, daily lead service monitoring, and event publicity, drawing on more than two decades of PR experience in Los Angeles.
Cultural PR services usually cover media outreach, press releases, and event publicity for music, film, books, festivals, and causes. In Susan von Seggern’s practice that means identifying target outlets and contacts, pitching them over time, announcing milestones by release, answering journalist lead requests, and building coverage around events such as premieres, author readings, and concerts.
A public relations specialist earns media coverage for a client rather than buying ad space. Day to day, that means building target media lists, writing and sending pitches and press releases, following up with journalists and podcast producers, watching for reporters who need sources, and planning events that give the press a reason to show up and write.
Media relations services are the part of PR focused on journalists and outlets. Susan von Seggern organizes hers into four pillars: sustained media outreach including podcast pitching, press releasing, lead service monitoring, and events. Each pillar is a separate route to coverage, and campaigns combine them based on the client’s news and budget.
PR and advertising do different jobs: advertising buys space, while PR earns editorial coverage that readers often trust differently. Susan von Seggern’s main website quotes Richard Branson on this point: “A good PR story is infinitely more effective than a front page ad.” Many organizations use both, so the right mix depends on your goals.
Lead service monitoring means watching services where journalists post requests for sources, then pitching the ones that match a client’s expertise. Susan von Seggern monitors five lead service feeds daily, plus emails and Substacks from journalists looking for leads directly. She reports placing lead service coverage in Good Housekeeping, Yahoo, the New York Times, Huff Post, and Best Life.
Get press for a Los Angeles event by giving journalists a clear news hook, announcing it early by press release, pitching targeted outlets and podcasts over time, and inviting media to attend. Susan von Seggern uses an events PR framework built over hundreds of events, including festivals, conferences, concerts, fundraisers, author events, and premieres.
Susan von Seggern has worked on festivals, conferences, concerts, fundraisers, author events, premieres, and more. Releases on her main website include SewDown for LA Fashion Week Fall 2024, the CONTACT in the DESERT conference in Joshua Tree, the Hollywood Carnival Parade and Festival on Hollywood Boulevard, and the 2015 DIY Convention in Hollywood.
Not necessarily. In Susan von Seggern’s framework, event PR can mean producing a large celebrity and media event, but it can also be a small media introduction such as a cocktail hour or luncheon, an event sponsorship, exhibiting or speaking at a conference, exhibiting at a gifting event, or gift bag inclusions.
Yes. Exhibiting at gifting events and placing products in gift bags are both listed as forms of event PR in Susan von Seggern’s framework. They put a product directly in front of media, influencers, and talent. Whether they fit your campaign depends on your product and audience, which is worth discussing when you reach out.
It can. Exhibiting or speaking at conferences is one of the event PR forms Susan von Seggern uses, because a stage or booth gives journalists a reason to meet you. Her client releases include companies exhibiting at events, such as ONSTELLAR announcing its booth at the CONTACT in the DESERT conference in 2018.
Earlier is generally better, because many outlets plan coverage and calendar listings in advance and a save-the-date release can recruit participants and sponsors. For example, the SewDown 2024 announcement went out in September for an October show. The right lead time depends on your event and target outlets, so confirm a timeline with Susan directly.
Yes. Corporate clients are one of four client types Susan von Seggern consults for, alongside events, causes, and cultural clients. Her background includes globe-trotting corporate PR, and releases on her main website cover companies such as Remotesome, IceWind, KOCOWA, and Bitcoin Association, plus portfolio campaigns for Geoship and the Rock Row green home development.
Yes, a pre-launch campaign can build awareness before a product ships. Susan von Seggern’s portfolio includes IceWind’s pre-product buzz campaign for the wind power startup. A later release covered IceWind deploying its Njord turbine at the former Straumnes Air Station in Iceland to power an Icelandic Coast Guard emergency beacon.
Yes. Coverage can send readers to a campaign page while it is live. Susan von Seggern’s portfolio includes Geoship’s equity crowdfunding campaign and the MANTRA: Sounds into Silence documentary crowdfunding and release campaigns, and her releases covered the DETOX documentary’s Indiegogo campaign in 2021.
Susan von Seggern recommends Business Wire for wire releases because of its respectability. She has an annual deal with Business Wire that she says significantly saves her clients money compared with one-off releases through Business Wire or other wires. Wire distribution is used when it is in the client’s budget.
An exclusive gives one outlet the story first; a pre-brief shares the news with selected journalists before the public announcement so they can prepare coverage. Susan von Seggern announces significant milestones using either model, then follows with email servicing to her media contacts and posts the release to a newswire if budgeted.
Yes, and Susan von Seggern’s career shows it. She has worked as a major label publicist, CEO of a boutique PR agency, in political PR, in corporate PR, and now consults for event, corporate, cause, and cultural clients. Her releases range from an AI services launch to a funk anthology reissue.
This site does not publish prices, because Susan von Seggern builds individualized campaigns rather than fixed menus. Cost generally depends on scope: how many announcements you have, whether you need newswire distribution, whether events are involved, and how long outreach runs. Ask for a quote through her contact page with your goals and dates.
No fixed public relations package is published. Susan von Seggern offers individualized PR campaigns, shaped by the client’s news and budget, using her four pillars of outreach, press releases, lead service monitoring, and events. If you want a defined scope, describe your milestones and timeline when you get in touch so she can propose one.
Newswire distribution is a separate, budgeted item. Susan von Seggern posts releases to a wire if the client budgets for it, and recommends Business Wire. She has an annual deal with Business Wire that she says significantly saves clients money compared with buying one-off releases from Business Wire or other wires.
In general, PR cost rises with the number of milestones to announce, the length of outreach, newswire distribution, and any events that need producing, and falls when the scope is narrower. Susan von Seggern does not publish rates, so the most reliable way to learn the cost of your campaign is to ask her directly.
Generally no publicist can guarantee editorial coverage, because journalists and editors decide what runs. What a publicist controls is the quality and persistence of outreach. Susan von Seggern’s approach relies on sustained outreach rather than one-time blasts, and on lead requests where a journalist has already said they want a source.
The four pillars are: sustained media outreach, meaning identifying target outlets and contacts and pitching them, including podcasts; press releasing for significant milestones; lead service monitoring of five feeds daily plus journalist emails and Substacks; and events, from large media events to sponsorships, conferences, and gifting.
Podcast pitching is booking a client as a guest or source on podcasts relevant to their story. Susan von Seggern includes it in sustained media outreach and names it as one of the newer PR tactics she pairs with established methods like events, press releases, and ongoing pitching to journalists.
Hyper-local coverage is press from neighborhood and community outlets close to where a client operates or holds an event. Susan von Seggern lists it among the latest PR tactics she uses. For a Los Angeles event, local outlets reach the people most likely to attend, which complements broader media outreach.
Susan von Seggern reports placing lead service coverage in Good Housekeeping, Yahoo, the New York Times, Huff Post, Best Life, and many other outlets. These placements come from monitoring journalist lead requests daily and pitching clients whose expertise matches what the reporter asked for.
Most campaigns start by defining the news and the audience, then identifying target outlets and contacts, which is the first step of sustained media outreach in Susan von Seggern’s framework. From there, milestones are scheduled for release, lead monitoring begins, and any events are planned. Start with her contact page.
Yes, writing announcements is part of press releasing in Susan von Seggern’s framework. Her main website publishes a long archive of client releases, from a book launch for Redesigning Nonprofits in 2026 to the AfroFunkExplosion! anthology in 2016. After writing, releases are serviced by email to media and posted to a wire if budgeted.
Susan von Seggern consults for event, corporate, cause, and cultural clients. Event producers and companies with launches or milestones are a particular focus. She describes her ideal clients as interesting, newsworthy, and active, meaning they have real news to share and are willing to take part in interviews, events, and outreach.
A good PR client has genuine news and stays active: launches, events, releases, milestones, or expertise journalists want. Susan von Seggern says she can take interesting, newsworthy, and active clients to new highs of media coverage. If you have nothing new to announce, it may be worth waiting until you do.
Yes, cause clients are one of her four client types. Releases on her main website include the Wiley book Redesigning Nonprofits and its launch events, the Sleep To Live Well Foundation partnership with Family Paths, the Kids for Kenya campaign benefiting NextAid, and the And Then There Were Two responsible fatherhood petition.
Yes. Susan von Seggern worked as a major label publicist, and music releases on her main website include the Lafayette Afro Rock Band anthology AfroFunkExplosion! on Manifesto Records, Liminal Shade’s cover of David Lynch’s “In Heaven,” and the Touring and Mental Health audiobook for the music industry.
Yes. Her releases include books such as Haunted Ground by Darryl Caterine and Redesigning Nonprofits, the Touring and Mental Health audiobook, and documentaries including DETOX by David Donnelly and the MANTRA: Sounds into Silence crowdfunding and release campaigns. Author events and premieres are both part of her events experience.
The campaigns published on her main website center on events, companies, causes, music, film, and books rather than gallery exhibitions specifically. Her releases do include visual elements, such as art installations and live painting at SewDown. If you represent a gallery or exhibition, contact her directly to ask whether your project fits.
No. She is based in Los Angeles, but releases on her main website are datelined from Miami, Tiburon, San Jose, Joshua Tree, Cambridge in England, London, the Cayman Islands, and Iceland. Her Los Angeles network is especially useful for clients holding events or launching in Southern California.
Choose an independent publicist when you want a senior person handling your outreach directly on a focused campaign; choose a larger agency when you need a big team, many markets at once, or services beyond media relations. Susan von Seggern has run a boutique PR agency and now consults independently. See the comparison page for details.
Compare LA PR agencies and publicists on the same points: who will actually do your outreach, relevant past campaigns in your field, how they get coverage, newswire options, and how pricing is structured. Ask each for examples similar to your event or launch. Susan von Seggern publishes her past releases on her main website for this reason.
An in-house hire suits organizations with constant, year-round communications needs and the budget for a salaried role. A consultant suits defined campaigns such as an event, launch, or release. Many organizations use both, with an outside publicist adding media contacts and campaign experience for big moments.
You can, especially for small announcements: write a clear release, build a list of relevant outlets, and pitch them personally. What is harder to replicate alone is an established media and service-provider network and daily lead monitoring. Susan von Seggern brings more than two decades of PR relationships to that work.
Usually, yes. “PR agent” is an informal term people use for a publicist, someone who earns media coverage for a client. It is different from a talent or booking agent, who finds paid work. Susan von Seggern is a publicist and PR consultant focused on media coverage.
Use the contact page on her main website at susanvonseggern.com. Include what you want to announce, the date of your event or launch, your target audience, and whether you have a budget for newswire distribution. Event producers and companies planning launches are especially encouraged to reach out.
Have a short description of your news, key dates, who you want to reach, any past coverage, and a rough budget. Photos, a website, and a spokesperson who can do interviews help too. Clear information lets a publicist like Susan von Seggern judge which of her four pillars fits your campaign.
Susan von Seggern has more than two decades of PR experience and has been in Los Angeles for more than 20 years. Her work spans major label publicity, running a boutique PR agency, political PR, corporate PR, and consulting for event, corporate, cause, and cultural clients.
Her full career details are on her LinkedIn profile, which her main website links to directly. Her main website also publishes a portfolio and an archive of client press releases going back to 2011, so you can review the kinds of events, companies, and cultural projects she has worked on.
Ask Susan directly through the contact form on her main website.
Published by Susan von Seggern