Talk Shop

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the Senior PR Manager of North America at Rover, a company that connects pet parents around the world with loving pet care and trusted pet services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Talk Shop?

We needed help establishing our Canadian PR program to deepen relevancy among local pet parents and ultimately drive category leadership. The team aimed at driving brand awareness, trust, and authority among Canadian pet parents.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Talk Shop provided media strategy and outreach, drafted press releases, monitored and reported coverage, and managed occasional influencer marketing.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 5 members of Talk Shop’s team.

How did you come to work with Talk Shop?

Someone referred Talk Shop to me. I chose them over other PR agencies because they had high ratings, their pricing fit our budget, they were a great culture fit, they offered good value for the cost, and their company values aligned with ours.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Talk Shop in January 2025, and ended our contract in July 2026 due to changes in the budget. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Talk Shop has increased Rover's brand awareness among Canadian pet parents. The team has made 19 pitches, 101 total earned media hits in 2026, and four paid media hits. Moreover, Rover has maintained the highest share of voice compared to direct competitors.

How did Talk Shop perform from a project management standpoint?

Talk Shop's project management is well-organized, proactive, and on time. We communicate via virtual meetings, emails, and messaging apps.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Talk Shop's team is great to work with. They move quickly and efficiently, taking advantage of reactive and trend-jacking opportunities as they happen. On a personal note, the team was wonderful to work with. Moral was always high.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There's nothing Talk Shop could improve on.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the founder and CEO of Guestologie, an information technology company. Guestologie is a guest intelligence platform that helps hospitality brands recognize every guest and empower frontline teams to create exceptional, personalized experiences in real time.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Talk Shop?

We're launching a new company called Guestologie and needed a PR firm to help us generate awareness and earned media in our industry and target market.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Talk Shop has helped us define a clear and differentiated position to establish Guestologie as a distinct and ownable voice in a crowded hospitality technology landscape. The team has also helped us drive meaningful awareness and visibility by leveraging strategic media relations to launch Guestologie and secure consistent media coverage across publications that influence restaurant decision-makers. Moreover, Talk Shop has helped us establish category authority by positioning Guestologie as the go-to platform in the shift toward AI-driven guest intelligence. The team has also helped us establish my position as a thought leader by positioning me as a leading authority on guest behavior, CLV, and restaurant growth through strategic media opportunities. In terms of deliverables, Talk Shop has provided press releases, articles in key trade publications written by us, participation in industry podcasts, and a variety of other awareness activities designed to promote the company and me.

What is the team composition?

We've worked with 2–5 teammates from Talk Shop.

How did you come to work with Talk Shop?

Talk Shop was referred to me. After interviewing several firms I chose them due to their prior experience in my domain, good culture fit and excellent recommendations from other customers. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Talk Shop in April 2026, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Talk Shop's work has resulted in media placements, inbound leads, and podcast appearances.

How did Talk Shop perform from a project management standpoint?

Talk Shop has delivered on time and with an excellent pace. We communicate via virtual meetings, emails, and messaging apps.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Talk Shop has a very good amount of experience in our domain and has been able to get us a number of articles in high-quality publications that have led to customer levels of interest and leads. The team has also helped us tell our story externally, which has been very helpful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything for Talk Shop to improve.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a marketing specialist at a fashion retailer. We offer modern dresses and separates for bridesmaids and brides, as well as attire for bridal showers, rehearsal dinners, and engagement parties.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Talk Shop?

We needed help with brand expansion, strategic media coverage to support key launches, and support in executing media events.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Talk Shop pitched our brand, developed stories that align with our initiatives, connected us with local media, and secured product placements in key publications. The team also secured brand coverage across multiple outlets.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 2–5 teammates from Talk Shop.

How did you come to work with Talk Shop?

We found them through an online search. We chose them over other options because they were a great culture fit, offered good value for the cost, and had company values aligned with ours.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from November 2024–January 2026.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Talk Shop's work resulted in 100–200 media hits. The team secured attendance from multiple reporters at our media event last spring for a collection launch, which led to press coverage of the dresses. We’ve also been featured in outlets such as Condé Nast and The Vancouver Sun.

How did Talk Shop perform from a project management standpoint?

Talk Shop was easy to work with and had good communication. We primarily communicated via virtual meetings, emails, and messaging apps.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Talk Shop had a strong reach and offered unique story angles.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We didn't get the coverage we were looking for in brand-propelling publications.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Co-Founder and CEO of Lighthouse Labs

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Lighthouse Labs is a tech education company that helps adults change their careers into emerging technology roles

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Talk Shop to accomplish?

• Brand Awareness
• Thought Leadership
• Student and Employer recruitment

SOLUTION

How did you find Talk Shop?

Referral

Why did you select Talk Shop over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Talk Shop were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

As a new entry in the educational space, Lighthouse Labs needed to build substantial credibility amongst students, employers, government officials and the general public. Talk Shop helped amplify our incredible results by building strategies that resonated with the media and geneal market. 
They help bring our results to life with student focused stories, they found us tons of speaking and quote opportunities, and they helped build our CEO as an influencer and thought leader in the space. The achieved an incredible amount of press coverage and impressions, and consistenly brought to life new projects we were hosting in the space. 
They did copywriting, ghost writing, influencer reach out, press releases, and helped us go through multiple crises including COVID where we had to go from in person to remote. They also helped us announce the sale of our business and did a masterful job building out the messaging for all our stakeholders. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Press Coverage
• Impressions
• Thought Leadership name recognition

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

They always responded to our needs rapidly and with well-thought-out strategies, and they managed our projects to on time delivery every time. 

What was your primary form of communication with Talk Shop?

Virtual Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their ability to blend our particularly unique approach and needs to a media market that needs things to be simple and headline worthy to actually cover it. They would listen to where we wanted to be, and then find a path for that within the very noisy media. 

Are there any areas for improvement or something Talk Shop could have done differently?

No, we loved them. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a partner in a venture capital company focused on accelerating disruptive innovations in enterprise, consumer, and health sectors. We operate as a multi-stage investor.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Talk Shop to accomplish, especially considering your focus on disruptive innovations in enterprise, consumer, and health sectors?

We hired Talk Shop for PR services. They worked with a number of our portfolio companies we led a round for. At the fund level, they clarified our positioning and got TechCrunch and Forbes coverage for us within weeks of working together. They built thought leadership that actually drove authority to our LPs. For portfolio companies, they translated complicated, often unsexy, stories that supported fundraising, talent acquisition, and raises. They are ninjas when it comes to connected PR in tech.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Talk Shop has been responsible for brand positioning, earned media, executive thought leadership, social and video content, and a small web development project. They’ve gotten us media placements in The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Bloomberg, Business Insider, CNBC, Technology Authority, TechCrunch, Wired, The Information, The New York Times, The Globe and Mail, Forbes, Fortune, and CNN.

What is the team composition?

We work with 2–5 members of Talk Shop’s team.

How did you come to work with Talk Shop?

We found them through a referral from a founder who loved working with them. We chose them over other options because of their experience, approach and value for the cost.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2023, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Talk Shop has gotten us tier-one media placements and quality of coverage, share of voice and category, inbound interest, and website and SEO rank. Since we started working together one of our LPs sales have increased by 27%. We’ve also increased our backlink profile from 822 to 1,340 links which has improved our AI mention visibility and outperformed much larger competitors. Our sales, share of voice, and AI visibility are the most important metrics to us.

How did Talk Shop perform from a project management standpoint?

Talk Shop is a well-oiled machine in terms of running proactive work, flagging and bringing new and creative ideas to the table, and delivering in a fast and effective way. We communicate via virtual meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their understanding and knowledge of our business overlaid with experience from other sectors brought a lot of new thinking and approaches to the table.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing we can come up with.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the director of a digital marketing agency. I am involved in all aspects of business development and project execution.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Talk Shop?

Talk Shop was brought on to support our clients' brand awareness and media relations strategy.

What were your goals for this project?

Develop product launch strategy and introduce product and brand to new markets by securing media coverage.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We were referred by a colleague/past Talk Shop client.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

• Develop a strategic plan for media and influencer relations which included brand positioning, key messages, and pitch calendar.
• Compiled a list of media targets for target regions and began active outreach to press & potential influencer ambassadors.
• Provided media training and coordinated media interviews.
• Provided monthly reporting on impressions reached, volume of coverage secured, new audiences engaged and web traffic analytics.
• Thought leadership strategy entailed solidifying executive spokespeople.
• Proactive outreach to raise the profile of executive team and brand overall.

What was the team composition?

We worked directly with a business director, an account manager, and two coordinators.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Secured positive press coverage and increased brand awareness of brand and product. Captured investor interest. We saw an increase in customer inquires and organic and direct traffic.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Always available and responsive over email and phone. Senior strategic council was included in all conversations. Very organized - system/process ensured all tasks were completed on time and on budget.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Talk Shop had a breadth of cross-industry experience. It was clear that they had a high level of business acumen across all team members. They were able to merge creative thinking with a sound business strategy. Provided clear and detailed monthly reporting.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We were satisfied with all aspects of service.