A business owner in our community lost an entire weekend to one stranger in his comments. He was right on the facts — and every reply he wrote just made the fight bigger, until people who’d never heard of his business knew him as ‘the guy fighting in the comments.’ He’s in good company: from Amy’s Baking Company to a boutique hotel that tried to fine guests for bad reviews, the internet is full of owners who went toe-to-toe with trolls and lost.

In this episode I share the one question to ask before you respond to anyone — do they want resolution, or an audience? — plus exactly how to handle each, and seven ways to stand up for yourself without becoming the troll.

This episode is part of the Publicist in Your Pocket podcast by PR Shield — the show that gives business owners, founders, and creators the PR moves they couldn’t afford to hire.

🔗 Get the free Troll Response Decision Tree, the crisis-plan course, and expanded show notes inside the PR Shield community.

📋 Topics covered:

• Three real owners who fought trolls and lost — and why

• The one question: resolution or audience?

• How to handle each kind of person

• Protecting your team before a crisis hits

• Knowing the line where a pile-on needs a real hand

• Seven ways to stand up for yourself without becoming the troll

⏱️ Chapters:

• 0:00 — Owners who fought trolls and lost

• 1:45 — Crisis is a spectrum

• 2:15 — The one question: resolution or audience

• 3:15 — Handling each kind

• 4:15 — Protect your team + know your line

• 5:15 — Seven ways to stand up without becoming the troll

• 7:00 — Your action step

• 7:30 — The manifesto

Free resources mentioned: The Troll Response Decision Tree, and the free crisis-communications-plan course — both inside the PR Shield community.

About Cyndee Harrison:

Cyndee Harrison is an award-winning publicist and the founder of PR Shield® and Synaptic, a Michigan-based reputation studio. Her work is built around a clear belief: credibility is currency — and no founder, creator, or small business owner should have to defend a reputation they earned alone.

Through PR Shield, Cyndee helps business leaders get more visibility with less vulnerability, offering a collaborative community, affordable technology tools, and access to dedicated professional publicists.

Get started at prshield.com or tune into the Publicist in Your Pocket podcast wherever you listen.

🌐 prshield.com | publicistinmypocket.com

📱 Connect with us:

Instagram: @getprshield

TikTok: @prshield

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/cyndeeharrison

A salon owner I know got fed up watching a former stylist rack up three times her reviews — so one weekend she texted every client and asked them all to leave one. Forty came in over the weekend. By Monday most were gone, and a few days later her profile was banned. She hadn’t done anything dishonest. She just did the right thing the wrong way.

In this episode I break down how to grow your Google reviews the right way — the way that’s compliant and actually sticks. We cover the moves that get you banned, the Three C’s (Culture, Consistency, Clickability), and the one timing trick that beats any automated text: the natural pause. Plus our honest take on review software, and an invitation to Tech Tuesdays.

This episode is part of the Publicist in Your Pocket podcast by PR Shield — the show that gives business owners, founders, and creators the PR moves they couldn’t afford to hire.

🔗 Get the free Review Request Scripts, expanded show notes, and tools inside the PR Shield community.

📋 Topics covered:

• The salon owner who got banned doing the right thing the wrong way

• The four ways to get your listing flagged or suspended

• The Three C’s: Culture, Consistency, Clickability

• The natural pause — and the return-to-the-table follow-up

• Why a personal ask beats an automated text

• Replying to reviews the right way

• Our honest take on review software (RepLyft and the PR Shield Reputation Engine)

• Tech Tuesdays — free weekly office hours in the community

⏱️ Chapters:

• 0:00 — The salon owner who got banned

• 1:30 — How and when you ask is the whole game

• 2:00 — The ways that get you banned

• 3:00 — The Three C’s

• 4:30 — The natural pause (and the return pause)

• 6:00 — Replying to your reviews

• 6:30 — Our honest take on review software + Tech Tuesdays

• 8:00 — Your action step: adopt the Three C’s

• 8:30 — The manifesto

Free resource mentioned: The Review Request Scripts (word-for-word asks built around the Three C’s) — free inside the PR Shield community.

Tools mentioned: RepLyft (hands-on review monitoring, from $9.99/mo with a free 14-day trial) and the PR Shield Reputation Engine on HighLevel (automate and scale). Both backed by the community, the team, and Cyndee.

About Cyndee Harrison

Cyndee Harrison is an award-winning publicist and the founder of PR Shield® and Synaptic, a Michigan-based reputation studio. Her work is built around a clear belief: credibility is currency — and no founder, creator, or small business owner should have to defend a reputation they earned alone.

Through PR Shield, Cyndee helps business leaders get more visibility with less vulnerability, offering a collaborative community, affordable technology tools, and access to dedicated professional publicists.

Get started at prshield.com or tune into the Publicist in Your Pocket podcast wherever you listen.

📱 Connect with us:

Instagram: @getprshield

TikTok: @prshield

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/cyndeeharrison

A friend of mine was spending a few thousand dollars a month on Google ads and couldn’t figure out why the phone wasn’t ringing. So I pulled out my phone and Googled him the way a customer would. His hours were wrong. His photos were three years old. And a one-star review he’d never even seen was sitting right at the top — with no response. Meanwhile, his competitor’s profile was wide awake, and that’s the one AI served up first.

He was paying to send people to a storefront with the lights off.

In this episode I walk through the single most underused (and completely free) PR tool you already own — your Google Business Profile — and the five simple moves that turn a dead profile into a working one. Plus two bonus habits I’m experimenting with myself that almost nobody talks about.

This episode is part of the Publicist in Your Pocket podcast by PR Shield — the show that gives business owners, founders, and creators the PR moves they couldn’t afford to hire.

🔗 Get the free GBP Optimization Checklist, expanded show notes, and tools inside the PR Shield community.

📋 Topics covered:

• The friend who was paying for ads while his profile sat dark

• Why reputations now have to be managed, not just earned

• The silo between PR and SEO is dead

• The 5 free moves that wake up your Google Business Profile

• Why reviews are the most visible part of your PR strategy

• Two bonus habits: your own daily map directions, and becoming a prolific reviewer

• The 15-minute tonight plan

⏱️ Chapters:

• 0:00 — The friend paying for ads with the lights off

• 1:30 — Your most underused PR tool

• 2:15 — Move 1 & 2: claim it, complete it, feed it photos

• 3:30 — Move 3: treat reviews like the storefront they are

• 4:15 — Move 4 & 5: Posts, Q&A, and who else is reading

• 5:15 — The free checklist

• 5:45 — Two bonus moves most people won’t tell you

• 7:15 — Your one action step

• 7:45 — The manifesto

Free resource mentioned in this episode: The GBP Optimization Checklist — free inside the PR Shield community.

About Cyndee Harrison

Cyndee Harrison is an award-winning publicist and the founder of PR Shield® and Synaptic, a Michigan-based reputation studio. Her work is built around a clear belief: credibility is currency — and no founder, creator, or small business owner should have to defend a reputation they earned alone.

Through PR Shield, Cyndee helps business leaders get more visibility with less vulnerability, offering a collaborative community, affordable technology tools, and access to dedicated professional publicists.

Get started at prshield.com or tune into the Publicist in Your Pocket podcast wherever you listen.

🌐 prshield.com | publicistinmypocket.com

📱 Connect with us:

Instagram: @getprshield

TikTok: @prshield

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/cyndeeharrison

Someone left you a one-star review. Or a scammer just charged you $500 to “remove” it from Google. Either way — this episode is for you.

In this episode, Cyndee Harrison walks through the single most important thing most business owners don’t know about negative reviews: report before you respond. She shares two real client stories — including a motorcycle dealer who waited twenty days and got every review removed — and breaks down the three mistakes that make a bad review catastrophically worse. Plus a preview of the Three C’s of review growth coming in Episodes 6 and 7.

🔗 Get the free 1-Star Review Playbook inside the PR Shield® community.

📋 Topics covered:

• The $500 Google scam targeting panicked business owners — and how to spot it

• Why you should report before you respond to any negative review

• How to report a Google review — step by step, no login required

• The motorcycle dealer who waited 20 days and won

• The 3 mistakes that make a bad review catastrophically worse

• The 4-part PR Shield® Response Framework

• A preview of the Three C’s of 5-star review growth

⏱️ Chapters:

0:00 — The restaurant owner and the $500 Google scam

1:00 — A one-star review isn’t the end of the world. How you respond might be.

1:45 — Report before you respond — and how to do it

3:00 — The motorcycle dealer: 20 days, 4 reviews, all removed

4:30 — The 3 mistakes that make it worse

5:30 — The 4-part response framework

6:15 — The Three C’s preview: Culture, Consistency, Clickability

7:00 — The manifesto

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Free resource mentioned:

The 1-Star Review Playbook — free inside the PR Shield® community at prshield.com

About Cyndee Harrison:

Cyndee Harrison is an award-winning publicist and the founder of PR Shield® and Synaptic, a Michigan-based reputation studio. Her work is built around a clear belief: credibility is currency — and no founder, creator, or small business owner should have to defend a reputation they earned alone.

Through PR Shield, Cyndee helps business leaders get more visibility with less vulnerability, offering a collaborative community, affordable technology tools, and access to dedicated professional publicists.

Get started at prshield.com or tune into the Publicist in Your Pocket podcast wherever you listen.

🌐 prshield.com | publicistinmypocket.com

📱 Connect with us:

Instagram: @getprshield

TikTok: @prshield

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/cyndeeharrison

You know that feeling. You pick up your phone first thing in the morning and there it is — a notification. And in the three seconds it takes you to read it, everything changes. That’s not a news cycle. That’s a notification cycle. And it doesn’t care what time it is, what day it is, or whether you have a plan.

Most people think crisis means a headline. A front-page story. An executive scandal. But that’s not the crisis most founders, creators, and small business owners face. In this episode, Cyndee redefines what crisis actually means for your business — and walks through the five modern triggers that account for the vast majority of reputation crises facing small businesses today.

Plus: the first step in the PR Shield® framework that almost nobody takes — and the free Crisis Spectrum Checklist waiting for you inside the community.

This episode is part of the Publicist in Your Pocket podcast by PR Shield® — the show that gives business owners, founders, and creators the PR moves they couldn’t afford to hire.

🔗 Get the Crisis Spectrum Checklist and expanded show notes inside the PR Shield® community.

📋 Topics covered:

• Why there’s no such thing as a news cycle anymore — only a notification cycle

• Why crisis isn’t just headlines — it’s a spectrum that starts much closer to home

• The five modern triggers for bad news facing small businesses today

• The crisis spectrum — low to high, and what to do at each point

• The first step in the PR Shield® framework that most business owners skip

• What’s coming in Episode 4 — the one-star review playbook

⏱️ Chapters:

0:00 — The notification cold open

0:45 — What crisis actually means for your business

2:00 — The five modern triggers

4:00 — The crisis spectrum — low to high

5:00 — The first step in the framework: Anticipate

5:45 — The Crisis Spectrum Checklist

6:30 — What’s coming in Episode 4

7:00 — The manifesto

---

Free resource mentioned in this episode:

Crisis Spectrum Checklist — free inside the PR Shield® community at prshield.com

About Cyndee Harrison:

Cyndee Harrison is an award-winning publicist and the founder of PR Shield® and Synaptic, a Michigan-based reputation studio. Her work is built around a clear belief: credibility is currency — and no founder, creator, or small business owner should have to defend a reputation they earned alone.

Through PR Shield, Cyndee helps business leaders get more visibility with less vulnerability, offering a collaborative community, affordable technology tools, and access to dedicated professional publicists.

Get started at prshield.com or tune into the Publicist in Your Pocket podcast wherever you listen.

🌐 prshield.com | publicistinmypocket.com

📱 Connect with us:

Instagram: @getprshield

TikTok: @prshield

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/cyndeeharrison

You’ve been thinking like a marketer your whole career. And marketing has gotten you this far. But in an AI-first world where trust is the currency and your digital proof trail determines whether customers choose you — marketing alone isn’t enough anymore. It’s time to think like a publicist.

In this episode I break down the three core differences between a marketing mindset and a publicist mindset — and give you three practical things you can do this week to start building the proof trail that actually earns trust.

This episode is part of the Publicist in Your Pocket podcast by PR Shield — the show that gives business owners, founders, and creators the PR moves they couldn’t afford to hire.

🔗 Get the expanded show notes, templates, and tools inside the PR Shield community.

📋 Topics covered:

• Why marketing gets you noticed but PR gets you trusted

• The three differences between a marketer’s mindset and a publicist’s mindset

• Why the AI era makes this shift more urgent than ever

• The Verification Era — and what it means for your business

• Three things to do this week to start thinking like a publicist

⏱️ Chapters:

0:00 — The Jeep dealer story

0:45 — Marketing vs. PR — the real difference

2:00 — Three contrasts: marketer vs. publicist

4:00 — Why the AI era changes everything

5:15 — Three things to do this week

6:15 — The manifesto

---

About Cyndee Harrison:

Cyndee Harrison is an award-winning publicist and the founder of PR Shield® and Synaptic, a Michigan-based reputation studio. Her work is built around a clear belief: credibility is currency — and no founder, creator, or small business owner should have to defend a reputation they earned alone.

Through PR Shield, Cyndee helps business leaders get more visibility with less vulnerability, offering a collaborative community, affordable technology tools, and access to dedicated professional publicists.

Get started at prshield.com or tune into the Publicist in Your Pocket podcast wherever you listen.

🌐 prshield.com | publicistinmypocket.com

📱 Connect with us:

Instagram: @getprshield

TikTok: @prshield

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/cyndeeharrison

A family business owner in Kansas once called me out of nowhere and said: “I think I just killed my family’s business.” He hadn’t done anything wrong. He’d just done exactly what everyone told him to do — promote, be visible, say yes to every opportunity. Nobody taught him the other half. This episode is that other half.

In this first episode of Publicist in Your Pocket, I’m sharing why I built this show, who it’s for, and the gap in the marketing and PR industry that nobody is talking about — until now. If you’ve ever felt like you’re building your visibility without any protection plan for when something goes wrong, this is for you.

This episode is part of the Publicist in Your Pocket podcast by PR Shield — the show that gives business owners, founders, and creators the PR moves they couldn’t afford to hire.

🔗 Get the expanded show notes, free templates, and tools inside the PR Shield community.

📋 Topics covered:

• Why visibility creates vulnerability — and why nobody is talking about it

• The phone call from Kansas that started everything

• Who Publicist in Your Pocket is for

• Cyndee’s origin story — from classroom teacher to reputation strategist

• What to expect from this show

⏱️ Chapters:

0:00 — The phone call that started everything

1:00 — The gap nobody is filling

2:00 — Who this show is for

3:30 — Who I am and why me

5:30 — What this show is

6:30 — The manifesto

---

About Cyndee Harrison:

Cyndee Harrison is an award-winning publicist and the founder of PR Shield® and Synaptic, a Michigan-based reputation studio. Her work is built around a clear belief: credibility is currency — and no founder, creator, or small business owner should have to defend a reputation they earned alone.

Through PR Shield, Cyndee helps business leaders get more visibility with less vulnerability, offering a collaborative community, affordable technology tools, and access to dedicated professional publicists.

Get started at prshield.com or tune into the Publicist in Your Pocket podcast wherever you listen.

🌐 prshield.com | publicistinmypocket.com

📱 Connect with us:

Instagram: @getprshield

TikTok: @prshield

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/cyndeeharrison