What TK PR does

TK PR is a boutique public relations firm founded in 2008 by Taryn Scher, headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina, with a secondary remote presence in Louisville, Kentucky. The firm specializes exclusively in earned media relations for the travel, hospitality, luxury brand, and destination marketing verticals, serving clients nationwide including destination marketing organizations (DMOs), convention and visitors bureaus (CVBs), resorts, restaurants, and lifestyle brands. TK PR deliberately does not offer branding, design, e-newsletter, or social media management services, focusing instead on traditional media relations, press trip coordination, and story development. Its core deliverable is securing coverage in top-tier national outlets such as CBS This Morning, Fox and Friends, Today Show, Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Travel + Leisure, and Condé Nast Traveler.

The firm operates with a small core team of approximately three to ten people, anchored by founder Taryn Scher and Manager of Sparkle Strategy Brenda Cassabon, supported by operational staff. TK PR's revenue model is professional services retainers and project-based engagements, with no publicly disclosed pricing. Its go-to-market combines direct sales outreach to enterprise clients with a community-led motion centered on hosting press trips and journalist experiences; the firm hosted more than 300 individual press trips over a two-year period and more than 120 journalists at Southeast properties in 2022. Marketing is primarily through the firm's own earned media placements, founder speaking engagements, and an active social media presence on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

TK PR has two product lines: the core TK PR agency services and Sparkle School, a separate online DIY PR course (learnhowtosparkle.com) created by the founder to teach small business professionals earned media techniques. The company is privately held, founder-owned, and bootstrapped, with no external investment, parent organization, or institutional ownership. In 2025, the firm reported generating more than 650 stories reaching over 31 billion consumers with an estimated media value exceeding $310 million.

Name

TK PR

Legal name

TK PR

Website

https://tkpublicrelations.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

TK PR is a boutique public relations firm specializing in earned media coverage for travel, hospitality, luxury brands, and destination marketing organizations. Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Greenville, SC, the firm serves clients nationwide through media relations, press trip hosting, and story development.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Public Relations Services

NAICS

Public Relations Agencies (54182), Public Relations Agencies (541820), Media Representatives (54184)

SIC

Services-Advertising Agencies (7311)

akta.pro primary industry

Product & Brand PR (Consumer & B2B) (BPAFADAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Consumer & Lifestyle PR (MPAAADAB), Event PR & Communications Support (BPAFADAO)

Keywords

• Public relations services
• Earned media coverage
• Travel PR agency
• Destination marketing
• Hospitality public relations

Headquarters

HQ city

Greenville

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Public Relations Services: Professional services revenue from providing public relations and earned media services to travel, hospitality, and luxury brand clients. Services include media relations, press trip coordination, story development, and strategic PR consulting. Revenue is generated through client engagements and service contracts.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

TK PR is a boutique public relations firm that provides earned media coverage for travel, hospitality, luxury brands, destinations, and resorts. Services include media relations, press trip coordination, story development, and strategic PR consulting, securing placements on broadcast television (CBS This Morning, Fox and Friends, The Today Show), newspapers (The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times), and magazines (Travel + Leisure, O The Oprah Magazine, Condé Nast Traveler, Food & Wine, Forbes). A complementary offering, Sparkle School, is an online DIY PR course for small business professionals.

Product overview

TK PR operates as a single-product PR services firm with one supplementary educational offering. The core service is earned media public relations for travel, hospitality, and luxury brands, while Sparkle School is a standalone online course that teaches DIY PR skills to small business professionals who are not ready to hire a full-service PR agency.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Sparkle School: An online course created by Taryn Scher that teaches DIY PR for small business professionals.

Products and services

• TK PR Earned Media Public Relations Services Boutique public relations services specializing in earned media coverage for travel, hospitality, and luxury brand clients nationwide. Includes media relations, press trip coordination, story development, and strategic PR consulting, securing placements on broadcast networks (CBS This Morning, Fox and Friends, Today Show) and features in major publications (Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Travel + Leisure).
• Sparkle School An online DIY PR course created by founder Taryn Scher that teaches small business professionals how to execute public relations strategies independently, covering earned media techniques and media outreach methods.

Quantifiable outcome

• 31 billion consumers reached and $310 million in media value generated in 2025 alone
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves1 record

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• Weber Shandwick: Weber Shandwick is a global public relations agency with significant travel, tourism, and consumer lifestyle practices serving destinations, hospitality groups, and luxury brands. It is a broader incumbent that includes earned media within a much wider integrated communications offering.
• Edelman: Edelman is a global communications firm with a dedicated travel and hospitality practice that competes for enterprise destination marketing, hospitality, and luxury clients. It is a broad incumbent offering PR alongside paid, digital, and analytics capabilities TK PR does not provide.
• MMGY Global: MMGY Global is the largest integrated travel and hospitality marketing firm in the US, offering advertising, digital, branding, and PR services to destinations, hotels, and travel brands. It competes for the same destination marketing organization and resort clients as TK PR but operates at far greater scale and with a much broader service portfolio.

Emerging players

• Paul Werth Associates / Fahlgrene Riner Bell + Stratos: Several mid-sized independent US PR firms (e.g., Paul Werth Associates) operate regional travel, tourism, and hospitality practices that compete with TK PR at the state-DMO level, offering partial overlap but with broader portfolios that include corporate and public affairs work.

Direct peers

• AFPR / Alison Brod Public Relations: AFPR is a boutique consumer PR firm with longstanding food, beverage, restaurant, and lifestyle practices serving major hospitality and consumer brands. It is comparable to TK PR in scale and service focus on consumer lifestyle earned media.
• Quinn PR: Quinn PR is a boutique consumer PR firm focused on hospitality, travel, food and beverage, and lifestyle brands. It competes for the same destination marketing, resort, and restaurant clients as TK PR using a similar earned-media-led model.
• Hemsworth Communications: Hemsworth Communications is a boutique PR agency focused on travel, hospitality, tourism boards, and lifestyle brands. It pursues the same destination marketing and resort client pool as TK PR with comparable earned-media services.
• J Public Relations: J Public Relations is a national, award-winning boutique PR agency specializing in lifestyle, hospitality, travel, and food/beverage earned media. It is one of the closest direct comparables to TK PR by client vertical (hotels, resorts, restaurants, destinations) and earned-media service focus.
• The Brandman Agency: The Brandman Agency is a lifestyle and hospitality PR firm specializing in restaurants, hotels, travel, and consumer brands. Its service mix (media relations, press trips, celebrity/influencer integration for hospitality clients) overlaps almost entirely with TK PR's offering.
• Emily Kaufman Media / Travel with Emily: Emily Kaufman Media is a boutique travel and hospitality PR and media firm representing destinations, resorts, and tourism boards. Like TK PR, it operates through personal journalist relationships and press-trip-driven earned media campaigns.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCzWL8ZbAK41UMS3IdiP0vYA
• Facebookfacebook.com/profile.php
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/tk-pr
• Instagraminstagram.com/tk_publicrelations

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about TK PR