June 2026
Duo’s Managing Director, Dan Sheridan, was recently invited by Insider Media to answer a series of questions for the PR agency review in the June issue of North West Business Insider.
Here’s the full Q&A on Duo and what we’re seeing in the industry right now.
What was the original idea behind setting up Duo, and what gap in the market were you trying to fill at the time?
More experienced PR and communications professionals than ever before are choosing to freelance, driven by the flexibility missing from traditional agency and in-house roles. Duo taps into this wealth of self-employed talent. All our clients work directly with senior consultants who are outstanding at what they do – and whose focus is on applying their expertise, not managing layers of people. This approach ensures that our clients receive expertise tailored to their specific needs, engage with passionate consultants eager to collaborate, and benefit from the seniority that fosters immediate and trusted, peer-like relationships.
You’ve carved out a niche supporting international businesses entering the UK. How did that specialism come about?
International business is a love of mine and a passion shared by Duo colleagues. I spent two years in Singapore running APAC corporate communications for a Nasdaq-listed global tech firm. I gained a reputation amongst my UK connections for understanding international markets and adapting to work with different cultures. Before founding Duo, I supported international clients entering and scaling in the UK market and we’ve today made this a specialism, so far supporting several American, Australian, Chinese and European businesses.
Why is Manchester proving attractive for those international brands, and what role does communications play in that journey?
Much like legal and accounting specialists are hired by international brands entering our market, investing in an understanding of your UK target audience and how to best communicate your story can have a massive impact on go-to-market success. It helps quickly establish awareness, understanding and trust. Today, top global comms and PR talent can be found in Manchester, meaning brands basing themselves here don’t have to default to London. International businesses landing and expanding in Manchester also benefit from strong support across regional media, events and other third-party channels, all of which want to champion these businesses as part of the city region’s growth story – it really helps brands hit the ground running and doesn’t happen in London.
Your model relies on senior, self employed consultants. What are the advantages of that approach compared to a traditional agency structure?
Senior, self-employed consultants are focused on delivering for clients, not on the distraction of managing people or reviewing the quality of others’ work – the time they spend is all client-focused. This model also means we can build small, high performance client teams where we bring the best knowledge and ability to fit every client’s requirements – nobody is made to work on something simply because they have capacity and we can align personality and culture fit to immediately strengthen working relationships. We can also more easily scale up and down with this agile model, something increasingly attractive in a world where priorities, budgets and opportunities can quickly change.
In a crowded market, what else genuinely makes Duo stand out from other B2B and tech agencies?
Clients want smart counsel, excellent dependable service and great value. We deliver this from a core team and wider network made up of former London and Manchester PR agency directors and in-house communications leaders, while maintaining modest overheads. Well-compensated, well-motivated experienced consultants who’ve worked for major agencies and the biggest brands now come without the price tag.
You’ve achieved strong year on year growth. What have been the key drivers behind that momentum?
We’ve focused on building our international niche supporting businesses scaling in the UK, and on developing our reputation in Manchester – we were delighted to be named GM Chamber of Commerce ‘Micro Business of the Year’ for 2025. This has led to recently winning further Australian client work in the AI and payments spaces, as well as our first Chinese client – a fast-growing global consumer electronics brand. As a young agency, we’re letting the PR success of the businesses we work with – such as SafetyCulture, Vypr, and Manchester Building Society – do the talking.
What do your most successful client relationships have in common? What’s the ‘secret’ to maintaining a good relationship with a client?
The best relationships are treated as partnerships, where our clients have the internal capacity to provide a clear brief, quickly turn things around, and maintain weekly dialogue on priorities and opportunities. Clients who commit to retained support also realise the benefit of that investment over the long term as our consultants become a valued extension of their team, providing trusted counsel and strategic guidance as well as weekly delivery.
How are clients’ expectations of PR changing, particularly in sectors like tech and fintech?
Clients recognise the importance of authenticity and connection in an increasingly noisy digital world. Recently, we’ve been delivering more talking head video content for LinkedIn and supporting clients with their own hosted events that help forge and strengthen relationships with customers, partners, prospects and media. The importance of AI search visibility is understood and that earned media has an important role to play in positioning an organisation as a leader in its space.
How do you see the role of PR agencies evolving over the next few years, and where does Duo fit into that future?
PR agencies have always been dynamic, adapting to digital innovation and evolving reputation management demands. I see this continuing with the advancement of AI. PR will be central to ensuring genuine stories are told, the right people are connected, and that organisations have brand guardians to turn to when they need them. Duo’s agile model with self-employed senior consultants, and working with both UK and internationally founded businesses, means we can adapt immediately to where opportunities lie and where clients require support.
Bonus question: I was watching The Apprentice last week and one of the business plans was an AI model for a PR agency. What do you think about AI potentially coming into the PR world?
This is an area many smart people are exploring and one that’s moving fast. AI is very much part of PR today with lots of pros and some cons. Efficiencies have been gained and there is no doubt we’ll see AI agents doing more and more. However, the best PR is built on trust, is honed in conversation online and offline, and is underpinned by memories and deep understanding. Meetings recorded with AI are useful but summaries can fail to capture subtle remarks and put them into context. Unrecorded conversations online and in person, messages exchanged via various platforms, and other intelligence gained from or for a client cannot all be captured by AI.
We’ve had clients share AI-generated first draft press releases with us, but without the expertise to guide the AI, critical nuances are missed – with, for example, pieces reading like over-promotional advertisements rather than journalistic copy. Keep in mind too, that media publications are investing in tools to identify AI-generated written content and are checking those quoted do genuinely exist and have the knowledge or responsibility they claim to!
There’s an established cliché across professional services and the creative industries – AI won’t replace you, those that understand how to use it will.
