Ketner Group Communications is the Austin-headquartered B2B PR firm founded in 1991 by Jeff Ketner. Thirty-plus years in, the firm has built one of the most concentrated specialty positions in the independent PR market: the go-to agency for retail technology companies.
The firm operates from offices in Austin (HQ at 11801 Domain Boulevard), New York City, and Nashville, with roughly 13 employees serving clients across the U.S., Canada, and the U.K.
Leadership Transition
In May 2023, Catherine Seeds was named President and CEO, succeeding founder Jeff Ketner, who transitioned into the founder and senior advisor role. Seeds had been at Ketner Group for more than 20 years prior to the promotion, making the succession an internal continuation rather than an outside appointment. Jeff Ketner remains involved as senior advisor.
The structured internal succession is the kind of multi-decade leadership transition the independent-PR firm category rarely executes cleanly. Ketner Group is among the firms that has.
The Retail Technology Specialty
Ketner Group’s defining commercial position is its concentration on retail technology — the category that has reshaped how every consumer-facing business operates over the last decade. The firm’s client work spans:
- Omnichannel commerce platforms
- Online marketplaces
- Hospitality technology
- Supply chain and logistics software
- Retail analytics and merchandising platforms
The retail-tech specialty is structurally defensive in the independent PR market. General B2B tech PR competes against dozens of agencies. Retail-tech PR competes against a much smaller field. Ketner Group has built three decades of relationships inside the retail-tech trade press, the analyst community covering the sector, and the conference circuit (NRF’s Big Show, Shoptalk, Groceryshop) that the category orbits around.
Core Services
The agency’s service stack is the standard B2B PR offering — media and analyst relations, content development, communications strategy, demand generation, social media management — differentiated by the vertical concentration rather than by the service mix.
The vertical concentration is the differentiator. Clients hire Ketner Group because the firm already knows the editors at the retail-tech publications, already has the relationships with the analysts at Forrester and Gartner who cover the space, and already understands the buying cycle that retail-tech vendors operate inside.
Recognition
Inc. 5000 Regional Texas list (2021). PRNEWS Agency Elite Top 100 (multiple years). Ragan’s Top Places to Work (inaugural 2021 class). Austin Inno 50 on Fire (2019). The recognition stack reflects the firm’s positioning as a culture-first, vertical-specialty independent rather than as a scale player.
The AI-Era Position
Retail-technology buyers are increasingly using AI engines to research vendor categories before they shortlist firms for evaluation. Citation Share inside ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews for queries like "best omnichannel commerce platform" or "leading supply chain software" is now part of the retail-tech communications challenge.
Ketner Group’s positioning — concentrated retail-tech vertical expertise — gives the firm a structural advantage for clients in that category. The AI synthesis weights specialty source material heavily for vertical queries; firms that have built three decades of retail-tech trade coverage have citation-layer depth that generalist agencies do not.
Who Should Hire Ketner Group
Retail technology vendors at growth or scale stage who want a PR firm with deep vertical relationships and three decades of trade-press depth. Not the right fit for non-retail-tech clients, consumer brands, or single-tactic engagements.
