The Custom Genre Upgrade: Making AI Digital PR Assistant Flexible for Every User

Every SaaS product reaches a point where fixed options are no longer enough.

That is exactly what happened with AI Digital PR Assistant.

The journalist database started with a simple set of genres such as Real Estate, Beauty, Lifestyle, Fitness, Marketing, and Other. These categories were useful because they made the media list easier to organize.

But they also revealed the next limitation.

Not every user works with the same industries.

One person may need technology and finance. Another may need travel and food. Someone else may work with education, health, parenting, startups, or entertainment.

That is why the next planned upgrade is custom genres.

Why Fixed Genres Are Only a Starting Point

Fixed genres are helpful in the beginning.

They give structure. They make the app easier to understand. They help the user start organizing contacts quickly.

But fixed genres can also become restrictive.

If a user has to force a journalist into the wrong category, the database becomes less accurate.

For example, where should a fintech journalist go if there is no finance category? Should a travel writer go under lifestyle? Should a startup journalist go under marketing?

These choices may work temporarily, but they are not ideal.

A good SaaS product should not force every user into the same workflow.

It should provide structure while still allowing flexibility.

What Custom Genres Will Allow

The custom genre upgrade will allow users to add their own categories inside the app.

Instead of only choosing from a fixed list, they could create genres such as:

Technology

Finance

Travel

Food

Healthcare

Education

Parenting

Startups

Entertainment

Sustainability

This makes the product more adaptable.

It also means the app can serve different types of PR users without needing a separate version for each industry.

Why This Upgrade Matters

Custom genres may sound like a small feature, but it affects the whole workflow.

It improves the journalist database because contacts can be categorized more accurately.

It improves campaign creation because users can select journalists from the most relevant groups.

It improves future analytics because campaign performance can eventually be understood by genre.

It also makes the product feel more personal.

When users can shape the app around their own work, they are more likely to trust it and keep using it.

The Product Lesson Behind This Upgrade

This upgrade taught me an important product lesson:

Start with defaults, then allow customization.

If customization is added too early, the product can become confusing. But if there are no customization options later, the product can feel limited.

The right balance is to provide sensible defaults first, then let users expand from there.

That is exactly what this upgrade is meant to do.

The app can still offer default genres for new users, but it can also allow users to add their own.

What This Could Lead To Later

Custom genres could become the foundation for more advanced features later.

For example, the app could eventually show:

Which genres receive the most outreach

Which genres have the highest open rate

Which genres have the best reply rate

Which genres need better follow-up

Which campaign types perform best with which media categories

That would turn a simple category feature into a useful analytics layer.

This is why small upgrades matter. They often create the foundation for larger upgrades.

Final Thoughts

The custom genre upgrade is about flexibility.

It takes the app one step closer to becoming useful for different PR workflows, not just one fixed use case.

AI Digital PR Assistant started as a simple MVP. With every upgrade, it is becoming more practical, more organized, and more adaptable.

Custom genres are a small feature with a big purpose:

Let the user shape the product around their own PR world.