A well-executed PR plan can be a game-changer for your business or organisation. It’s about more than just getting your name in the news; it’s about building relationships, telling your story, and influencing perceptions. This was particularly vital for my work leading and advising charities that rely on public perception, engagement and goodwill for volunteers as well as revenue. For established companies, building your brand, reputation and relationship with the public can make all the difference in getting that client, swinging that sale or attracting the best talent. Let’s break down how to create a PR plan that delivers results.
Understanding Your Business and Goals
Before I dive into tactics, it’s crucial to understand your business and your audience.
- Define Your Brand: What does your brand stand for? What are its core values? What stands you apart from the competition? It might not be your role to define these but you need a solid grasp of what they are before you can start.
- Identify Your Target Audience: Who are you trying to reach? What are their different interests and needs? Where, when and why would they look for you? Who are influencers and thought leaders for that audience?
- Set Clear Objectives: What do you want to achieve with your PR campaign? Is it increased brand awareness, lead generation, or crisis management?
- Market Analysis: Know your competition, track emerging trends and explore creative opportunities to partner, sponsor or collaborate.
Collaborate Across Teams
PR is rarely a solo effort. Effective collaboration is key to a successful campaign.
- Sales: Understand their pipeline, challenges, and opportunities to align PR efforts.
- Marketing: Coordinate with the marketing team to ensure consistent messaging and leverage existing campaigns.
- Customer Service: Gain insights into customer feedback and pain points to inform your PR messaging. Customer reviews
- Data: Whichever team manages or collects different types of data in your company, collaborate to collect and publish PR-worthy statistics and insights about your customers, industry, results and initiatives.
- Design: Work closely with the design team to create compelling visuals for press releases and other materials.
- Legal: Regularly check in with the legal or regulatory team. If you don’t have one, then study marketing standards, industry regulatory bodies, data protection and insider trading rules to help prevent issues. What you say or don’t say and even the timing of what you are allowed to disclose is critical. Any bad press – get some legal advice before issuing a statement.
Develop Your PR Strategy
With a clear understanding of your business and goals, you can start building your PR strategy.
- Identify Your Story: What makes your business unique? What’s your angle?
- Identify Key Messages: Develop clear and concise messages that resonate with your target audience.
- Choose Your Channels: Determine the most effective media outlets to reach your target audience. Top tip – create personas to help direct your choices and segmentation.
- Build Relationships: Connect with journalists and influencers in your industry. Identify opportunities to network and engage.
- Create a Content Calendar: Plan your PR activities and content creation. Look for ways to encourage engagement, increase brand authority and provide value through quotable content, reports and research.
Execute and Measure
Once your plan is in place, it’s time to get started and put it into action.
- Distribution: Distribute your press releases and other materials to targeted media outlets.
- Media Pitching: Build relationships with journalists and pitch relevant stories.
- Monitor Media Coverage: Track your media mentions and measure the impact of your campaigns.
- Social Media: Leverage social media to amplify your message and engage with your audience.
- Measure and Analyze: Track key performance indicators (KPIs) to evaluate the success of your PR efforts.
Top Tips for PR Success
- Be Authentic: People can spot inauthenticity from a mile away.
- Be Responsive: Respond to media inquiries promptly and professionally.
- Be Patient: Building a strong PR reputation takes time.
- Learn from Your Mistakes: Use setbacks as opportunities to improve.
By following these steps and collaborating with your team, you can create a PR plan that delivers results and helps you achieve your business goals.
