Every successful publicity campaign starts with a good PR plan. Launching a PR campaign without a plan is like driving blindfolded – you’ll have no sense of direction, and you’re unlikely to get anywhere.
It’s important to know your goals, and what to do to achieve them, before taking on any publicity project. A plan makes it easier to stay on track, monitor your progress, and correct errors along the way.
Also, a detailed, well-presented plan can give you a great advantage over your competitors. A properly planned PR campaign can even be more effective than expensive advertising schemes. Some elements you will find in a good PR plan include:
Your objective
Start by defining what you want to achieve from the campaign, and how you plan on getting there. If you are a startup company, your goal can be to build a corporate identity and establish strong relationships with clients or suppliers. If it’s a charity or foundation, you may focus on attracting sponsors and members. Other possible objectives are generating leads or sales, fixing a bad reputation, or reinventing an existing brand.
Specific goals
When you’ve decided on an objective, start listing down smaller steps towards achieving that goal. Think of it as dividing one big task into several small tasks. For example, if you are selling a product or service, your specific goals can include distributing samples, getting orders or consignments, and promoting in the media. These tasks should be practical and measurable, so you can see how much closer you are to the main objective with every step.
Your target audience
You should also know who you are trying to sell to, so you can decide what your key message is and which approaches will work best. A company selling high-end makeup will most likely target women, so the key message could suggest beauty, empowerment, or luxury. The PR plan can include distributing samples in salons, giving out fliers in cosmetics stores, or getting featured in women’s magazines. Without a clear target audience, you may end up turning away potential customers, or wasting otherwise good material on the wrong media.
A time line
Set a fixed time frame for the entire PR program, as well as smaller time frames for each step in the campaign. To save time and money, determine the best times to take each goal depending on your target audience. For example, if your target audience is young adult, the best time to air TV interviews may be prime time or late night.
The right medium
Decide how you want to promote your material – there are lots of available mediums such as press interviews, sponsorships, seminars, and customer reviews. Your choice of medium should depend on demographic information on your target audience.
Evaluations
After each step, review the results of the campaign to see whether your chosen approach is working. This way, you can modify your plan as you go along, instead of taking big steps and finding errors later.
Conclusion
Designing a public relations plan may seem time-consuming at first, but it will certainly save you more time in the long run. It also saves you a lot of money by letting you steer clear of costly mistakes. If you have finished a public relations plan, then you have won half the battle.