Before getting into the nitty gritty of your PR campaign, you need to take the time to dig into your brand to ensure you are still working towards your vision, mission and purpose. If you or your business don’t have this yet, it’s important to set some time aside to develop this – think about why you are in your business, above and beyond the invoices. Think about:
- Why do you do what you do?
- What is important that people remember about working with you?
- What motivates you?
Using our proven ACE method and having identified your audience and who you are targeting with your PR campaign, it is time to work on your key messages and the right channels for the launch. This is also important to determine early on before drafting copy, you’ll need to get this right so it will resonate with them and ultimately persuade them to take the desired action.
Next, it’s time to get SMART, (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Bound) with your campaign objectives. Using the SMART framework helps not only measure ROI but also to guarantee they’ll be realistic and attainable. This ensures that PR campaigns support the business strategy, contribute to achieving long-term business goals, and keep you on track and accountable.
In many cases, PR campaigns will often be timely and focused on a certain date for launch. To make sure deadlines are not missed, an important step of the process is to outline a plan, which details the required tasks and timelines. To help streamline the process, it is also worth knowing who your main point of contact is for any necessary authorisations. Where possible, we recommend avoiding approval “by committee” and trying to keep amends to content to a minimum – one or two rounds, ideally.
Once all the content and assets have been approved, you’ll be ready to set the PR campaign live, which will often mean communicating your news or activation with relevant media to help spread your desired message to your chosen audience. To provide your campaign with the best possible chance of being a success, you will need to provide the media with everything they need to get the story out, for example, high-res imagery, quotes from spokespeople and links to websites. Often, there will be follow-up questions, therefore, a timely response to any media enquiries is imperative. Media are often working to tight deadlines and stories will be get bumped if you aren’t able to provide them with the information they need in a timely fashion.
Lastly, but by no means least – measurement. Tracking results as they come in will make your reporting process easier when the campaign finishes, this is also useful to make sure you can pivot your approach if needed. For this part of the process, you’ll want to look back at your SMART objectives to ascertain whether the campaign has met or exceeded the goals set – this will be how you can effectively measure your ROI. It’s always useful to learn from each of your PR campaigns, what went well and what didn’t go how you had hoped. It’s important to reflect to help you improve for next time.
If you would like to pick our brains on how to set up a PR campaign for success, connect with us to make it happen.
