Branding Strategy

A PR campaign allows you to create a media narrative that fosters your brand position and helps you attract clients and customers. It also governs the proliferation of information about you and your brand. 

Nevertheless, PR or public relations doesn’t take place on its own, and you will need to build a comprehensive plan for the same. 

What’s the recipe for a media plan? 

You will need a well-defined media plan to attain the goals and objectives of your PR campaign. This plan should cover: 

  • Whom do you want to target and reach?
  • What do you want to attain?
  • What will you do to attain your objectives?
  • How will you assess your success?

Consider creating an effective media plan, and build your PR campaign in the following six steps: 

Step 1: Set your objective

The first and foremost step is to set your objectives for the media plan. Like what you are aiming to achieve through your PR campaign. Your objectives can be: 

  • To certify your expertise.
  • To develop goodwill with your customers, clients, suppliers, and community at large. 
  • To build and enhance your brand and professional corporate image. 
  • To inaugurate a new product or service. 
  • To generate leads or drive sales.
  • To soothe down the impact of a corporate crisis or negative publicity. 

Once you define your public relations objective clearly, you can build a concrete media plan around that objective. Ultimately, it sets the path for you to follow and work towards. 

Step 2: Articulate clear goals

Don’t confuse this step with the previous one. Setting up an objective can be qualitative; however, establishing goals should be quantitative, and these goals should align with your marketing and sales objectives. 

You can consider employing the SMART method to set these goals. Thus, your goals should be:

Specific: What is the desired outcome of your media plan? Be specific about it. 

Measurable: How will you measure and evaluate the effectiveness of this campaign?

Achievable: How are you going to achieve your goals within the constraints of all your resources? 

Realistic: Are your goals realistic and make sense for the reach of your PR campaign?

Time-based: How long will it take for you to attain your goals and objectives?

Step 3: Know your target market

You can excel in the market if you focus on the target customer. Identify who your target audience is, what those customers need, where you can find them. Then develop a blueprint for your entire campaign that includes: 

  • Whom do you want to interact with?
  • What is the message you intend to send out?
  • Which media channels will you use?
  • How will you keep customer trust?
  • What kind of language and topics will you use?

Once you understand what comprises your target market, you can plan accordingly. You can consider referring to the public relations outreach of your competitors; thereby, you will have a vision of which media outlets to target and what message you should and should not deliver. 

Step 4: Look out for opportunities

What kind of communication channels will you opt for to get your brand message to the public? Look out for various opportunities that are in line with your media campaign. Following are a few examples: 

  • Articles and press releases
  • Letters to the editor
  • Media tours, interviews, or press conferences
  • Radio, TV, or podcast appearances
  • Seminars and workshops
  • Event sponsorship

While researching opportunities, reach out to people in your contact for developing media relationships. 

Step 5: Prepare a schedule

After connecting with your media contacts and exploring different opportunities, prepare a schedule for your PR campaign. It includes: 

  • What outlets will you have an appearance in?
  • What kind of appearance you or your organization will prefer?
  • Follow-up actions you will have to take in due course. 
  • An email or social media calendar to publish each appearance. 

Step 6: Assess your progress

Once you follow all the above steps, now is the time to assess the results of your PR campaign. These may include: 

  • Lead acquisition 
  • Sales number
  • Lead conversion 
  • Additional media queries 

After following each of the above steps, take out some time to review your progress. In this way, you can measure the success and effectiveness of your media campaign. 

Summary

Developing a robust public relations or PR plan is a prerequisite for any functional or thriving organization, and it helps maintain a good brand reputation. However, it is crucial to measure the results of your media campaign from time to time, and it would help if you tracked how this campaign is blending with the rest of your marketing. 

PR helps you reach your target market without spending on advertising. However, it can’t be a solo instrument in your marketing mix. By building a concrete media plan and integrating it well with the rest of your marketing strategy, you will enable the growth and expansion of your business.