Home
>
Public Relations
>
PR Planning: Mapping Out Your Strategies, Tactics

PR Planning: Mapping Out Your Strategies, Tactics

With all due respect to all those stereotypical males out there who hate to ask for directions, the fact is that even if the territory is somewhat familiar, if you don't have a roadmap and follow its directions, you're going to get hopelessly lost.

So it goes with your PR program. If you truly intend to have a proactive media relations program, rather than one that just reacts to news developments, a plan is essential to ensure you stay on track with not just with tactical details, but with your organization's overriding business goals and objectives.

Here are some guidelines to establishing a plan that will put and keep you on track:

Start by analyzing your organization's positioning and how it is perceived by the markets you serve, particularly vis a vis your competitors. Look at your menu of offerings, in terms of products, services or areas of expertise, or at the underlying challenges your organization faces.

Identify and prioritize your key imperatives according to your organization's most pressing business needs. Your mandates from management, for example, might be to develop PR approaches to help support the trial and launch of a new product or service, to support an existing specialty that may have been neglected for past lack of resources, and to generally help bolster the business' brand.

A mini plan of attack should be designed for each imperative that incorporates the overall strategy for the project, how it will be supported tactically (audience and media markets targeted, vehicles used, such as news releases, surveys, or bylined articles), implementation timelines and assigned responsibilities, and, ideally, how the PR tactics will dovetail with marketing tactics in terms of everything from messaging to timelines.

To better support an existing specialty service, for example, perhaps the strategy is to develop a program that underscores your expertise and thought-leadership in that arena. You'd identify markets of your buyers, media markets that cater to their interests, ideas for a series of bylined articles on issues or trends tying in with that service to be positioned with those media outlets, a timeframe and responsibilities for article development and pitching, and a plan for how the placed articles should be used (e.g. links to a PDF incorporated into a direct mail piece or client newsletter).

You should also figure out estimated costs, in terms of internal staff time, PR agency fees (if you use one) and ancillary costs (reprint permissions/PDFs, clipping service, etc.), as part of the plan. You may, in fact, have to pare back ? or bolster ? your initiatives depending on what the numbers tell you.

Moreover, those numbers tie into another important component of the plan: how you anticipate measuring the effectiveness of the program. Return on investment is one (though not the only) way to go ? for which you'll need total spendings as well as a way to tie those spendings to such measurable results, like more business coming over the transom.

Developing a PR plan takes time and energy, but is essential to bringing focus to your PR program. Ideally, you'll get the structure in place so that each year, the planning gets easier, the metrics help prove out where refinements are needed, and your value is substantially demonstrated to management.

Sally Saville Hodge is president of Hodge Communications, Inc., specializing in strategic public relations and marketing communications for businesses, entrepreneurs and professional associations. Formerly an award-winning financial journalist, she brings over 30 years experience to client engagements. Subscribe today to communic@te! our free bimonthly e-newsletter and get a free special report: "Using Buzz To Create a Groundswell For Your Business." Visit communic@te

best cleaning company Highland Park ..

In The News:

Smart home hacking fears overblown? Expert reveals real cybersecurity risks and simple protection tips to keep your connected devices safe from hackers.

MIT develops needle-free glucose monitor using light technology. Revolutionary device could replace painful finger pricks for diabetes management.

The ClickFix campaign disguises malware as legitimate Windows updates, using steganography to hide shellcode in PNG files and bypass security detection systems.

Researchers from Osaka Metropolitan University designed a 21-foot dome that combines aquaculture and hydroponics to create a self-sustaining urban food system.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

ChatGPT data breach exposes personal info of users through partner Mixpanel. OpenAI confirms names, emails compromised in security incident.

Android rolls out Emergency Live Video for 911 calls, letting dispatchers see real-time scenes during emergencies. Great for holiday travel safety.

Malicious Chrome and Edge extensions collected browsing history, keystrokes and personal data from millions of users before Google and Microsoft removed them.

Google's new Call Reason feature lets Android users mark calls as urgent before dialing, displaying an urgent label to recipients using Phone by Google app.

Medical history made as surgeons successfully restore sight to legally blind patient using world's first 3D printed corneal implant grown from human cells.

Data brokers aggressively collect your holiday shopping data to fuel scams and targeted ads. Learn how to delete your digital profile before 2025 starts.

Scammers are sending fake MetaMask wallet verification emails using official branding to steal crypto information through phishing links and fraudulent domains.

Learn what background permissions, push notifications, security updates, auto-join networks and app refresh mean to better manage your phone's privacy settings.

Criminals test stolen data by applying for deposit accounts in victims' names to prepare bigger attacks. Learn why banks won't share fraud details.

New study of 10,500+ kids reveals early smartphone ownership linked to depression, obesity, and poor sleep by age 12. Earlier phones mean higher risks.

A phone phishing attack compromised Harvard's alumni and donor database, marking the second security incident at the university in recent months.

AutoFlight's zero-carbon floating vertiport uses solar power to charge eVTOL aircraft while supporting emergency response, tourism, and marine energy maintenance.

A new phone return scam targets recent buyers with fake carrier calls. Learn how criminals steal devices and steps to protect yourself from this fraud.

New Anthropic research reveals how AI reward hacking leads to dangerous behaviors, including models giving harmful advice like drinking bleach to users seeking help.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Holiday email scams, including non-delivery fraud and gift card schemes, spike in November and December, costing victims hundreds of millions, the FBI says.

Holiday visits offer the perfect opportunity to help older parents with technology updates, scam protection and basic troubleshooting skills for safer digital experiences.

Swiss scientists create grain-sized robot that surgeons control with magnets to deliver medicine precisely through blood vessels in medical breakthrough.

Researchers exploited WhatsApp's API vulnerability to scrape 3.5 billion phone numbers. Learn how this massive data breach happened and protect yourself.

Travel companies share passenger data with third parties during holidays, but travelers can protect themselves by removing data from broker sites and using aliases.

PR Planning: Mapping Out Your Strategies, Tactics

Public Relations