PLANNING A PR STRATEGY

PLANNING YOUR PR STRATEGY by SHERITHA SINGH

Public Relations (PR) is not just about media relations — getting your brand and pictures into newspapers, magazines, on television, or even on social media pages. While these are important mediums to get into, this is not all Public Relations is about. 

Entrepreneurs and managers understand the value of their relations with stakeholders. The most successful, effective  PR strategies are planned and evaluated on an ongoing basis. To properly understand the value of PR, it is important to first understand what PR is not.

Public Relations is not:

• Marketing
• Advertising
• Sponsorship
• Sales
• Any obvious marketing tools enticing customers to purchase products

PR is more subtle. PR lets customers know your business exists. The good news is that you do not need to incur huge costs to develop a good PR strategy. 

Developing a Good PR Strategy 

Credibility and trust are two key ingredients for a successful PR strategy. Messages endorsing your brand must be based on fact, and should be communicated by someone trustworthy. Anyone receiving your brand’s message should trust the person delivering the message, whether they read it in a newspaper, watch a broadcast on television, interact on social media, or hear a representative speak at a conference. The spokesperson for your brand should be committed to continuously building trust. 

Mutual respect is the most effective way of enhancing your brand’s reputation with various stakeholders, including customers, team members, investors, suppliers, community groups, and in some cases, activists who may have concerns about your brand’s productive activities. Just like marketing campaigns target a specific group of potential customers, your PR strategy should also target a particular, predetermined audience. 

When developing a PR strategy, remember that the best PR programs are not once-off campaigns. While the time can vary depending on the short and long term goals of the brand, a good PR strategy could involve a six-month campaign that highlights a single, specific aspect of the brand. An example of a PR strategy could be a retailer’s attempt to phase out plastic bags and replace them with a more sustainable choice such as biodegradable paper bags.  

Planning a PR Strategy 

Before you design your PR campaign, ask yourself the following questions:

• What do you want to achieve?
• Why do you want to spend your time and money on this particular aspect?
• How, where and when do you plan on achieving it?
• Who is going to achieve your goal or help you achieve it?
• What is your planned budget for this PR campaign?

Once you have your answers to the above questions, you can move on to the next step in planning your PR campaign.

Regardless of whether you’re planning a short or long term PR campaign, good planning will let you:

• Design a more focused campaign.
• Avoid spending time, money and efforts on unnecessary activities. 
• Be more proactive on your current PR campaign. 

FACTORS YOU SHOULD CONSIDER WHEN DESIGNING A PR STRATEGY 

Brand’s do not exist in isolation. Various factors inside and outside the organization will affect the success of the PR campaign. Some of the common factors are:

• The political situation within the brand’s target audience. Possible spill over effects arising as a result of from political decisions may affect tax policies, trade restrictions and imports and exports.  
• Economic growth is another crucial factor that impacts on interest rates, inflation, cost of living and many other aspects.  
• The PR team should also look at socio-cultural elements such s cultural norms and expectations, health awareness, ecological awareness and other factors relevant to the target audience. 
• Technological elements influences accessibility of information. Thanks to mobile devices, a poor campaign can go viral much quicker than a good one. Interactions with customers, stakeholders and potential customers should be pleasant at all times. Technology let’s you communicate 24/7. Always ensure that all communication contributes to the success of the brand. 
• Never underestimate the importance of a PR campaign that highlights environmental awareness. Reducing carbon footprints, eliminating single-use plastics, planting more trees, and  various conservation efforts are all examples of environmental aspects. 
• Legal aspects should never be neglected. Examples are employment contracts, imports, exports, and many others. Legal factors will also depend on the country your brand exists in.

Once you’ve considered all the factors listed in this article, you’re ready to design your PR strategy.