As an organization, you are always looking for ways to build relationships, maintain contacts and put your name even more on the map among the general public. A well-developed PR strategy gives your organization every opportunity to build a greater reach, in most cases in combination with a solid marketing plan.
What is PR?
PR, or Public Relations, includes all actions aimed at building and maintaining relationships between organizations and the general public, through professional or public media. That audience consists not only of potential customers, but also of suppliers, business relations and other stakeholders.
Why is good PR important?
Building a good relationship with a larger audience is crucial for every organization. Without customers, business relations, suppliers and other stakeholders, an organization has no reason to exist. Focusing on good PR means focusing on sustainable growth and anchoring of the organization, which is ready for future challenges, developments and innovations.
What do we mean by a PR strategy?
PR is not something that can be done in a day. Because of the time it takes to build a relationship with certain media, setting up a strategy is necessary to increase the chance of success. Without a plan and strategy, results are not achieved and it is more difficult to estimate which actions have a chance of success. Many organizations focus on PR, but the organizations that use a strategy often succeed better.
An effective PR plan in 8 steps
A PR strategy translates well into a PR plan. But what exactly should it contain? And where do you start? The 8 steps below give you a clear picture of the components you need to think about and the choices you need to make that will be reflected in your final PR plan.
1. Where is your organization now and where do you want to go?
A PR strategy serves different purposes, which is why it is important to consider what the current state of affairs is and where you specifically want to go. The goal ultimately determines the strategy. In this first step you determine whether you want to increase brand awareness, whether you want to draw attention to a new product or service or whether you want to focus on an even more positive image of the organization among the public.
2. Make your goals concrete
A vague goal leads to vague actions, which generally achieve little. Setting concrete goals is the message here and the SMART method is a good way to do that. Goals must be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound.
3. Who belongs to the target group?
Now that you know what you want to achieve, it's time to consider who you need to reach. Consider age, gender, place of residence, professional class and the like. The more specifically your target group is determined, the more targeted you tailor your approach to it.
4. How do you best reach your target group?
Every target group has its own channels on which they are most present and this is also important for your strategy. This can range from a local newspaper, a trade magazine, a national newspaper, radio and TV to various social media channels.
If your target group consists mainly of 16-year-olds, then a press release to a national newspaper such as De Telegraaf is not of much use to you, but you should rather focus on Facebook and Instagram. For example, if it is HR managers you want to reach, then a professional title would be PW. Rather suitable.
5. What PR tools do you need to get your message across?
Press releases are still part of a good PR strategy but it is not enough. A good press page on the organization website is important, but organizing events and setting up and carrying out research are also in the toolbox of a PR professional. And last but not least: media monitoring where you monitor what is happening in the media landscape and what effect this has on your organization, is also an important PR tool.
6. Combine PR and marketing
You can say that PR and marketing go hand in hand and although these are different departments in many organizations, they work closely together to achieve the best results. The copywriter, the content creator and the social media manager must know each other what is going on and consistently try to achieve the organizational goals through every channel. This way you leave nothing to chance and you use all available expertise.
7. Plan your actions
A calendar with the planned actions cannot and should not be missing. Who does what and when? And what are the milestones and definitions of success PR campaign? Be creative in timing: for example, launch a sneak peak a few weeks and days before the launch of your promotion to arouse curiosity. Or give a certain medium exclusivity.
8. Analyze and refine
After each step it is a good idea to measure the results. This way you know exactly what scores and what doesn't and you can effortlessly adjust the next actions accordingly. As indicated at the very beginning, PR is a long-term vision and learning is part of this.
If the strategy does not yield what you expected, in this step you will determine the reason for this and refine your PR strategy based on this. No strategy is set in stone from the start and adjustments that mean improvements can only be encouraged.
Need help with a PR strategy?
Do you need help in drawing up a solid PR strategy or are you looking for other support in the field of Public Relations or issue management? Then take Contact contact us, we are happy to help you!