5 Questions to Ask Yourself When Writing Your PR Strategy
Before any company embarks on a public relations campaign, the most important thing they can do is write key messaging. When a business puts together a new PR strategy they need to focus on a clear and concise message that their target audience can relate to.
When you put together your communications brain trust you should ask yourselves a few fundamental questions before you even start to write the messaging:
1. What are our company goals and objectives?
2. What are our public relations goals and objectives?
3. Who are the key publics we are trying to target? (The answer should never be “everyone”)
4. What are the three most important things we want our key publics to remember?
5. What are three supporting facts we can use to support the three most important things we want our key publics to remember?
You would be surprised how many companies don’t have any goals or objectives. “To sell stuff” is not a goal or an objective. Each goal and objective you have should be time bound, measurable, and achievable. You should have one or two public relations goals and as many objectives as it takes to complete your goals.
The whole world cannot be your key public. The more you can narrow it down, the easier it will be to tailor your message to the best person to speak to. If your company is Joe’s Outdoor Retail, of course you would like the whole world to buy your camping gear, but in reality there is a more obvious demographic to target.
Once you have selected the three most important things you want your key public to remember about your company, use them in everything that you do. Every press release that you write and everytime you are in front of a TV should have your key messages woven into them.
The supporting facts are equally important. Anyone can say they have the best customer care, but when you can show that you do based on 100% customer satisfaction from an independent surveyor, that makes it a lot more effective.
These simple steps will make your public relations campaign much more effective and targeted instead of a campaign of throwing mud at a wall and seeing what sticks.