Magic+book

A PR template? – there’s no such thing

September 13, 2018/Rachel Hargrave
Here at RDZ HQ we are often asked to summarise what a good PR plan should look like.

Well, that’s not an easy thing to summarise as it will be different for every business.  There aren’t even many common points within a specific industry or business size.  The PR plan is really quite personal, and it will depend on factors which are very unique to the business and its owners / Board / senior management team.

So, rather than make this the shortest blog ever and leave our reader(s) wanting, we thought it might be of more use to highlight what considerations should be made in putting a PR plan together and emphasise what factors are of utmost importance.

Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, an initial meeting (or in some cases series of meetings) should be held to discuss the real ‘wins’ (otherwise known as Campaign Objectives) which the business wishes to achieve through their PR strategy.  For some it may simply be the generation of new business, for others an increased market share.  Examples of less obvious objectives which we have worked with include greater visibility amongst their peer group and increased attractiveness to high calibre potential recruits (including the cream of the graduate stream in any given year).  At RDZ we vey much believe in transparency and we are happy to review our performance throughout our working relationship with clients and this is why the setting – and understanding – of true objectives at the very beginning of the journey is essential.

Another critical factor in the ‘foundation stage’ of a PR strategy is achieving buy-in from each one of the stakeholders who will be involved.  Yes, RDZ will be doing the majority of the work on the PR plan (and the day-to-day stuff, so that our clients can focus on their actual business) but there will be tasks and input required from members of the team and those totally opposed to the occasional bit of social media posting, or even just approving, may inadvertently cause a loss of momentum.

Any good PR plan will also include set periods of review and diarised meeting of all key personnel involved.  Sticking to the dates agreed is not always easy, but every effort should be made to have those diary dates as ‘immovable’ as possible.  There will, of course, be flexibility but if the ‘PR review appointment’ becomes the floating date on everyone’s calendar then the necessary tweaks to strategy can be missed and render the campaign less effective than it might otherwise have been.

We’re slightly nervous to say that ‘patience’ is an important ingredient in PR planning, but it actually is.  This isn’t a way for us to generate excuses, but rather is born of experience.  A three month PR plan is very unlikely to produce desired effects but a 12 month overall plan with three month ‘mini campaigns’ embedded stands a far better chance of delivering on the original objectives.

So, for those speed-readers amongst our audience, let us summarise the four key considerations which should form the basis of a PR plan:

  1. Establishing true ‘wins’ (Campaign Objectives)
  2. Ensuring buy-in to the strategy from all stake holders
  3. Setting scheduled, regular, strictly adhered to review meetings
  4. Application of patience and understanding of realistic timeframes

 

And finally… apologies to those who expected an actual template into which you could simply place your company name and goals and magically achieve your PR wishes – no such document exists!!

 

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Rachel Hargrave

Rachel has over 30 years of local, regional, national and international communications experience and expertise across a wide variety of clients including FTSE 100 companies, SMEs, micro businesses and start-ups. She also has extensive charity, Not-For-Profit and Community Interest Company experience and happily offers clients working in these areas a 50% discount on all RDZ PR rates.

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