What to include in your 2010 PR plan
Ah, fall – it’s that time of year again. Time when management asks for a budget and PR plan for next year. They may not actually READ your tome, or approve your budget, but at least you can come up with a good blueprint for 2010:
1. Overview/Situation Analysis – is your company just beginning to play in its field, or is it a mature company that needs a turnaround? Where is the company in terms of its growth stage? What resources and budget are available at hand? Are there extenuating factors that will have implications for the PR program? What PR strategies have been successful or unsuccessful in the past?
2. Competitive/Market Analysis – Who are the major competitors in this field, and how does your company stack up against them? What are its strengths and weaknesses? What are the market driver and trends?
3. Target Customers – Which vertical markets are you selling your product or service to, and what is the typical title of your intended customer? Will this target list stay the same over the next year, or expand to include new verticals?
4. Strategies – Is your strategy to promote the CEO as a spokesperson for the company? Is it to educate customers about your service? Is it to penetrate a new market? Is it to position the company for an IPO or acquisition?
5. Messages – Based on the market trends, your company’s situation, and the target customers, what specific messages should be aimed at each audience?
6. Tactics – What are the specific tactics you will employ in order to accomplish your strategies (for example, blogs, webcasts, feature articles, charitable donations, contests, etc).
7. Events – Which events are part of the marketing strategy and will require PR support or participation (user conferences, webcasts, speaking opportunities).
8. Primary Media Contacts – What list of bloggers, analysts, journalists and local community contacts will be part of your media database? Have you verified that these are the right contacts, and that they wish to be on your distribution list?
9. Editorial Opportunities/Awards – What opportunities are coming up in 2010 that tie into your company themes and products? Are there key industry awards that you plan to apply for?
10. Budget and Measurement – What expenses do you foresee for the year, and how and when do you plan to measure the effectiveness of your campaigns? Will you conduct a baseline study in the beginning, with followup studies throughout the year?
11. Staffing – who will be part of the PR “group” – is it solely in-house, or a combination of agency and in-house?
12. Conclusion – what is the summary of the plan’s intent and scope?
Why create a plan? Often it’s the exercise of assessing your company’s strengths, the positioning of the competition, and your approach to undermine their position, that comprises the value of the plan. A PR plan also provdes useful after you’ve hired a new employee in marketing, or an outside agency to help you with your strategy. It shortens the learning curve and helps them understand the battlefield as well as the rationale for your program.
Notice I didn’t break out “social media” as a separate option. By now, all plans should include social media by default.
OK, I’m sure I missed SOMETHING. What else should be included?
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Comments
October 8th, 2009 at 9:14 am
Very good essay.
I recommend adding why you need Twitter, Facebook and other 21st Century marketing tools in that plan. This is the hardest sell to management. It is also easier to measure results utilizing 21st Century marketing tools (some call them “social media”) and how your overall Marketing $ociology plan is contributing to the company’s BOTTOM LINE.
An example is recently Facebook outpaced Yahoo on Alexa’s list of most popular sites. YouTube was #4 behind Yahoo (remember all you marketing executives who said no in early 2007 when I was recommending this 21st Century Marketing tool?). That means only Google search engine tops Facebook in the millions upon millions worldwide who use the Internet.
To me, a Facebook, MySpace, YouTube presence is more important than being on CBS Evening News. An example is the Wedding Dance video from YouTube. All over every news outlet. Same with the cat playing piano.
Yet many executives are stuck in 20th Century thinking as we are just 2 months from the 21st Century’s second decade.
Let me know if I may help.
Richard Kelleher
Marketing $ociologist
MediaRelationsExpert.com
Friendfeed and Twitter: PhoenixRichard
October 8th, 2009 at 9:16 am
Very good essay.
I recommend adding why you need Twitter, Facebook and other 21st Century marketing tools in that plan. This is the hardest sell to management. It is also easier to measure results utilizing 21st Century marketing tools (some call them “social media”) and how your overall Marketing $ociology plan is contributing to the company’s BOTTOM LINE.
An example is recently Facebook outpaced Yahoo on Alexa’s list of most popular sites. YouTube was #4 behind Yahoo (remember all you marketing executives who said no in early 2007 when I was recommending this 21st Century Marketing tool?). That means only Google search engine tops Facebook in the millions upon millions worldwide who use the Internet.
To me, a Facebook, MySpace, YouTube presence is more important than being on CBS Evening News. An example is the Wedding Dance video from YouTube. All over every news outlet. Same with the cat playing piano.
Yet many executives are stuck in 20th Century thinking as we are just 2 months from the 21st Century’s second decade.
Let me know if I may help.
Richard Kelleher
Marketing $ociologist
MediaRelationsExpert.com
Friendfeed and Twitter: PhoenixRichard
October 8th, 2009 at 9:41 am
Good info, Linda. I’ve also found it helpful to use the planning process to identify inappropriate functions that have migrated to the PR team and use the opportunity to put them in context and get management support for eliminating them or moving them to a more appropriate department.
Also, given the economy, it’s critical to measure, quantify and communicate the value of PR to management and be assertive about being heard. The budget process in most companies today also includes a hard look at staffing levels and potential cutbacks. If PR is viewed as non revenue producing it’s in a vulnerable position.
October 8th, 2009 at 10:00 am
Very good essay.
I recommend adding why you need Twitter, Facebook and other 21st Century marketing tools in that plan. This is the hardest sell to management. It is also easier to measure results utilizing 21st Century marketing tools (some call them “social media”) and how your overall Marketing $ociology plan is contributing to the company’s BOTTOM LINE.
An example is recently Facebook outpaced Yahoo on Alexa’s list of most popular sites. YouTube was #4 behind Yahoo (remember all you marketing executives who said no in early 2007 when I was recommending this 21st Century Marketing tool?). That means only Google search engine tops Facebook in the millions upon millions worldwide who use the Internet.
To me, a Facebook, MySpace, YouTube presence is more important than being on CBS Evening News. An example is the Wedding Dance video from YouTube. All over every news outlet. Same with the cat playing piano.
Yet many executives are stuck in 20th Century thinking as we are just 2 months from the 21st Century’s second decade.
Richard Kelleher
Marketing $ociologist
MediaRelationsExpert.com
Friendfeed & Twitter: PhoenixRichard
October 8th, 2009 at 10:40 am
I think it’s imperative to break out goals (those things that will never change that you’re aiming for – big picture) and objectives (very measurable items that you intend to obtain through the course of the year/contract term). Without stating those items up front, it’s impossible for your management or client to measure your success on the back end. Especially today when so many of us are ROI-driven, we need to quantify what we do for the companies we serve.
October 8th, 2009 at 11:47 am
how about: Fun!
October 8th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
Also, make sure you set aside 5% of budget to measure outgrowths and campaign outcomes, not just outputs like clips or Web site hits. Align your metrics to how the business measures itself. I have some formulas, if interested.