Public relations (PR)

To make the most of public relations (PR) in your business, you should develop a strategic plan. Your plan should include:

• Aims and objectives - consider what you want to gain from your public relations activities. Set measurable marketing objectives for your campaigns. For example you may want to increase brand recognition among a specific audience or generate one piece of media coverage per month.
• Target audience - think about the people you want to reach with your messages. This could be potential investors, the local community or your customers. Refer to your market strategy to define your target market.
• Target media - once you define your audience, how will you reach them? Consider the news media they consume and the online channels they use. See identify your target media for public relations.
• PR tactics - decide on the kinds of tactics you will use, eg: press releases, opinion articles events, online PR, or corporate social responsibility (CSR). Think about the kinds of stories your business can release and ways to raise your profile in your local community or industry.
• Schedule ­- plan your media and other PR activities with a schedule. This will help you keep track of media deadlines and topical content themes.
• Resources and budget - plan how much time and money you can invest in PR and what you will get in return. Consider if you should be using a PR agency to help you with PR tactics.
• Evaluation - work out how you will decide how successful your PR activities have been. Use this information to improve future campaigns. The results of PR can be tricky to measure. Some ways to evaluate campaigns include surveys and social listening tools.