What are your prospects reading about you?

Whether you are an entrepreneur in spirit, or run your own business,
knowing the value of public relations is invaluable.

Marketers not familiar with the practice of public relations often ignore the marketing technique altogether,
or implement the bare minimum by sending out the occasional news release.
Direct marketers are no exception.

By Grant A. Johnson, Johnson Direct

ALL DIRECT MARKETERS SHOULD KNOW:
public relations is a great complement to direct marketing.

Those businesses that have a strong PR presence benefit in many ways, including:

• Higher brand recognition
• Increased perception of credibility/expertise
• Increased visibility when combined with other marketing efforts like direct mail
• Increased Website traffic
• Increased inbound call volume

But let’s face it, getting (and leveraging) positive publicity isn’t easy. Knowing your media, getting them to recognize and utilize you as a credible resource, writing for the editorial medium, researching and negotiating placements, etc. requires time, resources and experience. However, your company may not have the time, resources, experience – or budget – to pull off a PR program.

What are you to do?

At Johnson Direct, we have our own in-house PR guru, with 14 years experience and counting. But we realize, it is rare that a business has its own in-house public relations expert, or the budget to hire an agency.

One option for you may be to “Share the workload.” Take the following recommendations and determine how your internal staff can take on some of the tasks in a timely fashion. When you bring in a PR expert, you’ll have much of the groundwork completed, reducing your outsourcing expenditure.

Here’s where we recommend you begin:

1. LAY THE FOUNDATION

An effective program begins with a PR Plan. Next, you need to create the “foundation” of your PR campaign, including a media list and editorial opportunities calendar. This will require a time and effort commitment from an internal employee or an investment in a PR professional/agency.

Putting your goals to paper is the first step to making them a reality. It is important for your organization to understand why publicity is an important part of its marketing efforts to:
• Inform people about how to choose, buy and use your product or service.
• Persuade prospects and customers to buy your product or service.
• Counteract misconceptions about your product, service, organization or cause.
• Get prospects and customers to contact your business or visit your store or Website.

The time and effort to create a plan will save your organization a lot of headaches at a later date.

What Does a PR Plan Look Like?

When our PR team prepares a PR Plan or Proposal for a client, they typically include this information:

• Situation Analysis
  Describe the situation in context of what the plan is trying to address.
• PR Objectives
  Three or more PR-specific goals that are specific, measurable and attainable.
• Target Market and Audience
  List your primary markets and specifically who (demographic or title for example) your primary audiences are that you want to impact through this plan.
• Key Messages
  List no more than three key messages you want to impress upon your target audience.
• Strategies
  Include an overview of the “who, how and what” of accomplishing your objectives.
• Tactics
  Tactics are the specific action items you will take to support your strategies and meet your objectives.
• Budget
  The total budget available for your PR initiative. Include a break down for each tactic when possible.
• Approval Process
  If the executable tactics need to follow a formal review and approval process, it is wise to describe it here. Include names and titles of individuals that need to be included in the process.
• Project Team
  List the names, titles/role and contact information (phone, e-mail) for each individual involved in executing the PR initiative.

2. NOW, START BUILDING

Our philosophy: PR is a direct response medium. After all, you identify key segments and communicate directly to each in ways that are meaningful and relevant to them. Therefore, your campaign must be built upon an updated media list and comprehensive list of editorial opportunities and deadlines.

Here’s where we recommend you begin:

Media Research & Database:
What media publications are your prospects and customers reading? If you don’t know, ask. Make a list. Use the Internet and the associations you belong to as resources to determine the editor’s name, proper title and contact information for each publication.

Good media relations begin with understanding the needs and wants of the editors/reporters on your list. You need to know each editor’s deadlines, contact preferences, topic interests, etc. Create a database that includes complete contact information for each individual listed. You’ll find most of this information in the publication’s media kit (online or request one be mailed to you).

Editorial Calendar Review:
Most media outlets assign a dedicated reporter and/or editor to its featured beats (e.g., education, technology, marketing, etc.) Additionally, most publications publish an editorial calendar of topics that will be covered within each issue throughout the year. Identify the correct contact within each media outlet and determine the topics related to your business that will be covered throughout the year.

Editorial Opportunities Calendar:
Identify short-term and long-term newsworthy items to create your editorial opportunities calendar. This calendar is founded on two types of information:

1. The editorial topics discovered during the editorial calendar review process that are appropriate to your business.
2. The newsworthy happenings that your business is planning for the year. For example:

• Signing-on new customers
• Launching/adding new products
• Launching/adding new services
• Adding new staff
• Improving current products and/or services
• Sharing solutions for customers that proved successful (case studies)
• Sharing your expertise in the form of advice/tips and/or trend articles

News Item Development & Execution:
The format and distribution of each news item will depend on the type of news it is. An “exclusive” story or case study will likely be distributed to just one media outlet as an “exclusive” story. Some news items may be distributed to the entire media list, and other news items to the media covering one particular region.

Based on the Editorial Opportunity Calendar, determine how each item should be executed – format, presentation, distribution list, vehicle, etc. For example, your news may take the form of a news release, case study, trend article, how-to articles, or media interview.

THE ULTIMATE SIGN OF SUCCESS

Creating and encouraging a two-way communication relationship with the media does not happen overnight. Media professionals have expectations that go beyond submitting well-written releases and meeting deadlines. Finding a reliable, credible news source is what every journalist hopes for.

One way to maintain a win-win partnership with the media: when an expert within your organization identifies a market trend, hot topic or controversial subject, ensure he/she has a way to let you know about it. Do your homework, identify a media outlet to share it with, develop the idea and negotiate a placement with your media contact.

Visit Public Relations Services for other PR tips and inspirational case studies.

Or, contact us, to discuss the PR possibilities for your business and placement opportunities in your industry.

Back to Marketing Know-how