PR Insider: 6 Steps To Create a Comprehensive PR Plan

You’ve been asked to create a comprehensive PR plan. Maybe a three-year or five-year plan – you are either filled with excitement or anxiety – most likely, a mix of both.

The goal of a comprehensive public relations plan usually falls into three buckets: a) to increase awareness for a company or organization entering new markets, b) to increase awareness for a company or organization experiencing a slow-down in market segments or to increase awareness of a new product or division.

Here are six tips for creating a comprehensive public relations plan.

• Understand your current scenario. What is the needle that needs to be moved and why? Design your plan to do just that. Have discussions with your senior leadership, and Board where appropriate, on their concerns and desires. Research your industry to see what competitors are doing with their public relations. Develop a strong understanding of the climate your organization is operating in, both internal and external.

• Establish your goals. Determine what will be achieved after implementation of the plan. Is it a change in behavior or perception of your organization? Is it more customers? Is it greater brand recognition and higher sales? Try to keep your goals in the area of three to five and remember to ensure that they are measurable along the implementation of the plan.

• Define your audiences. Who are you trying to reach and what do you need to communicate to them? Defining your key audiences, segmentation, is a critical part of ensuring your plan will be effective. It’s important to also have consensus among leadership and your Board as to who these audiences are and how they are defined.

• Choose tactics and channels. Next are your tactics. How will you communicate to your audiences using what mix of channels? To get your mix of tactics and channels right do research on your individual audiences through personal development to determine a.) the most effective tactics to grab their attention, and b.) what channels they engage with most to target them where they are.

• Determine measurement and reporting. As you are developing the tactics and channels think of how you will measure and how you will report these measurements and to whom. Typically, it is a combination of campaign metrics, benchmarking and surveying/focus groups. Choose the right combination that works for your organization and measures your audience engagement as effectively as possible. Don’t forget the internal here – decide early on how you will present the results of your measurement to senior leaders and how often.

• Prepare an itemized budget for each year of the plan. Your last step will be to prepare an itemized budget for each year of the plan to determine overall costs and areas for potential scale back. It may be hard to cost for every step of the implementation. If need be, provide as close to accurate range estimates as possible. 

The last, and the most crucial step, is to shop your plan to your organization starting with presenting to your CEO and Board and then your senior leaders. Adjust your plan as you go to reflect the input you receive but be mindful of any input that may create obstacles within the plan and raise that issue to senior leaders.

By building consensus, you will create a clear path ahead for the implementation phase of your plan.

Sandra Coyle is the Founder of Coyle Communications, a communications advisory firm based in Washington, DC. Follow her on Twitter @coylecomms or her blog at www.coylecomms.com/blog.