I've received some questions lately about the reasons to invest the time and money it takes to do media relations right.
An important misconception many executives hold regarding public relations is what it will cost them to generate news coverage about their companies. Many will be surprised to learn how significant the return on investment can be.
You don't need to pay a million dollars to get a million dollars' worth of publicity. A Florida business worked with my firm, Strategy-LINK Public Relations recently to create and publicize an event, and garnered a 4.25 percent return on investment. Now - the investment wasn't small-- it was more than $30,000. But in real numbers, this company received more than $135,000 worth of publicity.
To create and maintain rewarding relationships with reporters and editors, a business must communicate with them regularly. If you don't, the reporter needing a quote for an article in your industry will call your competitor who does touch base at least monthly. However, here is a very important caveat: when it comes to reporters, better to say nothing than to waste the reporter's time with a release or a pitch that isn't relevant to her readership.
So, dealing professionally and regularly with the media does pay great dividends. But what if up until now your business has dealt with the media only sporadically, if at all. How do you set up a media relations process that you can stick with? Read on.
Follow the Four Step Process to create actionable plans with repeatable results.
Step 1. Defining the Problem-- Start with a fact-finding mission. Look at your organization's overarching goals, then review any barriers you may have faced in achieving these goals. Write down the solutions you have already considered. Formal research may be indicated at this step. In this step, we answer the question: "What's happening now?"
Step 2. Planning-- Next, make use of the information you gained in Step 1. Work with an internal or external public relations professional to create a well thought-out, written document that outlines proposed goals and strategies, lists target audiences, details the specific ways to go about achieving the goals, and includes the proposed budget and timeline. This plan will answer the question that likely inspired you to do this planning in the first place: "What should we do and why?"
Step 3. Taking Action-- Once the planning team is in agreement about what you should do, your public relations professional or trained marketing staff begins implementing the plan. The work agreed on in the planning step is undertaken. If you are using an outside resource, they should stay in frequent contact with you, as well as send you monthly activity reports. An agency or independent consultant will usually reserve a set number of hours per month to implement your plan. Here, you see the answer to the question: "How do we do it and how do we say it?"
Step 4. Showing Results-- In the planning step, you will have listed the ways in which we'll measure the success of the plan. Success is measured in a number of ways including pre- and post-campaign formal and informal research; number of media mentions; achievement of specific tasks such as creating a brochure; and number of new accounts, customers, etc. Results measurement can be ongoing or at the end of a campaign. You'll have your answer to: "How did we do?"
Laura L. Link, APR is the author of 45 Days to Power Publicty, The 45 Days to Power Publicity Workbook, and 101 Success Tips for Women, available at http://www.strategylinkpr.com
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