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Tips: Public relations Planning
Many businesses and organizations do not gain the full benefits of public relations because they do not have a public relations plan in place. This issue of The Albers Insider covers the basics of public relations planning.
Q: What is public relations? Isn't it just another marketing tool?
A: Public relations is a management function that helps define organizational objectives and facilitate organizational change.
Q: What steps are necessary to build an effective public relations strategy?
A: The public relations planning process can be divided into four steps. These four steps are:
- Research
- Planning
- Action
- Evaluation
Q: How do you measure the success of a public relations program?
A: Typically, there are two methods used when measuring the effectiveness of a public relations program.They are:
- Outputs measure whether or not you have successfully completed the specific activities of your plan. For example, if you aimed to send four press releases during the year, did you meet that goal?
- Outcomes measure if your public relations activities are bringing about the desired results. For example, did you meet the goal of increasing readership of the employee newsletter by 20 percent?
Q: Why is a public relations plan important?
A: A written public relations plan will have several benefits for your organization. Some of these benefits include:
- The planning process will help you identify new ways that public relations can support your business plan.
- The written plan will define success and serve as a roadmap to help you achieve this success.
- The plan will allow you to maximize your budget by helping you coordinate efforts and prioritize activities.
Q: What's the first step in building a public relations plan?
A: Typically the first step is to identify what publics are most important to your success. This list might include employees, shareholders, customers, board members and the general public.
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