From the course: Public Relations Foundations

Developing your PR plan

From the course: Public Relations Foundations

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Developing your PR plan

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- I wouldn't build a house without an architect's blueprint, would you? It's the same in PR. Build the plan prior to launching and measuring the outcomes of your communications program. Let me guide you through the planning process. Here are the important parts of your plan to help you reach your PR goals. The plan starts with the executive summary. Although it's the first piece of the plan, you don't actually complete this part until all of the other pieces of the plan are in place. When you're ready to share your plan, your summary is written for busy executives who just want to read the highlights rather than getting all of the finer details. They're looking for a high-level overview. Your background and situation analysis will uncover major issues or challenges that you face. Next, nail down your key goals and objectives. What are you trying to accomplish from a business standpoint and a communications perspective? Then, there's the overall message statement. This message statement captures the entire idea behind the plan. It's your overall theme. This piece of the plan outlines the most important messages that help to create the outcomes you're looking to achieve. Now you can take a look at your audiences. Your plan will break down audiences into segments. Then you'll need to prioritize the importance of building relationships with these groups of stakeholders. Just ask yourself how these constituencies are tied to the issues represented to determine priority. There are key audience messages to draft. Here's where you take your overall messaging and really break them down to meet the specific needs of a particular target public. You're tweaking the messages to make the communication more relevant to their personal or professional cause. And now it's time to implement. Implementation covers what happens when you roll out your program and how you're going to achieve all of the expected outcomes. You have to outline the details of the launch, what messages over which media vehicles and what monitoring services are needed to evaluate each moving part. And don't get about the budget. The budget is a big part of your planning. Don't let those hidden costs creep up on you. You should outline carefully every line item in your plan that has a price tag. From the media services, video production and post-production and design fees to the cost of events and the use of technology such as your monitoring platforms. Lastly, monitoring and measurement. This is the final piece of your plan but probably the most important. If you're not benchmarking the KPIs of your communication, then why bother implementing your program. Let your PR plan guide you. The more details you put into the plan, the better the outcome will be. Your plan is the roadmap to help you stay on course and to create PR success.

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