Imagine a day in the life of a PR professional. The morning starts with tracking newspapers for relevant client and industry updates. This is followed by emails or documentation work including reports, briefing documents and pitch notes. The afternoon is usually spent in media interactions through calls, emails and meetings. These activities take a chunk of the day and do not provide any opportunity to think, learn and be more proactive for our clients.
Doing the routine will never earn you any brownie points; it is proactive planning that will make you and your consultancy shine in the eyes of your clients. Planning is a critical element to align client objectives, strategic imperatives and the tactics to achieve them. And periodical reviews ensure that you stick to the objectives and obtain sustained results. Hence, a formal quarterly or monthly PR plan is quintessential to inculcate fresh thinking and set a road map to achieve client goals.
Aman Raj
Emphasising the importance of planning, Aman Raj, AVP – Communications and Content Marketing, Inshorts, says, “The subjectivity involved with public relations as a function makes it very hard for businesses to measure its performance. The success of a PR campaign lies in the impact it is able to create on both short-term and long-term business goals. A quarterly plan aids in reconciling these two and helps to measure the effectiveness of these efforts.”
He further adds, “A quarterly plan should be measured not just in terms of CCs and impressions in Press but also on tangible benchmarks such as relative increase in sales, number of job applications, Google searches and every metric that has the potential to impact a business or organisation.”
Nidhi Saini
Nidhi Saini, Corporate Communications, Great Lakes Institute of Management, concurs, “A well laid-out plan is an assurance that you have understood the client’s requirements and are ready to deploy PR tools to get desired results. A plan also helps you to understand your targets and make it easier to measure your performance at the end of the quarter, in terms of number of targets achieved. The nature of PR outcomes is such that it is difficult to quantify them. It is also hard to measure the direct benefit or impact an article or a quote has on the target audience. PR is a gradual process and it takes time before results start to show. So, at times, it gets tough for PR professionals to convince their clients about the results; whereas, if there is a quarterly plan, it can be used as a performance metrics. Also, it is always easy to strive for results when you have predetermined goals. When you know your destination, all you have to do is pave the way to get there. Hence, if you have a clearly mentioned plan for a quarter, half your job is done.”
Siddharth Karnavat
Sharing another perspective, Siddharth Karnavat, MarCom Head, TechProcess, says, “In the age of Twitter and social media communication, a quarterly plan helps in setting smaller goals which would lead to achieving a larger objective. PR firms should be able to pick early trends and ride on them before the competition jumps on the bandwagon. It also helps to make course correction, if any, at the earliest.”
Below are key benefits of presenting a quarterly PR plan:
- Strategic direction to the account: It is important to understand the overall business focus for the quarter to ensure the PR plan is in sync with client expectations
- Helps to align PR initiatives and activities with the business and communication goals of the client
- Ensures we give fresh and proactive ideas to clients; research and read more about the client, industry and competition and come up with interesting and pertinent story ideas
- Preempt opportunities based on environmental analysis — policy updates, technology developments and impact of global macroeconomic environment
- Reflect on performance of the last quarter by analysing media coverage of the past quarter. This will give insights as to where to focus in the next quarter, and help fill the gaps and make improvements
- Timeline and metric-oriented — map planned activities vs. deliverables, share achievements and identify missed opportunities
- Helps to get clarity on client expectations and deliverables for the quarter
- Presenting a quarterly PR plan also helps the servicing team to gain more knowledge and understand the client’s industry and environment
- Discussing the quarterly plan with the client presents the client servicing team with an opportunity to interact with client stakeholders
- Team members who are presenting the plan are accountable for client servicing and deliverables set for the client
- Opportunity for feedback: It is always a good idea to take regular feedback from the client on your performance and how it can be improved
- Finally, planning and reviewing activities help to enhance PR delivery and performance
#ProTip: The business environment is continuously evolving and social and technology trends are progressing swiftly. One needs to keep track of these developments and align the communications campaigns accordingly. Make sure your plan is relevant and effective, and benefits your clients.
#HappyPlanning
I would love to hear your experience of preparing quarterly PR plans and the feedback from your clients.
(The author is Account Director, Adfactors PR)