The Basics of Public Relations
December 1, 2007
What are Public Relations?
“Public relations (PR) are the managing of outside communication of an organization to create and maintain a positive image. Public relations involve popularizing successes, downplaying failures, announcing changes, and many other activities.” -Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_relations )
How Do I Develop a PR Plan?
There are three (3) phases to the PR plan:
- PHASE I: PR Campaign Development
- PHASE 2: PR Campaign Implementation
- PHASE 3: PR Campaign Evaluation
The three (3) phases of the PR campaign, and their associated activities, are summarized below:
1. PR Campaign Development
- Determine objectives
- Identify target audience
- Develop messaging
- Determine PR activities
- Develop activity timeline
- Establish metrics
2. PR Campaign Implementation
- Develop database of PR contacts
- Assign a media contact
- Complete Crisis Communication Plan
- Perform scheduled PR activities
- Monitor and record metrics for all PR activities
3. PR Campaign Evaluation
- Analyze metrics
- Complete post-campaign evaluation report
- Were the PR campaign objectives met?
- What PR activities were most effective?
- What PR activities were least effective?
- What improvements can be made for the next PR campaign?
By creating a basic PR plan for your activities, you ensure that you have created specific goals that can be measured and evaluated. This data can then be used to educate future strategies.
