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Are you a brand owner, business person, project manager, campaign director or creative agency? Creating a successful PR strategy is crucial to you and your business.

However, you may not know how to start. Below are a few tips to guide you in creating a successful PR strategy:

Tip 1: Know Your Audience

One very crucial factor in PR and Marketing is the need to know your audience. Before you can reach out to people, you must know exactly who they are.

Doing this research will help you understand who they are, and how to connect with them. It also helps you ascertain that whatever offer you are proposing with your PR efforts is what the target audience truly needs.

There are different ways to know your audience, however, the best is through Brand Tracking.

Brand Tracking is a collection of services (Media Intelligence, Media Monitoring, Social Listening, Ad Monitoring, Media Coverage Reporting) that brands can use to monitor their media activities. This helps brands to know what kind of perception the public has about them, as well as the impact of the brand’s message on its audience.

Tip 2: Have a Goal in Mind

 It’s cliche but without a plan, you will fail.

You must outline what you want to achieve with your PR strategy and keep them in mind at all times. Doing this helps you to stay focused and ignore distractions.

Your goal can include the kind of perception and action you want to see through your strategy, the kind of experience you want your audience to have, etc.

Always ensure your goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely (SMART). This way, you can achieve them easily.

Tip 3: Stick to Plan

Having a plan is not enough. You must be disciplined and committed to sticking to them.

It is important that once you set goals and targets, you stick to them. Changing them on a whim may risk stunting your growth and the success of your campaign.

You may find yourself in a position of compromise, as long as it is not a crisis, you should stay focused. Keeping your initial requirements in mind and sticking to them gives you the confidence to want to see them through.

Tip 4: Tell Your Own Story

The best PR strategies all have an original message and brilliant storytelling in common.

In other words, when creating a PR strategy, you must tell a unique story that stands you out. Your brand’s message must be original and also specific to the audience you are targeting.

Also, when telling your story as a PR strategy, you must do so patiently. You must not rush so that you don’t end up sabotaging your brand reputation.

Tip 5: Don’t Focus on Yourself

PR is all about the public and so should your strategy.

Ensure that your strategy is always about your audience and not your own business or interests alone. Doing this helps you recognise the broader market sentiment.

In addition, focusing on your competitors can help you avoid some mistakes and help differentiate yourself.

Tip 6: Don’t Fail on Your Promises

As you tell your brand story and get your brand messages across, it is possible to make a few promises. However, it is important to deliver on those promises. The entire success of your PR strategy usually depends on it.

A lot of people try to under-promise and over-deliver. Oftentimes, this is usually not the best strategy. Sticking to delivering regardless of whether you over-promise or under-promise is the crucial factor.

This involves being open, honest and realistic with the goals you have set for yourself.

Tip 7: Have a Call-to-Action

There is no point in creating a strategy if you’re not trying to get a particular result. Having a call to action helps you achieve that result!

The action(s) your audience take helps to determine the dynamics of the relationship to be formed between them and your brand.

TL;DR

Ready to create a successful PR strategy? Follow the following tips

1. Know Your Audience
2. Have a Goal in Mind
3. Stick to the Plan
4. Tell Your Own Story
5. Don’t be Selfish
6. Don’t Fail on Your Promises
7. Have a Call-to-Action