PR plan | Your Company
DATE
1 - PR strategy plan
Client onboardingThis is a checklist of tasks the client manager performs before running the first PR workshop with the client. Ensure all relevant tasks are complete so we can gain a full picture of the client and provide them with the best service we can.
Before the first workshop with client, have you: Complete
Added the client account, projects and resources to Taimer
Created internal client channel and client workspace on Slack
Created a client folder in Google drive here:
Created the client slide and added the client logo to the weekly meeting slide deck
Request access to client platforms for tracking and reporting: Google Analytics and search console, SoMe
Created client campaigns on MOZ and Raven Tools for reporting
Prepared and sent the client Q&A
PR strategy plan workshop 1 - agenda
Agenda
Introductions
Intro into PR strategy
WHY discovery
Next steps
Our aim today is to get to know each other better, explore the importance of PR for your organization, and bring ourselves one step closer to unearthing your purpose - and your story.
Stories with purpose
Human - stories about people and companies making a real difference to the lives of others
Honest
● Open● Truthful● Transparent
Relevant
● Targeted● Timely● Newsworthy
Original
● Personal● Specific● Authentic
Everyone has a story to tell. The best ones impact real people with their honesty, relevance and originality. Great stories connect companies with audiences, position them correctly, and build towards clear goals.
The impact of PR on the sales funnel
Awareness● Brand recognition
Credibility● Consumer preference● Thought leadership
Marketing performance● Search ranking● Domain authority
Business goals● Generate sales leads● Improve talent acquisition● Strengthen investor relations
PR is the single most effective way to make the right people aware of your story, earn the trust of your audience, increase your online and offline visibility, and support your overall business goals.
How PR builds relationships and trustGrowth companies build relationships with customers, investors, and partners before any decision to work together is made. PR is the crucial first step to transforming leads into ambassadors.
RelationshipsAwareness, trust
AmbassadorsAdvocates
InterestDesire
Sales and marketingPR Engagement
ActionCommitment
ServiceExperience
Service
Introductions…
PR Success metrics - overviewThe benefits of modern PR can be effectively measured and tracked with today’s tools. We focus on key metrics that directly support business functions, helping you discover what works and what can be improved, both now and in the long-term.
Success metrics
Number of relevant articles (including quality and reach)
SoMe shares and total reach, broad audience and top influencers
Impact on mid-funnel (click-through rate or relevant KPIs)
Domain and page authority increase due to new backlinks
Keyword rank increase
Website traffic increase (short-term impact vs. long-term traffic growth)
Coveragebook and MOZ are 2 of the reporting tools we use to track PR impact online
Digital comms mixPR is one of several channels that you may use to communicate with the world. Unlike the others, PR is the only channel through which you can get others talking about you - earning high-quality visibility and gaining trust.
INCENTIFIEDAFFILIATE
BRAND AMBASSADORDIGITAL PROPERTIES
OWN WEBSITEBLOG
EMAIL NEWSLETTERMOBILE APP
CATALOGNETWORKSFACEBOOK
TWITTERLINKEDINYOUTUBE
INSTAGRAMREDDIT
PRIVATE GROUPS DISCUSSION BOARDSINSTANT MESSAGING
ADVERTISINGGOOGLE ADWORDSSOCIAL MEDIA ADS
RETARGETINGPROGRAMMATIC
CONTENTPOSITIONING & NARRATIVEARTICLES & BLOG POSTSVIDEOS & PRESENTATIONSIMAGES & PHOTOSTAGLINES & AD COPIESGUIDES & WHITEPAPERS
PARTNERSHIPSCHARITIESCO-BRANDING
INFLUENCER ENGAGEMENTRESPONSEADVOCACYLOYALTY
PAIDMEDIA
EARNEDMEDIAOWNED
MEDIA
SOCIALMEDIA
PAID CONTENTSPONSORED POSTSNATIVE ADVERTISING
PRNEWSPAPERSMAGAZINESBLOGS & OPINION ITEMSTRADE PUBLICATIONSFREELANCE JOURNALISTS
WHY discovery- WHY discovery introduction- Why you joined (and stayed)- Moments your company made you proud- How your company helps others- Impact going forward- WHY, How and What statements
“We do (contribution) so that (impact)”
- Why: The purpose of your organization
- How: What differentiates you from competitors
- What: A description of your service or product
Start with WHYWHY discovery helps your organization build a purpose that drives internal and external stakeholders to embrace your mission. Unlike a list of features, you WHY is purpose-driven and connects deeply with internal and external stakeholders.
Why you joined (and stayed)(10 mins) - Add one story per team member to the table below. Think of a specific circumstance where the company did good for the people involved. Don’t mention money!
Team member Why I joined Why I stayed
Moments your company made you proud(20 mins) - List at least 3 specific times when you were proud to work for your company. Add them as sentences or phrases below - try to be as descriptive and specific as you can.
My company made me proud when:
1
2
3
4
5
6
Contribution to the lives of others(10 mins) - Select the top 3 moments from the previous answers. Use verbs to create phrases that detail what people did as a result of your company’s help.
Our company contributed to their lives by helping them:
1
2
3
The impact on their lives going forward(15 mins) - List what the contribution of your company allow others to go on to do - or be. Think about how your company impacted the lives of the people involved, and what they were able to do that they couldn’t do before.
Our company helped these people to:
1
2
3
WHY?
HOW?
WHAT?
Company WHY statementTime to build your own WHY statements. Add them in the slide notes below. Start with the WHY, then move on to the HOW, ending with the WHAT. Thinking in this order will help your purpose show through at every stage of messaging.
Why: The purpose of your organization
“We do (contribution) so that (impact)”
How: What differentiates you from competitors
What: A description of your service or product
Recap, next stepsBetween now and workshop 2, these are the next actions that will take place:
To be completed by (date):
1
2
3
Targeting and messaging
PR strategy plan workshop 2 - agenda
Agenda
Recap of last session
Targeting review
Messaging review
Next steps
Our aim today is take one step closer to finalizing our strategy. Building off the purpose discovery of workshop 1, we will review your targeting and messaging to ensure you reach the right people with your message to support your business goals.
Place your short (6 months) and long-term (1 year+) goals here. All goals should be measurable. Have at least one business and PR goal that isn’t about selling your product.
Business and PR goals
Business goals
Short-term: E.g. successfully attract backers with experience for A round investment by March 2019
Long-term: E.g. Help more people move homes in 24 hours than any other real estate chain in Europe by 2020
PR goals
Short-term: E.g. quality media coverage in Tech.eu on our funding launch
Long-term: E.g. be seen as the first choice for people wanting to move quickly with no fuss in the EU
Add overviews of each persona here. They should relate to specific business and PR goals. Add your own persona slides after this page (as long as they are specific to your current top-priority business goals).
Persona type Persona description The problem you help them solve Desired action (post campaign)
E.g. Customer E.g. Finnish IT professional E.g. handling invoices as a freelancer E.g. share your story
E.g. Investor
E.g. Industrial partner
Target personas
Which media will share your story? List your ideal media coverage below. Think about the types of media that your personas trust, the outlets they read, and the stories they cover.
Segment Outlet Journalist/influencer name What stories they cover
Mainstream
E.g. Wall St Journal E.g. Anderson Cooper E.g. Funding
Target media/influencer personas
Segment Outlet Journalist/influencer name What stories they cover
Niche media
E.g. TechNerd E.g. Jilly Cooper E.g. Wearables
List your main direct competitors below. Who writes about them? What do they write about? What is it about your story that would be interesting to them, but uniquely yours?
Competitors - direct
Name Who covers them (links)* What do they write about?* How your story is different?*
E.g. Apple E.g. HS E.g. Tax avoidance E.g. Relocating to Finland and paying taxes here
*SF to complete
List your main indirect competitors below. Who writes about them? What do they write about? What is it about your story that would be interesting to them, but uniquely yours?
Name Who covers them (links)* What do they write about?* How your story is different?*
E.g. Google E.g. BBC E.g. Data privacy E.g. End to end user encryption
Competitors - indirect
*SF to complete
Messaging review- Company name, UVP, and tagline- Vision and mission statements- Company story- Founder story
Unique value proposition - Your offering’s benefits, how you solve your customer's needs, how you differ from the competition
UVP examples here:
Company name - What’s the story behind the name?
One-liner/tagline
Company name, UVP and taglineUse your WHY discovery findings to create your UVP. Also add the story behind your company name and include your tagline.
Place your mission and vision statements here. Your vision statement is the world you are trying to create, and your mission statement is the steps you are taking to get there.
Vision and Mission
Mission statement
E.g. “We strive to offer our customers the lowest possible prices, the best available selection, and the utmost convenience”
Vision statement
E.g. “Our vision is to be earth's most customer-centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online”
Company storyAdd your company story below. Tell us the interesting highlights of how the company came to be. Concentrate on the human elements - forget the boring stuff!
Company story
Founder storyAdd your founder’s story below. Tell us the interesting highlights, concentrate on the human elements and the small details - forget the boring stuff!
Founder story
Recap, next stepsBetween now and workshop 2, these are the next actions that will take place:
To be completed by (date):
1
2
3
2 - PR plan
Content topic pool workshop - agenda
Agenda
Recap of last session
PR - newsworthiness and credibility
Keywords and search queries
Trending topics
Topics from team members
Terminology
Content calendar
Next steps
Our aim today is to get to build a concrete, executable plan for your upcoming PR campaign that will help you maximize your PR coverage and visibility.
Content topic pool- PR newsworthiness and credibility- Keywords and search queries- Trending topics- Topics from team members- Sensitive topics- Potential risks- Terminology- Content calendar
PR - newsworthiness and credibility
Newsworthiness - why should people care now?
1 E.g. Significant new partner or customer
2 E.g. Significant investment (Minimum high 6 figures)
3 E.g. New insights through R&D/customer analysis
4 E.g. Exits, acquisitions
5 E.g. Compelling founder story
6 E.g. Attending events with a big announcement
7 E.g. Company milestones
Credibility points
1 E.g. Investment/funding, figures needed
2 E.g. High-quality partner and customer quotes
3 E.g. Successful crowdfunding campaign
4 E.g. Team/board members
5 E.g. Third party recognition from respected sources
6 E.g. Product/service stats, features, and benefits
7 E.g. Growth figures, financials, recruitment drives
Prioritize potential PR topics below. Place the ones with the most impact at the top of the list - select the stories which are different from current coverage of competitors, and that tie into relevant current and upcoming trends and events.
Potential keywords and search queriesThe below queries and keywords are used by your web visitors to find and arrive at your website. A full keyword research can be performed as part of a separately-agreed project.
Search queries Semantic keywords
These are the main queries used by visitors arriving on your website
-
Keywords suggested by Google that rank highly in organic search
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Trending topics
Trending topic Company’s view Goal
E.g. Housing market slow-down E.g. traditional real-estate needs to serve the public, not the estate agents
E.g. to be seen as a thought leader for solving real-estate issues
Add a minimum of 3 trending topics for your industry below. Provide the company view/opinion on each - the more provocative the view, the more likely it is to be newsworthy. Also think about your goals for sharing each viewpoint.
Topics from team members - E.g. Sales
Trending topic Challenge Your viewpoint
E.g. High cost charging stations E.g. Building infrastructure for EV charging stations E.g. Low cost tech built on existing infrastructure
Discuss the challenges and topics that are most commonly discussed as part of your job role. List them below and think about your view on how they should be tackled. Duplicate this slide for each team member.
Sensitive topics
Sensitive topic Response for media
Add sensitive topics that may be addressed by media below, and prepare a response that is accepted by your organization. Think about previous questions you have been asked by customers and associates.
Potential risks
Potential risk Appropriate course of action
Add potential risks (angry ex-employees and court cases), as well as the actions you want your coworkers to take if the risk materializes. It is wise to consider all possibilities and plan a concrete course of action.
TerminologyIt is important to define your terminology so your messaging is consistent and you “own” your category. If you are creating a new category altogether, you need to define and create your terminology.
Terminology
What do we call ourselves?What do we call our service?What is our industry or business area?
List future PR-worthy events and previous campaigns here to track your PR efforts. In months where no concrete PR date is set, add potential content topics for creation and distribution.
Content calendar
Date Topic/event
Recap, next stepsBetween now and workshop 2, these are the next actions that will take place:
To be completed by (date):
1
2
3
Campaign blueprint- Campaign targeting- Communication guidelines- Campaign responsibilities- Boilerplate review- Company one-pager- Quote library- Crisis comms plan- Media kit review- Customer journey mapping
PR campaign blueprint workshop - agenda
Agenda
Recap of last session
Campaign blueprint
Next steps
Our aim today is to get to build a concrete, executable plan for your upcoming PR campaign that will help you maximize your PR coverage and visibility.
Campaign targeting 1/2Clearly state the topic of each campaign for the upcoming months, who it is targeted towards, and newsworthiness/credibility points. The more precise you are with your targeting, the stronger your story will resonate.
Type Campaign topic/newsworthiness Credibility points Personas
E.g. PR E.g. New product winning design award - E.g. partner quote- E.g. revenue
Business: E.g. Anderson CooperInvestor: Jilly Cooper
E.g. Content E.g. Sustainability of product production - E.g. industry expert- E.g. partner case study
Business: E.g. Anderson CooperInvestor: E.g. Jilly Cooper
E.g. Content E.g. White paper on consumer trends - E.g. industry expert- E.g. partner case study
Business: E.g. Anderson CooperInvestor: Jilly Cooper
Campaign targeting 2/2Clearly state the topic of each campaign for the upcoming months, who it is targeted towards, and newsworthiness/credibility points. The more precise you are with your targeting, the stronger your story will resonate.
Type Campaign topic/newsworthiness Credibility points Personas
E.g. PR E.g. New product winning global design award - E.g. partner quote- E.g. revenue
Business: E.g. Anderson CooperInvestor: Jilly Cooper
E.g. Content E.g. Dynamic procurement in public tenders - E.g. industry expert- E.g. partner case study
Business: E.g. Anderson CooperInvestor: E.g. Jilly Cooper
E.g. Content E.g. Dynamic procurement in public tenders - E.g. industry expert- E.g. partner case study
Business: E.g. Anderson CooperInvestor: E.g. Jilly Cooper
Communication guidelines
Language E.g. US English, Finnish
Company spokesperson Usually the CEO, otherwise please list here
Marketing support E.g. social media
Media enquiries The person who will share your media coverage - and support your PR - on SoMe
Tone of voice E.g. friendly, formal etc.
Company culture points E.g. non-profit, CSR etc.
Complete the cells below to clearly define who is responsible for each PR and marketing-related task at your organization. Also think about the overall brand guidelines and how they fit into your PR comms.
Campaign responsibilities
Activity Person responsible Email address/URL/document
Pre-pitching Add email address used for pitching
Distribution Add press release distribution email
Press release hosting State where the press release will be hosted
Chasing internal and external PR quotes Add link to Q&A document
Supporting activity (add name) Add link to content calendar
Engagement and visibility tracking Add link to tool
List supporting activities for this PR campaign below, the responsible person and the date by which the activity needs to be completed. Both the client and SF can complete the below tasks.
Boilerplate reviewAdd your boilerplate copy below. Ensure it describes your segment, who you help, key company information, and contact information such as website address or phone number..
Boilerplate copy
- 3-5 sentences is enough (approx. 100 words max)- Write in the voice of your company - follow your comms guidelines- Include your unique value proposition. Purpose-driven companies may lead with WHY, certain industries may lead with What - the
choice is yours.- Add credibility points such as key clients, company milestones and awards- Include location and contact details
E.g. COMPANY is an ambitious, award-winning clothing brand aiming to bring fun to the BUSINESS industry. Established in 2000 in CITY, we’ve worked on a number of prestigious contracts for clients including THIS, THAT and THESE. We specialize in PRODUCTS AND SERVICES, including THIS PRODUCT and THAT SERVICE. Contact us at COMPANY.com
Company one-pagerThis one-pager will be used to introduce company to new media and journalists in months in which no PR topic is scheduled. This helps continually grow your media visibility and attracts media opportunities outside of campaign months.
Company one-pager
- Tagline- Positioning statement - For (your target customer) who (has a specific need or opportunity), (your product or service) is a (type of
product category) that (supplies this benefit). Unlike (competitors), (your product) (has this unique advantage).- Mission, vision, values- Core offering- Milestones, funding goals
Quote library
Source Quote
E.g. CEO
E.g. Customer
Add company and partner quotes here for this and upcoming PR campaigns. Start collecting quotes early as they can take time to clear in larger corporations. Tip: write the quote yourself then share it with the person who is providing it.
Crisis comms planAdd your organizations crisis comms plan below to standardize your responses to communications emergencies. Use the below best practices as a guide, but personalize to suit your company, procedures,and relevant legislation if applicable.
In the event of a communications crisis:
We direct incoming messages to: E.g. CMO
Contact info for incoming messages:
E.g. [email protected]
Preferred channel of contact: E.g. phone
The procedure we follow is: 1: No one communicates until the CMO and CEO have been contacted2: An official response is prepared by the CEO, CMO and relevant parties3: The CMO communicates in private with the respected party4: All further comms are kept in private channels and handled by the CMO
Media kit review
Media kit component Complete
Press contact information (spokesperson and/or other press contact)
Short introduction and company description (boilerplate)
Media mentions - earlier articles about the company (preferably with media logos)
Headlines and links to earlier press releases (latest on top)
List of other important company channels (e.g. social media)
Visuals (marketing, product and staff images), logos (.png format), brand guidelines (name, colors, visual identity)
Associations, awards, known brands the company is associated with
Key figures / statistics (about the industry and/or company)
Add a section to your website with the below resources for media who want to write about you. If a section on your website is not possible, create a Dropbox or Google Drive folder with the relevant items.
Customer journey mapping Customer paths map will help you focus and achieve your goals and make sure you don’t create “broken links” that keep people from getting to where you want them to go. Ensure visitors to your website have a clear path to convert.
Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Goals in priority order Tasks
Google search
Click organic link to website
Starts a free trial
Add free trial call to action and button to home page header and make sure the path from button to sign-up works well. implement tracking and reporting for the path
Gets in touchAdd Get in touch call to action and button to front page, add contact details automatically to CRM and newsletter lists
Reads case studies Add case studies to website, and a link to case studies to home page
Orders newsletter Add Newsletter ordering to website, automatically add to lead lists
Click a search ad
Starts a free trialBuild SEM campaigns that direct traffic to Start a free trial -landing page
Gets in touch Add to SEM campaigns as a sitelink
Reads case studies Add to SEM campaigns as a sitelink
Orders newsletter as above
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Recap, next stepsThese are the next actions that will take place after this workshop is complete:
To be completed by (date):
1 Set date for first PR campaign:
2
3
PR campaign- Campaign schedule- Campaign success metrics- Follow up checklist
1. Planning
Client Q&A returned
E.g. 22.06
Kickoff workshop(s)
PR plan
PR topic pool created
2. Content
Press release draft
Pitching points
Boilerplate copy review
PR quotes collected
Media kit reviewed
3. Pitching
Master media list
VIP media list creation
Pitch email draft
VIP pre-pitching
4. Launch
Embargo lifted
Posting to groups
Client SoMe updates
PR hosted on web
5. Post launch
Media follow ups
Coverage report
Campaign debrief
Planning next steps
Campaign scheduleThis is an overview of the entire PR campaign. Place the date each task needs to be completed by in the cells below - tasks can be completed by both the client ad by SF team members.
Campaign success metrics
Success metric Pre-campaign benchmarking Campaign impact
Number of relevant articles (including quality and reach)
SoMe shares and total reach, broad audience and top influencers
Impact on mid-funnel (click-through rate or relevant KPIs)
Domain and page authority increase due to new backlinks
Keyword rank increase
Website traffic increase (short-term impact vs. long-term traffic growth)
Record your performance before and after your PR campaign to judge its effectiveness. Ensure you have the relevant tracking tools and software in place with reporting before your campaign begins.
Follow up checklist
Follow up Complete?
Plan next PR campaign preliminary date
Follow up with journalists who covered your story on email
Follow journalists who covered your story on Twitter
Set up a free mention.com account to track further coverage
Follow up with VIP media who didn’t initially cover your story
Schedule debrief meeting - what worked, what to improve in the next campaign
Revisit and review PR calendar - plan next campaign
Ensure you continue to build your relationships with the media by completing the below follow up tasks. This step is essential to build media relationships and visibility in the long-term.
SF Team members
Name Email Phone
Client team members
Name Email Phone
Communication channels: Slack is our preferred method of daily project communications- Channel 1- Channel 2
Communications and contactsList the key people from both SF and your company that will be involved in this project, as well as the preferred channel of communication.
San Francisco Team:
[email protected] +358 40 543 0825
[email protected] +358 40 051 5030
[email protected] +358 40 412 8128
[email protected] +358 40 588 6821
[email protected] +358 45 695 5355
[email protected] +358 40 737 38 64
[email protected] +358 40 841 6126
[email protected] +358 41 742 9178
Communications
Thank you!
San Francisco Oy
Eerikinkatu 28,00180 Helsinki