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How do I make a PR campaign?
A PR campaign is made up of several unique parts. Before you start, think about what you want to achieve from the campaign, what audiences you’re hoping to reach, and how you want your brand to be perceived.
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Three steps to creating your own PR campaign:
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Setting a goal and defining an outcome
Carefully consider why you are preparing your campaign and decide on what you want to achieve. Your goal will help you structure and build your campaign as well as analyse it’s success at the end of it.
Deciding on who you want your campaign to reach
There are two audiences that you will need to consider for your campaign:
- The end audience that will be reading and engaging with the media surrounding your campaign.
- The journalists or media contacts that will be writing about your campaign. This audience will be covered in the “How to send a press release” section below.
Your goal will help you to determine who you want your campaign to reach.
For instance, if your goal is to bring awareness to your product or service, then your audience might be those who would use or benefit from your product/service. If you are instigating change in a sector, then your audience might be influential government officials.
The more defined and targeted you can get with your audience, the easier it will be to plan your campaign around them.
What do you want to say and how are you going to say it?
Now that you’ve established a goal and defined your audience, next you will need to decide how you are going to share your campaign. Will you be hosting a PR event? Do you want to send out a press release to generate earned media?
If you know how to find a news angle, getting widespread coverage is achievable for even the least known organisations with the smallest budgets. Here’s how to find a story journalists will jump on.
What role does a press release play in your PR campaign?
In short, a press release, also referred to as a media release, is the thread that connects your PR campaign to journalists and the media. It provides a single source of truth for journalists to take away and create their own stories.
One important thing to remember is that journalists mostly are not interested in helping to ‘sell’ your brand. Trying to do this in a press release can often hide the more valuable news angle that will get your story covered in the media. Here’s what to do instead.
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Need some inspiration? Alternatively, you can create your own event! This may be a good way to get your message across, and create a memorable impression on not just attendees but also the audience of any media coverage generated about your event. |
It doesn't all have to be manual
Researching journalists, finding contact details, and selecting the right contacts for your pitch can be time-consuming, but it doesn’t have to be. You can save time by opting for a Media Contact Database which already has the information you need, updated constantly by a team of researchers.
Sending a press release with a distribution services/platform
Manually sending press releases can be great on a smaller scale but can be difficult to manage if you’re regularly sending them out or targeting larger audiences.
A distribution service or platform will have a mix of pre-established lists to target journalists based on different subjects or locations. Sending a press release using this method can be as simple as uploading your press release, selecting lists and pressing send.
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Tip: Most press release distribution services have pre-established relationships with journalists which can lead to much higher email open rates than manual sending. |
Going global
Whichever method you use, also consider distributing your press release globally. This can be valuable for any company, not just for multinational brands – and should be something that all companies explore in their PR strategies.
Here’s some advice on when to go global with your campaign, and the best techniques to achieve this: Local business, global publicity: it’s possible
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