PR Planning Slides PDF

PLANNING  PLANNING ▪How many people want to graduate? ▪How do you do that? ▪Top duty of PR managers is planning PR programs ▪Planning is preparation for opportunity ▪ THE FUNNEL ▪ SMART Goals ▪Gantt chart (p. 164) Strategic Planning is the name of the game Long-term process of aligning PR eff...

PLANNING  PLANNING ▪How many people want to graduate? ▪How do you do that? ▪Top duty of PR managers is planning PR programs ▪Planning is preparation for opportunity ▪ THE FUNNEL ▪ SMART Goals ▪Gantt chart (p. 164) Strategic Planning is the name of the game Long-term process of aligning PR efforts with organizational goals to achieve meaningful outcomes. Strategic Decisions: Broad, long-term choices that define direction (e.g., improving brand reputation). Tactical Decisions: Specific, short-term actions that execute the strategy (e.g., launching a social media campaign). Strategic planning components Mission: Core purpose of the organization (e.g., "To inspire innovation and community growth"). Goals: Broad outcomes the organization seeks (e.g., "Increase public awareness"). Objectives: Specific, measurable steps toward goals (e.g., "Achieve a 20% increase in media coverage within six months"). Strategy: Overall plan to achieve objectives (e.g., "Leverage thought leadership to position the brand as an industry expert"). Tactics: Specific actions to implement the strategy (e.g., "Host webinars, publish blogs, and pitch to journalists").  Specific: Clear and focused goal description. Measurable: Quantifiable criteria for tracking progress. Achievable: Realistic and attainable within resources. Relevant: Aligns with SMART organizational priorities. Goals Time-Bound: Defined deadline for goal completion. Goals can fall into categories: Media-oriented: Impacting news, social networks, owned media (blogs and podcasts) Target-oriented: influencing specific audience segments, so that might be a demographic, your donors, SMART your employees Goals Topic-oriented: Focus on particular message where you can shape public opinion or generate awareness A Gantt chart is a visual project management tool that outlines tasks or activities along a timeline. Used to plan and track campaigns, events, or media outreach, showing key milestones, deadlines, and dependencies. Helps PR professionals coordinate tasks like drafting press releases, scheduling media appearances, and A Gantt monitoring campaigns chart MCGUIRE’S HIERARCHY OF EFFECTS ▪Look at the list on p. 151 ▪First, helps you focus on where you realistically want to set goals ▪Second, helps you to remember not to skip key steps in your plan ▪Third, helps be realistic in your expected outcomes (p. 154) MCGUIRE’S HIERARCHY OF EFFECTS Tuning In: Getting noticed Agreeing: Earning trust by the audience. and alignment. Attending: Capturing and Remembering: Reinforcing holding attention. for long-term recall. Liking: Building positive Acting: Motivating specific emotional connection. audience actions. Comprehending: Ensuring Proselytizing: Inspiring the message is advocacy and message understood. sharing. Learning: Providing useful, relevant information. TACTICS ▪Recommended actions to fulfill each strategy ▪Brief description ▪Deadline ▪Discuss in more detail in a future class  Funnels In marketing, we talk all the time about funnels. This is a visualization of a narrowing pathway, taking your audience from awareness to conversion. It’s essentially the same as the McGuire model. So, why do we care? PR professionals use Funnels in GA4, but they adapt it for reputation management, audience engagement, and relationship-building rather than sales. Visualize User Journeys: Track audience interactions with campaigns. Spot Drop-Offs: Identify where engagement declines. Refine Strategies: Use insights to boost PR outcomes.