Back to school: Learn how to plan a successful PR campaign — MediaHQ
The summer is over and it’s time to kick back into gear. To start September off right we’re looking at some practical Public Relations 101. Like most aspects of a communications strategy, the PR campaign itself will change from business to business but below we run through some top tips to make sure you achieve success.
First things first sit yourself down, get out your copybook and write down what your end goal for this PR campaign is. To succeed in something like this you need to have a definitive direction so you’re not wasting your energy on tasks that won’t get you where you need to go. Here it’s also important to set yourself a metric of success. Say your goal is to ‘increase car sales’ — be more accurate, try making your goal something like — ‘To increase car sales in quarter two by 15%’. This way your goal is measurable and you will be able to easily track your progress.
At this stage you should also set your limitations: How much time do you have, what resources do you have and what is reasonably achievable considering those factors

It may sound like a cliché, but it’s a cliché for a reason — get to know your audience. A lot of businesses fall into the trap of “Our product is for everyone”, and while in theory this may be true, practically, however, it’s impossible to appeal to all demographics with one campaign. You need to narrow it down, decide who you want to target and why what you’re offering will make their lives better.
By realising your customers’ needs and interests, you will be in a much stronger position to communicate directly to them and get noticed.
Figure out a strong plan for implementing your PR campaign, including what steps you’re going to take. These could include:
- Press releases
- Press conferences
- Interviews
- Newspaper or magazines articles
- Customer testimonials
- Television
- Radio
- Press interviews
- Events
The key thing here is to find the platform that fits your brand and the kind of people you’re appealing to best. For some that might be through social media, for others print ads will work best, it will all depend on your product/service and target audience.
To get your campaign rolling you will need to send out a press release of some description to get your message out there (For a guide on writing press releases check out our latest ebook — How to: Write a press release )
Sending your release out to newsdesks or journalists you know might get you some traction, but to get real movement for your campaign, you need to target the journalists and media outlets who cover your specific area. An easy way to do that is with MediaHQ’s contact database, through which you can search for journalists by name, area, publication and more and build your own custom media lists. You can also use MediaHQ’s prebuilt media lists and add your own contacts to them in minutes.
By targeting your contacts more directly you are sure to boost your reach and exposure.

Try something new! Look at past PR campaign strategies, look at the campaigns of other companies you admire, take some inspiration and let your creativity flow. Why not try taking a risk with a public installation, mural or treasure hunt. Something like this if used sparingly and is carefully planned and implemented can get you huge traction.
Even in a more simple way, think creatively about how you show off your products, the way you word your statements and what other media you choose to share.
So you’ve pushed out your campaign, articles have been written, products launched, events hosted and advertisements posted. What now?
In the immediate aftermath of an intensive campaign, it can be easy to sit back and take a break. It is important to not burn yourself out, but while the iron is still hot try your best to keep your message strong. Contact news outlets and see if they will share the article they wrote about you on their social media channels, if you hosted an event or did something new, write a company blog post about it, engage with any customer interaction you’re getting to build up some strong, positive foundations and make the most of the buzz you have created.
With over 6,000 contacts on our database, we offer the largest database of Irish media contacts and a dedicated newsfeed to notify you of updates in the Irish media industry. We want to help you too make the news and make the most of your PR campaign. Click here for more information on our PR software or call Gaye on (01) 2541845.
Originally published at mediahq.com on September 3, 2018.
