A PR strategy is used to help your business organize its public relations (or media relations) activities and make strategic decisions about the best way to communicate with its target audience. The development and implementation of a PR strategy can assist brands in not only generating interest from the press in their products or services but also help to organize the many stories brands have that resonate with their diverse audiences. If a strategy is implemented well, it will serve as a tool to help manage the public perception of an organization.
Ultimately, a PR strategy is created through storytelling. This is your chance to tell your audience about who you are, what you do, and why you should matter to them. Every story should lead back to the “why” of your business. Why are you doing what you’re doing? Why should people care? After considering your “why,” the most important thing to do is to set your end goal.
A PR strategy enables you to consider every aspect of communicating a message in the best possible way. It will also help you to maximize the success of your PR efforts and help to grow your business.
According to Erin Yamauchi, PR practitioners should know a brand’s key audiences inside and out. Basic demographic information (e.g. age, gender, geographic region, HHI, etc.) is a good foundation, but understanding more qualitative attributes (e.g. interests, priorities, lifestyle aspirations, etc.) is key to creating a PR plan.
What definitely helps with strategic PR planning, is also knowing how your target audiences perceive your business. You can ask people directly about their perceptions, or use different media monitoring and data analytics tools to find out.
