TURNING NEW YEAR IDEAS IN TO REALITIES INSTEAD OF MEMORIES

How much more effective could your organization be if it spent more time working the plan and far less time planning the work?” – Chris Curran, writing in CIO.com

Much work is involved in writing and developing a public relations plan for the year or an individual project. It involves hours of conversation with executives, team members and other stakeholders, message development, defining measurements and heavy research into media targets, editorial opportunities and other tactics – even time spent creating a presentable document format. To be perfectly honest, the planning phase is one of my favorite parts of the media campaign process (other, than the results!).

However, once the last period has been added to the document, once all seven parties have signed off and updates completed – the real work begins. Your plan is the blueprint or roadmap that fuels your media campaign. Many teams develop a plan but fail to reap the benefits because they focus solely on planning as an end unto itself without creating an implementation process. The truly successful PR team can take a well-thought-out plan and create a meaningful program with lasting results.

Here are some additional thoughts on maximizing the use of a plan:

Periodic checks can help assure the team that they are still on the correct path and aligning tactics with objectives. It is a working document; if you are having to dust off the cover of your plan or cannot locate it on the company shared drive, then it is not being used correctly.

The plan should not be so inflexible as to prevent you from grabbing a solid opportunity whenever one presents itself.

To be truly successful, the plan needs a leadership champion or an integrated management team to lead action and change.

Create a detailed timeline that attaches target start and completion dates for each of your tactics. Add these dates to your calendar to ensure they are not overlooked. This will prevent you from pushing these activities aside when the CEO gives you an unexpected project or a new opportunity arises mid-way through the year.

As public relations professionals, one of our goals should always be to develop a well-thought- out program for your clients and organizations to realize the most worthwhile outcomes. The ROPE (Research, Objectives, Programming, Evaluation) model we learned at university is an effective example of this. The ‘R’ or Research step in ROPE should never be overlooked, but it also sits beside Objectives and Programming.

I encourage you to incorporate a leaner and strategic planning process that is aligned with core business objectives and, above all, is actionable. The planning process never really ends, and we can often get in trouble by spending too much time planning and not taking action. PR plans, implemented year over year, have the power to create and maintain changed perceptions among audiences, while also taking advantage of new communication channels.