ABSTRACT
Publicity is the most cost-effective form of marketing available. It is cheaper, more effective and more credible than Advertising. A well executed Publicity campaign can make your products stand out, convince editors to review your products and position your company for success. Below is a list of five basic steps to get you through your Public Relations campaign.

STEP ONE: PLANNING
A good public relations effort needs a specific plan. When constructing a PR plan there are four questions you should ask yourself so that nothing sneaks up on you down the road.

1. Where are we now? Meaning where is the company in terms of sales, relations with key publics, arising issues, momentum ...

2. How did we get here? How did the company get to where it is today?

3. Where do we want to be? What are the goals and objectives, of the company?

4. How do we get there? What strategies or tactics will you use?

STEP TWO: SETTING YOUR GOALS
Your PR plan is based on your goals. Setting goals helps to
focus your publicity campaign. Your publicity goals can be sales-oriented, financially oriented, or even ego-oriented.

When setting your goals here are some things to keep in mind:

- Define your PR goal. You have to clearly define what you want to achieve.

- You goal has to be measurable. You must be able to measure the results because this is how you know when you've reached your goal. Depending on your goal you must be able to measure success. For example success might mean, an increase in orders; or obtaining an appointment to show to a top buyer, etc ...

- Your goal has to be achievable. It has to be a goal you can reach and it must be realistic.

- The goal should be important to you. Set a goal that means something to you personally.

- Deadline oriented. Set a realistic time frame in which to achieve your goal.
- Write a goal statement. Writing out your goal statement increases the probability of your publicity campaign's success. Start by filling out this worksheet:

Goal setting worksheet

1.My specific goal is ... .
2.I can measure results so I know I've reached my goal by ...
3.I believe this goal is attainable because ...
4.The estimated time needed to reach my goal is ...
5.The resources (including money and staffing) needed to achieve my goal are ...
6.For my company, reaching this goal will mean ...
7.For myself, reaching this goal will mean ...

The goal setting worksheet will help you focus your thoughts and goals and reevaluate them when necessary. If you hire a public relations agency this will help you communicate your goal to the agency's staff.

STEP THREE: IDENTIFY THE TARGET
Once the PR objectives have been chosen, you must then identify the target audience. The target audience is whom you want your message to reach including who already is and who you would like to be your customer. Then choose the media outlets that reach your target audience, such as magazines, websites, shows, newspapers, stores etc...

STEP FOUR: PRESS RELEASE
Write and distribute a press release.

STEP FIVE: PRESS KIT
Create a press kit.

STEP SIX: PR AGENCIES
If you can afford it Hire a PR Agency. Hiring a public relations agency is a good idea. If you can't afford to do so, you can handle your own PR efforts. You can write press releases and assemble a press kit (more about these later), then distribute them to the appropriate media. Other examples of publicity are runway events, giving away free bees to celebrities and entering competitions. When you do any of these things you want media coverage and you want people to talk about it.
Another good way is to get publicity is to make personal and business contacts as often as possible.

Published: January 2007
Region: USA
Format: Editorial
SKU: infpu0001746