PR planning and strategy services
Fail to plan, plan to fail. Yes, we know it’s a cliché, but it’s very true, nonetheless.
So, if you’re going to invest in PR, you want it to be effective as well as cost-effective.
First things first – what is PR? It’s a strategy to increase awareness of your business, brand or organisation, as well as uphold and improve its reputation.
Marry PR with marketing and you’ve got a winning combination. PR will boost awareness and reputation while marketing will drive sales.
Easy for us to say, but for all that to come together and be successful you’ll need to take full advantage of our PR planning services.
As a full-service agency, Cornerstone is ideally positioned to create the perfect PR campaign using a combination of earned, owned and paid-for communications created by our PR, creative, digital and social media teams.
Earned, owned and paid-for
A cohesive plan is the core of any successful PR campaign. Earned, owned and paid-for comms all call for very different tactics, but the aim is the same – increased awareness and a solid reputation.
Earned PR means publicity you achieve through a third party. For example, a press release is turned into a story in the local, regional or national media.
Owned PR is any type of media we create on your behalf, such as social media posts, blogs, or email campaigns.
Paid-for media could mean a paid promotion in a trade journal, pay per click (PPC) or social media advertising.
PR plays a key part in your overall marketing strategy. It’s essential for laying the foundations of increased awareness and boosting your reputation to ultimately drive sales. For example, consumers will become aware of your business, brand or organisation through PR, which can then be converted into sales via marketing, such as advertising on social media.
Cohesive planning
Helping you to identify what your business, brand or organisation has to offer is the crux of what our planning will do for you.
There are six steps to PR perfection. We will:
1) Define your objectives.
2) Clearly establish your goals.
3) Identify your target market/audience.
4) Research the opportunities and channels.
5) Create a schedule and content plan (The Plan).
6) Measurable results – this element is essential when it comes to assessing the effectiveness of the first five criteria, so we’ll consistently monitor your PR coverage and reach, and adjust where necessary throughout your journey.
The Plan
What do you want your plan to do for you? We’ll work with you to answer that question in the most comprehensive way possible, linking it back to wider marketing goals and ensuring that all channels, including those outside PR are working towards that common objective.
We’ll ask questions like, who do you want to reach, what are your objectives – increased sales, better awareness, goodwill in your community? We’ll single-mindedly aim to support you by effectively positioning your business, brand or organisation in your market to widen your reach to your target audiences.
We’ll also find out what your consumers think through our tried and tested ‘Voice of the Customer’ research. In addition, our media research will help identify the most suitable channels and media outlets for your PR activity. We’ll also look at key topics and content routes for you to achieve your goals.
Shaping the goals is down to who the plan is designed for. We’ll ensure it’s bespoke for your area of business, expertise or activity. We’ll include KPIs and tactical goals by identifying what type of content will work best and where.
We’ll also talk budgets, and distribution calendars so no stone is left unturned.
And by working out these things, we can then decide where the opportunities are, what the expected outcomes will be and what next steps are needed to fulfil them and how. In other words, what combination of earned, owned and paid-for media is going to do the job best for you.
What else can we offer?
We’ve given you a broad outline of what our PR planning services can do for you. But we’ve got more to offer – literally. Our comprehensive list of services include:
- Reputation and crisis management – The value of your business, brand or organisation relies greatly on stakeholder and audience perception.
It’s our job to ensure trust and high standards are at the forefront of those perceptions. But should something create the need for crisis management, we’re a reliable, reactive and experienced source of advice for our clients, providing swift and carefully considered communications designed to minimise the impact of negative publicity.
- Internal PR – It’s not just about sharing news with your staff, it can help you support change, overcome challenges, instil brand values, educate, inform and achieve common goals.
Effective communications at the core of your company or organisation’s values means your workforce is well-informed, well-supported and totally on board, which typically delivers better market performance with your customers.
- Digital PR – The growth of digital technology has created an array of additional channels that enable us to create the perfect PR campaign.
- Earned PR – We’ve touched upon it already, but earned PR is all about publicity for your business, brand or organisation that has been deemed worthy of coverage or comment by someone else.
It can amount to many column centimetres, re-tweets or shares that would cost you thousands of pounds if you had to pay for the equivalent coverage or exposure. We’ll come up with an earned PR strategy to benefit you. Priceless!
Our PR, creative, digital and social media teams will work together to create a strategy that’s right for your business, brand or organisation.
If you feel you could benefit from a PR agency that delivers results, why not get in touch. We can talk you through our process, and advise on best routes forward.
