Long-term PR Planning and Execution

Today’s article looks at two factors to consider, the Public Relations Calendar and Deadlines. We also explore how to make the most of forward feature opportunities and how important brainstorming sessions can be in generating future PR tactics to execute your automotive marketing strategy.

PR Calendar

A PR calendar enables public relations activity for the year ahead to be mapped out, clearly and concisely.

After all, it’s all too easy to forget the most obvious things in today’s hectic and fast-paced world.

The good news is that there are various PR calendar templates online which can be downloaded.

Things to consider when mapping out your activity include industry events and conferences, sponsorship and speaking opportunities.

Don’t forget to also think of the wider world and note any annual occurrences that impact your business, i.e., Valentine’s Day. There’s also a whole raft of national and awareness days, in fact there’s one for about every topic you can think of, which you may be able to use for your advantage.

Perhaps most importantly, make sure to map out what is relevant to your business such as internal milestones and anniversaries, product launches, etc.

However, while a PR calendar provides structure for future activity don’t forget that some PR opportunities come out of the blue, so be prepared to have the flexibility to deal with them as and when.

Deadlines

Having a PR calendar as described above can be a great help but one important point to remember is media deadlines.

Many monthly magazines work two to three months ahead which means you need to start planning your angle ahead of that. Christmas planning lead times can be even longer.

Obviously, newspapers work to deadlines, whether they are daily or weekly, so make sure you know what time of day or day of the week is cut off time.

Forward features

You may not know it but many magazines publish a forward features list for the year ahead, inviting editorial entries for their monthly topics and themes.

Some forward features lists can be found on the publication’s website, while sometimes it might be necessary to phone the publication and request a copy.

They provide a golden opportunity to submit editorial on your specialist subject and even better, they can be prepared well in advance, avoiding the panic of a last-minute rush. Of course, though, editorial inclusion is not guaranteed as it is at the discretion of the publication.

There are some tactics, however, to use to give your editorial submission the best chance.

While it is not first come first served, journalists are not always the best timekeepers, so it can pay to get your foot in the door as soon as possible.

It also pays to understand the publication you are targeting, ie its tone, style of writing, normal word count. The easier you can make it for them, the better.

One thing to bear in mind, however, is that forward features list are not set in stone and can be subject to change.

Storming session

A great way to generate future story ideas or wider PR activity is through a brainstorming session.

Ideas generated can then be mapped out and given a timeline over the coming weeks or months.

There are a few things to consider when planning a brainstorming session. Make sure to tell attendees in advance what the topic is so they can put their thinking hats on beforehand.

A clear set of objectives is paramount for a constructive session, including all follow up activity.

Keep the session brief to avoid repetition and make sure to keep a note of all the ideas, no matter how abstract they might be.