It's Not Too Late To Get Media Coverage This Year!

How to Create a Publicity Campaign that Produces Results Now!

Whether you're a brand new start-up or you're an established company with 100 employees, your business can benefit from publicity now.

With the third quarter right around the corner, why not start creating a publicity plan that can help your brand or small business get media coverage right now? Create a plan that will help reach your objectives and stay on track right through the end of the year with the simple step-by-step publicity plan below.

Step 1: Goal and Objective Setting

Determine what your goals and objectives are for the rest of the year.

• Do you want to raise awareness for your small business, brand, or blog?

• Are you looking to partner with social media stars, D-list celebrities, and other influencers?

• Do you want to get more website traffic and increase your email subscriber base?

• Are you looking to increase sales?

• Do you want to launch a new product or service? Expand into new markets?

• Are you looking to enhance your small business, brand, or blog goodwill?

• Do you want to position yourself as a thought leader or expert within your industry?

• Is your business or blog receiving negative comments on review sites? Do you need to protect your small business, brand, or blog's reputation?

• Is your small business, brand, or blog going through a public issue or a crisis?

Once you know what you want to achieve, you'll be able to start all of the following activities.

Step 2: Defining Your Target Audience

The key to long-term success is to zero in on your target audience(s).

• How old is your target market?

• What are the hobbies and interests?

• What publications do they read and what television shows do they watch?

• What type of lifestyle do they have?

• Where are they located?

• What are their shopping habits?

• Are they active online and on social media?

• What's the most important quality they look for in a business? Quality? Price? Customer service?

Try to get as specific as possible here.  

Step 3: Swot Analysis

If you haven't seen a SWOT Analysis before, this is the area where you'll analyze your brand's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. While SWOT's are generally used in marketing and business plans, they can be hugely beneficial when used in a publicity plan too.

1. A strength exists internally and is something in which your organization excels.

2. A weakness exists internally and is a limitation or an area that could be improved.

3. An opportunity exists externally, and is something that's positive and can be used to gain an advantage.

4. A threat exists externally and is something that can potentially harm an organization.

Your SWOT analysis will be one of the most important positioning and competitive analysis elements of your publicity campaign.

Step 4: Messaging

Messages serve as the foundation of your publicity efforts and should be consistent across forms of communication. But before you start developing your messaging platform, consider the following.

• What will you include?

• What points do you want to make?

• What tone will you use?

• What's your brand's personality?

Again, get as specific as possible here. You're better off limiting each point of communication to three messages or less.

Step 5: Tactical Outreach/Channels of Communication

Determine what media outlets you'd like to target.

• Are you looking to get coverage online, in print, on television, or on the radio?

• What media outlets will you pitch?

• Are you pitching within the outlet's editorial calendar deadline?

• Does your product fit perfectly into a specific section of that media outlet?

How will you communicate your messages to the media? Email? Telephone? In person meetings?

Step 6: Measurement and Evaluation

Determine how you will measure and evaluate your publicity efforts. You need to be able to track how each piece of media coverage impacts your website traffic, email subscribers, leads, and sales to make sure you're hitting your objectives.

Step 7: Budget

What resources do you have available to start your publicity campaign?

Will you manage your campaign yourself or you will outsource it to a freelancer or a PR firm?  

Step 8: Timeline

How long will your publicity campaign run?

How often will you measure and evaluate your progress?

Is publicity part of your marketing strategy? If so, how far in advance did you make your plan? Describe your comments in the section below.

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