How many of you haphazardly send out news releases? Do you just send them out on a whim? Well, you should consider a little planning and organization as well as taking a consistent approach. Here are a few steps that will help you develop a stellar media plan.
Step 1: Define your objectives and goals. What do you want to accomplish? If you don’t set goals and objectives then you can never measure your success or lack thereof. So, it is very important to establish at least one objective. Here are a few suggestions:
- Establish yourself as a resident expert in your field.
- Generate prospects or sales leads
- Crisis management
- Create or maintain a positive corporate image
- Introduce a new product or service to the marketplace
- Create a branding message
Step 2: Define your target audience. Who do you want to reach? Be specific. Include psychographics, if possible, not just demographics of the population you want to reach. Narrow and niche your target to the nth degree. The more clearly you can define your marketplace the more successful you’ll be.
Step 3: Develop a timeline for your plan. Don’t just haphazardly send out a press release. Time the press release to coincide with a trade show, a product launch, or some other event. For example, a sports company that specialized in soccer items put out a press release during the World Cup. They received many more responses than they would have if they had scheduled the release at any other time of the year.
Step 4: Determine what type of media you want to use. In addition to the traditional news release, you have the option to send news releases online even to social media sites and blogs. Here are a few suggestions for other types of media:
- Feature articles or customer written articles
- Press Conferences or press tours
- Seminars or other speaking engagements
- Event sponsorships
- Interviews with top management
Step 5: Track the results of your plan. Did you increase sales? Did you increase the number of inquiries? Can you measure the perception of your audience? Review the current plan and tweak it based on your feedback.
