5(ish) things a company can do to prepare for a new PR firm
The first few weeks of a PR campaign is your essential “ramp-up” period. The the new agency’s team integrates into your company and industry, learning your culture, conducting research, preparing messaging, press and blog lists, and developing press materials. The time spent training and integrating is not time getting you results.
There are several steps you can take prior to the agency and their team beginning work with your company to shorten this ramp-up time. You must provide them with a link to your website, product datasheets, and executive bios, but is just a start. In order to get the results you want a new PR team needs certain things to be successful. Here are five things you may prepared for them before they start.
Culture: What is your company all about and what is your mission statement? Many companies we work with don’t have this in written form so a new PR team let alone new employees can learn it.
Target Audience: Who are the personas that describe your ideal customer? And no, everyone is not the correct answer. A lot of time should be dedicated to determining exactly who your potential clients actually are. This is a very important step to determine the priority and order of media and blog targets.
Messaging: If you already have some messaging ready, this can help your new PR team as they create new and/or update existing corporate messaging.
Product Details: More than a website page or a data sheet, your PR team needs a full description of what your company, products and/or services do and why. A competitive comparison to direct and indirect competitors will be very helpful. A clear understanding of your company and products/services helps when pitching a company to media, writing press releases, emails, blogs, and other communication materials.
Customers: Creating a customer list is very helpful. A list of existing customers can be very advantageous when when your PR ties into active news and trend stories.
A new PR team can and will learn about your company, and should fully embrace your brand, immersing themselves into all aspects of your firm so they are best prepared for working your PR and social media. From press releases, company blogs, introduction emails and phone conversations, your company's brand and culture should be enforced in the language used by the PR team. With proper preparation, you will get the most from your PR campaign.
