spotlight on
Writing the PR plan:
Defining success for your organization
By Doug Newsom, Ph.D.,
APR, FeUow PRSA, and
Jim Haynes, APR, Fellow
Writing is the heart of public
relations. Developing and sustaining
rektionships demands consistent
communications.
Whether your or^nization is
dealing with a crisis situation, a
sliort-terni PR campaign or an
ongoing PR program, writing
nrniains the basisft>rconve^'ing
information, establisliiiig and sus-
taining credibility, aiid building a
brand.
But before you begin writing
any sort of PR communicatioas
needed b>' an oi^inization, your finit
step is preparing a written PR plan.
A plan for strategic communication
is the foundation for PR action.
Like a map, a plan provides
direction towani a desired destina-
tion and equips your or^janization to
write and speak with one coordinated
voice.
Of coune. a PR campaign or pro-
gram Is a series of coordinated, unified
activities and messages, driven by a single
strategy, delivered to relevant publics by a
variety of means.These ;u:tivities and mes-
sages are intended to infonti, educate or
persuade those publics to buy, use or sup-
port something. So the PR plan should fit
into your organization's overall strategic
plan.
A PR plan defines first what is to be
done, second how it will be done, third
who will do It, and fourth when and/or
how often it will be done. Resources —
what it will cost — are deployed in what Is
believed to be the tTiost effective and effi-
cient way to accomplish ^n organization's
purpose.
A plan s design is dictated by the orga-
nization's strategic objective. What the
organization wants to achieve in a given
situation determines which constituencies
or publics have priority. Once the con-
stituencies or publics are identified, the
channels needed to reach them become
clearer,
A plan might involve mass and/or
specialized media — media that primary
publics hold especially credible. In public
relations, anything can be used as a chan-
nel for communications, especially in a
campaign. For cantpaigns and special
events, the media list is iibnost endless—
dooricnob hangers, mayors'or governors'
proclamations, open houses,forums,
16 February 2008 TACTICS
marathon races, pamdes and so on, with
related supporting materials and publicity.
Whatever the purpose of the communi-
cation plan, the most effective programs
encapsulate the individuals composing the
significant publics in carefxilly selected
messages delivered through credible chan-
nels.
PR writing is vital because the writer,
more than anyone, interprets the objec-
tives, goals and strategies to relevant
publics. A writer must be fuUy aware of
the campaign plan's goals and purpose to
ensure that the writing supports the total
effort.
Often the most workable planning
strategy is to develop numerous mini plans
— one for each aspect of the PR pro-
gram. One international corporation has
separate plans tor employee communica-
tions, marketing publicity, community
relations, meiiia reladoas^ud^an affairs,
government afiain, investor relations and
customer relations.
Let's take a look at a dozen steps
needed to write a solid PR plan.
1. Review the orgiuiization s mission
statement. Be sure yourplan is a goodfit.If
the mission statement hasn't been
reviewedrecendy,it may be dme for mod-
ificadoas or revisions.
2. Examine your oi^iizadon s
strengths and weaknesses; determine what
support you can expect for public rela-
dons.
3. Gather and analyze data about the
organizadon's compeddon.
4. Examine economic
forecasts.
S.Write statements of
objecd\x*s. Note that in some
or^nizadons, the tenn goal is
used to denote long-range
outcomes desired, while
objecdve is used for short-
term outcomes. Other oi^^n-
izadonsreversetlie meaning,
with objecdve meaning long
range and goal referring to
short term. Neither is incor-
rect, but clearly idendfying
the meaning of each as you go
into a planning acdvity is
important.
6. Write goals (or objec-
dves). Each should an.swer tiie
quesdons:What one end-
result do you want to accom-
plish? What happens after the
event OCCUR or the message is
sentPTo be measurable, each
should contiin four compo-
nents:
•What is being measured (awareness?
attendance? contribudons?)
• A starting point or base agaiast
which to measure
• Quanddes or pereentages to be
achieved
" A deadline or amount of time for
accomplishment
Ev~aluation of success is only as good
as the quality of the goals. By including
these components, you're setdng the stage
for measuring your success.
7. Develop strategies — appnjaches
to solving problems or capturing oppor-
tunides that answer the quesdons: How
shall we proceed? What approach will
guide us?
8.Define,prioritize and analyze
publics. Each public is a group of people
with similar characterLsdcs (demographic
or psych ographic) that affect how well
your organization operates or achieves the
objectK'es you have set.TTie basic ques-
dons are:Who can make the decision (or
take the acdon) that I want made? What
are those people like?
Idendfying their characterisdcs and
reladonsliips to the organizadon allows
the PR professional to make communica-
tions more personal and relevant,and
therefore, more memorable to the indi-
viduals composing that public.
By fijrther dividing each public into
homc)genet)us segments and examining
their connecdons to each other,you can
determine who will respond in similar
ways to help make communicadoas more
> writing
targeted and effecdve.
9.Write message strategies and state-
ments. Nodce that deciding what to say,
how to say it and tlmnigh which jnedia to
convey the messa^;es is not done at the
outset of the planning prticess. Making
those decisions before steps one t h m u ^
eight have been completed would be like
a physician prescribing medicadoas before
examining the padent.
11). Develop media strategy and mix.
Media strategy and mix represent one of
the most important areas of ;i PR plan.
Ask yourself, what type of media should 1
select? Which specific media will be cho-
sen for cost, credibility and deliverability
within established time fnitnes? How
used?The strategy .Uso de;ils uath dining
and the frequency of message delivery.
11. Develop a schedule, assign respon-
sibility for each task and establish a budget.
12. Devise monitoring and me:isure-
ment systenis and related procedures.
Staying on budget and on top of produc-
tion are cridcal.To be sure everytiiing in a
plan happerLs as scheduled, prepare a dmc-
line diat is flexible but functional. .
Coordination within ;ill or^niza^
donal units and with suppliers is necessary
to avoid problems of delivery, duplicadon
of effort and, worst case, conflicts in mes-
sages or with acdons.such as policy
changes.
Putting the plan into action
When a pUn isfinishedand approveil,
it's dme to set the elements in modon.TTm
IS when the PR writer hegius to play a
major role. Assignments are made ftjr a
range of tasks. Copy super\isoni do Ciuefijl
reviews with the writers to nuike sure they
know what they are supposed to do in
what dme frames, what the basic message
strategy is and how it can be interpreted in
pardcular writing Lisks.
A key element, regardless of the writ-
ing task, is to make sure that what you
write is consistent with the strategic thrust
of the plan and with the oi^tanizadon's
central focus to protect credibility. Eacb
message must be written so it will fit the
format of the medium ased to deliver it,
and every message should be directed
especially to the target t)r priority publics.
Measurement
How can we tell whether the pro-
gram is working? Below is a sununary of
some factors you can measure.The first
two can help maintain quality in PR writ-
ing and pnsducdon.
1. Inputs —The writer's access to
Conlimied on Pinjc 17
 spotlight on
A modest proposal:
Six secrets to perfecting a proposal
By Joseph Priest
It may be the most important docu-
ment in public relations: the proposal.
Whether you work for an agency, a
corporarion or a nonprofit, a proposal for
new business, a new project or a new
grant is a typical part of doin^ business.
But putting together a proposal can
sometimes be anydiing but unifomi.
Some situations can involve large team
efforts that require compiling a range of
capabilities and experience infomiation,
recruiting the right colleagues to provide
insights to address a business challenge,
and rushing to produce aJI this informa-
tion in snazzy booklets under tight dead-
lines.
Not surprisingly.many granimar-
and-style matters can fall thmugli the
cnick-s when this many people integrate
For further reading from PRSA's
archives:
•'I3Iog basics: Writing oniine is
much easier than you nught imag-
ine" February 2( H Xy, PR lactia
"Understanding the importance of
job descriptions: How to put diem
in writing," February 2005. PR
Tiaics
"In style: A vetenmAP editor talks
shop about the journalist s bible,"
February 2005, PR Tactics
"What do editors think?The craft
of good writing," February 2004,
PR'lactks
members liave access to ftill-
text PDFs of these articles — as well
as two-page outlines of Silver Anvil
Award entries — throajj^i the PRC
Search under the MemberNet area
at www.prsa.org. O
PR plan
(.'oiiliiliird Iwili Page 16
timely, complete and correct infbnnadon.
2.1 hniughputs —A tiUIy of people
exposed to the information. Indicates how
well the infomiation is "packaged."
3. Outputs —What information was
distributed and to whom.
4. Outtakes — Did the target audience
see die messages? Did they believe them?
5. Results —This is of tiiost interest to
this much information under this kind of
timeline.
Mist;ikes on proposals are embarrass-
ing, unacceptable and, of course, detri-
mental to business. Regardless of how
much time you have to pull together a
prDpos,il, what's important is to always
sweat the details and not settle for any-
tlaing less than perfection.
Below are six cotninon errors to
avoid.
l.Wouldyouorwillyou?
When you describe a proposed
course of action, you can use the condi-
tional verb tense (would) or the future
tense (will): Our team will start l^y devel-
oping an influencer piognun.The condi-
tional tense is less assuming while the
futtire tense expresses stronger intent, but
either is OK. However, it s easy to inad-
vertently jump back and forth between
these two tenses and create a section that
reads sloppily. Remember to keep this
verb choice consistent throughout the
document.
2. Mr., Ms., last name or first name?
When you describe the talents of
your team in the bio section of proposals,
its easy to alternate from a formal style
(Mr.Joseph Gillis) to a casual one
(Josepii) to one in-between (Gillis),
depending on how a bio was originally
written or what style seenis most appro-
priate. The use of the first name tctids to
be the most common style nowadays.
Whichever you choose, stick with it in all
the bios.
3.A company is only one
When including case studies in a
proposal, a common pitfall in describing
past work is to refer to a corporation with
a plural pronoun:When Company XYZ
launched its program, they needed a way
to raise awareness.Tliis reflects the infor-
mal conversational style of referring to a
person or company in a plural form. In
writing, however, remember a corpora-
senior managers, but more costly than the
above. Results aiiswci" the questions. Did the
targeted publics' behavior change? In what
way. By how much? Did the outcomes
match the objectives? What is the value to
the organization?
Your most daunting writing task is like-
ly to be a thorough report that summarizes
theresultsof the effort. Information in these
reports, tliough. can be usefU and easier to
> writing
appear in the original
material are enclosed
in quotatii>n marks,
American Etigjish:'*!
won't go," Norma said.
British English;"l
won't gti". Norma
said.
• Americans write
the abbreviations Mr.,
Mrs.,St. and Dr. with a
period. Britons usually,
but not always, write
these as Mr. Mrs,St and
Dr. without a period,
• In British
English, collective
nouns that represent
groups of people gen-
erally take a plural verb.
tion is a singular entity and should always unlilw American English. British English:
be referred to with the singular pronoun The goveminent are on the rigjit course,
"it." American Eny^ish:The government is on
the right course.
4. Parallel structure
Proposals arc usually chock full of 6. One or two?
bulleted lists, so remember the most com- ! inally,tliis may seem nitpickybut
mon error with bulleted lists is a lack of inconsistent spacing following the end of
p.irallel construction. If the first bulleted a sentence does make a difference. For the
item is a noun, die a'st of the items should a'cord, correct spacing afiier a punctua-
be nouns. It the first iiem is a complete tion mark ending a sentence is t)ne space,
sentence, the rest of the items should be as not two.
well. Eacii item should be consistent with With the large number of people
the intnidm tory sentence. who contribute to proposals,its likely
that this inconsistency will crop up.Try to
5.Watch your English enfoa e the one-space rule.To be sure, this
If you re uoi king on a proposal team is a minor style issue,but its the same as if
that includes both British- and black text were used in part of the pro-
Ainerican-Eny^h speakers, be surc to posal and gray text in another part. It's
designate someone who can act as a final small but noticeable. Any inconsistenLy
authority in proofing the use of EngUsli. you can eliminate will make the final
Although British En^sh and American product better. O
English are generally intea hangeable,
enougli diftea*nces exist to cause misun-
derstandings. A few reminders;
n>iiiiiiiiiii,.:ih>ii.i ill Kcithiitn's
^'tti'York I'lJicr ,uui ai'Wnii'i a
iiumihly slytc-Mi(i-tisii_^e nni-xkt-
• hi American English, periods and
ler. He (an if micbrii.»
commas are always enclosed in closing um. com.
quotation marks. In liritish En^ish, how-
ever, only those punctuation marks tliat
Doug Newsom, Ph.D., APR,
understand when pieces are recast as back- Fdlow PRSA, J.^ pn'IfiMtr li'i
grounders, position papers, letters and lulisiii iiiiil liifirtoTill {•nuiuii
memos in support of forthcoming planning
i a( lexas ChmiuiH
efforts. An additionid benefit to making the ityill I-im 11'onh,Iiwiu
infonnation moa- accessible is gctdng die
information to responsible managers in its Jim Harnes,APR.Feliow PRSA
most usable fonu. O I* .1 imttilhi of PRSA's 200S-
2009 }xian\ ofdimtim ,itiil is .i
liiinriyr atui itnior cotuiiltaiH al
QuukSihrrbtlentiiiw (imif),
iu. /-(inn & Slylt; Sih tdilwn, 200X,
voiii ami
Itu: iti Diiltiif. li-niail:
TACTTCS FebfiJafy2008 17