Make the News MediaHQ Make the News 10 Ways to Get Better PR Results MediaHQ.com, Gmail, Basecamp, and Google Calendars The 10 commandments for i Power Tips from PR Professionals communications teams “Sit down, as early as possible, with can give people back the gift of time so that they can relevant team members, and formulate focus on better work. the three to five key messages that you 1. Be very productive want to get across. Once you have them, The biggest problem for most PR is that they don’t do it is easier to target specific media.” 6. Have a detailed content plan enough to get the story out. The baseline for success Silke Paasche Proactive communications needs to be planned. When Head of Communications should be to share at least one story a week – 52 a year. It everybody knows what to do and when to do it, you National Women’s Council of Ireland might seem like a lot, but it really isn’t. Also ask yourself – will get results. Plan your objectives and your content how quick is the approval process? No matter how short it quarterly. Be specific and do it day by day. The plan will is, can you make it quicker? change, but you must write it down. A quality plan lays a solid foundation, promotes understanding and will 2. Expect and reward purpose enable your team to do better work. and creativity Too many teams are busy, but not productive. Think of 7. Set clear goals the language we use – always about being busy, never about being creative. When is the last What problem is your team trying to solve and where time you said you were ‘mad creative’? Who comes up with the best ideas and how do they do it? is it written down? What are you trying to achieve this What do you value and what language do you use to describe the work? Creativity, purpose and year? How can what you do tangibly help your problem solving will sustain you longer, but are you enabling your team to do that? organisation to achieve its goals? Does everybody understand it? 3. The story is the most important thing Telling great stories is the lifeblood of every communications team. They are what bring our work 8. Pursue the audience on many platforms to life. Stories are the currency that we trade in. How are you finding new material every day? Issuing press releases and pitching traditional journalists should be just one of many tactics in Is this done on an ad hoc basis or do you have a system? Do you share the responsibility with your arsenal. If it’s not, then you are operating in the past. What other content platforms are you everyone in the organisation, or is it just you and your team? How are you capturing great stories pursuing? How are you integrating the time and effort into your overall message? What social and how could you improve this? networks are you mastering and how? Do you have a company blog for developing your other voice, the one that’s not a press release, that tells your stories? 4. Be insanely relevant to your audience What makes your audience tick? What are the five most important things to them? What defines 9. Measure, measure and measure again them? When is the last time you did a profile of them? Who on the team has a native instinct Who’s keeping score and, more importantly, what are they counting? You should have a simple for your audience? How can you all tune into the sweet spot of your target customer every day? and effective measure of success. You should check it once a week, and in a single page it should These are searching questions, but to be insanely relevant with your communication, you must make sense to you. If your PR is aligned with your organisation’s core objectives, you will know tune into them every day. what to measure. If it isn’t, you are of much less value within the organisation. 5. Build your sense of team every day 10. Speak with one voice as a team How are you developing your team every day? A productive team understands the problem and Do you speak with one voice as a team? What does it sound like? Can you carry the tone across has the power to solve it. Practical steps, like where people sit, and how the office is structured, press releases, personal briefings and social media? How do you explain your tone of voice to can make a massive difference to the search for successful results. How often do people meet, others? Organisations like Dogs Trust, Paddy Power and Ryanair are great at this. Why? Because or does it happen passively? How is performance reviewed? You should constantly review team their voice is simple and they don’t complicate it. Can you do the same? activities and ask is the team productive. Is it getting results? Digital productivity tools like MediaHQ.com, Gmail, Basecamp, and Google Calendars The 10 commandments for i Power Tips from PR Professionals communications teams can give people back the gift of time so that they can “For me, it all comes down to awareness focus on better work. and sound judgement. In other words, the best results come from knowing your 1. Be very productive team’s strengths and weaknesses, and The biggest problem for most PR is that they don’t do 6. Have a detailed content plan getting them to play to their strengths. enough to get the story out. The baseline for success Proactive communications needs to be planned. When Also, when you have a strong sense of your individual team members’ should be to share at least one story a week – 52 a year. It everybody knows what to do and when to do it, you capabilities, it is important to give them will get results. Plan your objectives and your content might seem like a lot, but it really isn’t. Also ask yourself – responsibility and the ‘space’ to run with how quick is the approval process? No matter how short it quarterly. Be specific and do it day by day. The plan will the ball. Direct feedback, constructive is, can you make it quicker? change, but you must write it down. A quality plan lays advice and continual mentoring of your a solid foundation, promotes understanding and will ‘talent’ is absolutely vital.” Alex Connolly enable your team to do better work. 2. Expect and reward purpose Head of Communications, Fáilte Ireland and creativity Too many teams are busy, but not productive. Think of 7. Set clear goals the language we use – always about being busy, never about being creative. When is the last What problem is your team trying to solve and where time you said you were ‘mad creative’? Who comes up with the best ideas and how do they do it? is it written down? What are you trying to achieve this What do you value and what language do you use to describe the work? Creativity, purpose and year? How can what you do tangibly help your problem solving will sustain you longer, but are you enabling your team to do that? organisation to achieve its goals? Does everybody understand it? 3. The story is the most important thing Telling great stories is the lifeblood of every communications team. They are what bring our work 8. Pursue the audience on many platforms to life. Stories are the currency that we trade in. How are you finding new material every day? Issuing press releases and pitching traditional journalists should be just one of many tactics in Is this done on an ad hoc basis or do you have a system? Do you share the responsibility with your arsenal. If it’s not, then you are operating in the past. What other content platforms are you everyone in the organisation, or is it just you and your team? How are you capturing great stories pursuing? How are you integrating the time and effort into your overall message? What social and how could you improve this? networks are you mastering and how? Do you have a company blog for developing your other voice, the one that’s not a press release, that tells your stories? 4. Be insanely relevant to your audience What makes your audience tick? What are the five most important things to them? What defines 9. Measure, measure and measure again them? When is the last time you did a profile of them? Who on the team has a native instinct Who’s keeping score and, more importantly, what are they counting? You should have a simple for your audience? How can you all tune into the sweet spot of your target customer every day? and effective measure of success. You should check it once a week, and in a single page it should These are searching questions, but to be insanely relevant with your communication, you must make sense to you. If your PR is aligned with your organisation’s core objectives, you will know tune into them every day. what to measure. If it isn’t, you are of much less value within the organisation. 5. Build your sense of team every day 10. Speak with one voice as a team How are you developing your team every day? A productive team understands the problem and Do you speak with one voice as a team? What does it sound like? Can you carry the tone across has the power to solve it.