What makes a good PR strategy?

The best PR campaigns just work.They have a clear mission, a relatable message and an audible voice. They effectivelyengage the target audience. They excite, anger, or even inspire. Yet, whilethese campaigns can look as effortless as breathing, if you pull back thecurtain, you'll see a lot more planning than first meets the eye.

Whether you're the BelloraHotel in Sweden charging variable room rates dependant on how long guestsspend on social media, a hugefast food chain selling gravy-scented candles or a well-known bankputting corporate customers at the heart of its storytelling, there is onecommon denominator to all successful communications campaigns - a strategy.

Why do you need a strategy? Nothaving one is akin to driving a car without GPS. Sure, you might have a roughidea of where you want to go, and you may get there, in the end. You may have memorisedthe route because you've travelled it so many times before. But how do you knowyou've picked the best place to go? How do you know you've picked the mosteffective route? Is your car built to muscle its way through dirt tracks in theforest, rather than smooth tarmac?

A strategy in PR is effectively aframework - a plan of action and a foundation for campaign success. It willhelp you to work out how to cut through the noise of the media to influenceyour target stakeholders. It can also help you disarm competitors, who may beearning more share of voice than your organisation.

Rather than diving headfirst intotactics and hoping they will stick, you firstly need to build a robust,measurable strategy. To do so, you need to know the answer to five keyquestions:

• What's the big goal?

What are you trying to achieve from your communicationscampaign? What are your core objectives? Are you looking to be bought by abigger fish? Are you launching a new, never-seen-before service? Do you want tochange behaviour amongst your target audience? Whatever your hairy goal is, itshould be the backbone and guiding force of everything you do within your widercommunications campaign. All roads lead to the big goal.

• Who are you trying to reach?

What's your typical user base? Is it made up of individualconsumers, IT professionals? Perhaps it's a community with shared interests, orsomeone/something else? More likely, you'll have several key audiences you wantto reach, so you'll need to drill down into their personas - who are they? Whatdo they love, like, dislike? What are their behavioural nudges? What motivates them?Where do they get information from? The more you know about your targetaudiences, the more effectively you can speak to them in a relatable andempathic way.

• Whyyou?

You have a goal to work towards, and you know who you'retrying to reach. But what are you going to say to those stakeholders you'relooking to influence? What are your core messages and why are you reallydifferent? Start with an overarching corporate narrative for your organisationthat conveys your tone of voice, personality and vision. Then filter thisnarrative into key messages - whether written or spoken - that will resonatewith each target audience you want to speak to. There will likely be somecommon themes. Beware the language you use; make sure it's relevant to the specifictarget audience you're speaking to - there's no point using geek speak withgrandmothers!

• What are your tactics?

So, you have your eyes on the objective, you know who youwant to target with your campaign, and you know what you want to say. Now, howdo you want to say it? Tactics comprise the activities you choose to spreadyour news/key messages - will you float a heavily-branded item down the Thames?Or will you create a piece of intelligence informing your target audience withsolutions to their pain points? Have a look at the media you want to target inthe first instance, as that will likely guide and inform the tactics to choose.

• What's your measure ofsuccess?

How will you know if your PR campaign has been a resoundingsuccess or an absolute disaster? All PR strategies should be underpinned by a measurementframework that clearly outlines the outputs, expected outcomes and wheneverything should be delivered. The SMARTER you can be, (specific, measurable,achievable, realistic and timely), the better. Once you've measured andultimately reviewed your success, you can take those key learnings into thestrategy you devise for your next big idea.

And there you have a recipe forstrategy! Campaign strategy is a key component of all the communications programmeswe design for our clients. Without effective messaging and a well-thought outstrategy, it doesn't matter how much energy you expend or money you throw atPR. This is why, at Babel, we put our best brains to the task of working outwhat you need to say and how you need to say it, before you press go. Get intouch if you're interested in finding out more about what we can do for yourorganisation!