Consumer marketing - priorities for PR in new year plans

Published 2003

If you have completed your marketing plans for the new financial year, then it’s time to look at the implementation of those plans. Time also to look at what’s in your marketing ‘toolbox’, how you intend using the tools you have, and whether you maybe need some new tools this year.

The full extend of how PR can work for a company is sometimes overlooked at the planning stage, so now is a good time to look at PR tools and see what they can do for you.

There are four core areas where PR’s application should be considered.

Communicating the brand’s personality

You’ve probably spent a lot of time ensuring your advertising will communicate the brand values. But have you done the same with PR?
PR can play a real role in communicating a personality for the brand, so it needs to be subject to the same disciplines and process. There should be a PR strategy development process, resulting in agreement on:

• the differentiating proposition of the brand
• brand personality traits
• brand promise
• PR goals for the brand
• key messages
• key influencers
• etc

This will be constructed from a PR perspective which will differ from, but complement your advertising strategy. It will become the key PR strategy document for the year.
Most importantly it will become the template on which all day-to-day activities should be undertaken.

Adding depth to communication with target audiences

If you’ve defined your key target audiences, or the demographics of your key customer segment, then you need to examine how PR will best support the marketing push. Think about how PR can reach these same audiences, but with different messages and via different communication channels.
This should fall out of your main plan and be tailored with specific messages aimed at the different target groups.

PR activities can range from media outreach to special promotional events.

Ensuring fuller use of the media

You will have chosen the key media you will use for advertising. But there will be media which you either couldn’t afford or which didn’t warrant expenditure. Are you planning to use PR to either support your key media strategy or to ‘fill in the gaps’ with this secondary media?
You also need to consider a separate PR media strategy that will aim to have your product represented editorially in media that is especially influential when it comes to buying decisions and preferences.

In lifestyle electronics, for example, there is a myriad of media which, among other things, review and recommend products. Your PR plan should aim to not only consistently put your products in front of editors, but also aim to build relationships in this area.

Adding support to new product launches

Your plan will most likely include the release of new products during the coming year.
No doubt you already have advertising and other direct promotional support planned around these.

But where does PR fit into these plans? How do you intend to use it to either extend reach to audiences and/or better use media? And what opportunities are there to take a leadership position through these launches?

Other questions

Other questions that should be asked regarding consumer marketing in the new financial year include:

• do we have in place an ongoing media relations program?
• are there issues within our product category, or connected with our specific products, for which we should enlist PR help and support?
• are there new research findings or product enhancements that PR can perhaps be used to announce?
• do we need assistance to exploit and leverage events or other commitments that are in our plan?
• are we introducing new support or backup systems and procedures that require PR support?
• do we have international company or industry visitors arriving during the year that might warrant PR activity?