December is often a quieter period publicly (with the exception of those in the retail space), as marketing/PR and product development teams are dizzily working toward an early Q1 product launch or another major company-wide initiative to make some noise and sell, sell, sell. For PR pros, it’s easy to get caught up in the frenzy and forget to review the past year’s successes and challenges and consider how you plan to move forward strategically in 2019. Here are some winning strategies to help steer the course for your PR plans in 2019:
- Dig-in to Earned Media Coverage – While helpful tools can monitor media coverage, such as TrendKite, don’t rely on them as your sole source of PR truth. Analyze the biggest media wins that had the most impact on your business vs. just a total number of media mentions.
- Review Company and Product Messaging – In preparation for 2019 initiatives, review key external messaging to ensure it still resonates with buyers and influencers. Markets fluctuate, as do the reasons for buying, so it’s likely the messaging used at the beginning of 2018 may not be relevant for 2019.
- Less is More – The simple truth is that “spray and pray” rarely works. Talk to sales and BDO teams to determine which markets are ripe for PR outreach. Meaningful, well thought-out initiatives to a targeted group are far more successful than generic campaigns to the masses.
*This post originally appeared in the December 2018 issue of The Spark newsletter.