This post first appeared in Anthony Bullick’s Daily Post column.
It’s common for businesses to want to see action straight away when they invest in brand promotion activity, however, jumping straight in often wastes time and money.
It’s understandable that if the decision is made to carry out PR and marketing communications, then physical outputs are a clear indicator work has started.
To use an analogy, pressing down on the car’s accelerator is an obvious sign of a journey commencing, but if the postcode hasn’t been put the sat nav, how do you know where to go in the most efficient and effective way?
In the PR and marketing world, common mistakes are targeting the wrong audiences, producing content your stakeholders aren’t interested in, and using ineffective tactics.
Conducting research at the outset will significantly minimise those risks, therefore increasing your chances of success.
Organise 1-2-1 interviews with key personnel in the organisation; include those at the top as well as those who are customer facing. Sometimes there is a disconnect between the employees’ view of the overall business objectives, threats, and opportunities versus the directors’ plan.
In addition, those who handle clients daily and staff who have one ear to the ground in the community are able to provide valuable insight into what the true perception of the brand is.
Speak to other stakeholders including subcontractors, customers, local residents, politicians, and councillors to build up a comprehensive picture of the company through external eyes.
Complete desktop research to discover an array of data to supercharge your efforts.
Review online forums to find out what your target customers are talking about and what problems they are facing. As part of your tactics going forward, how can you join the conversation and add value.
In addition, if a forum full of your ideal clients are seeking support on a specific topic, it’s likely others are, too. Using these findings, you will be able to create content that helps solve a common issue, positioning you as an expert.
Take a look at the analytics on your platforms including social media, Google Analytics, Search Console and email marketing.
Your previous activity will show what has been working, as well as the user behaviour: what web pages are individuals visiting? What social media posts are they engaging with? What stories are they clicking on? What search terms are they putting into Google?
The preparation work detailed above will ensure your PR and communications strategy is built on solid foundations for the tactics and outputs that then follow.