5.2: Developing a Public Relations Strategy

For almost every release an organization puts out, there has to be a strategy. Is the company announcing a new product? The PR strategy may be to use the announcement to further the identification of the company as a leader in product innovation. If that’s the case, every release about a new product will incorporate the phrase “a leader in product innovation.” Did the company just win recognition from the Society for Human Resource Management or Working Woman as a “Best Place to Work.” That certainly would be incorporated into every personnel announcement, and perhaps into every release.

Let’s take the last example and bore down a bit. Let’s say a college has an objective of being recognized as “The Best.” What sort of releases would contribute to that recognition?

• A new building
• A major gift by a donor to a department
• A new program
• Hiring a particular professor
• Being recognized by U.S. News & World Report as one of the 100, or 50, 0r 25, or 10 best colleges overall or in a particular area

The answer, of course, is all the above.

The point being that when an organization’s board of directors or president adopts a goal, that determines the objective for every department down the line:

• Academic Affairs develops a plan to recruit well-recognized professors. Those professors might hold Ph.D.’s, which is a research degree. Or they might be someone who has worked in the field and earned top honors. A journalism department might hire a Pulitzer Prize winner and make him a professor of practice, for instance.
• Deans and department chairs begin thinking about any changes they need to make to the physical plant.
• Admissions develops a plan to improve the quality of student admitted. Maybe a high school GPA of 2.0 has been good enough. The first move by Admissions might be to require a GPA of 2.5 or even 3.0 or higher. If a college can be known as a “selective admissions” college, that impacts the quality of students applying, the quality of professors seeking work there, major gifts foundations and wealthy individuals might make.
• Buildings and grounds might develop a new landscape plan to get the college on a list of “most beautiful college campuses in America.”

All of this leads to the public relations team seeking to put out press releases that contribute to the perception that the college is one of “the best” or is on its way to becoming one of the best. For example, a creative writing professor writes a new novel. The public relations department might put out a press release about the new book, especially if it is published by a major New York publisher.

During the Covid pandemic, Howard University put out a release about how its research faculty was responding to the pandemic. Bowie State announced that Laika, a feature film animation studio, was partnering with BSU to build the nation’s first stop-motion animation studio at a HBCU. University of Maryland announced its scientists have created a new chemical compound that could be a promising antidote for methamphetamine and fentanyl.

One of the ways a PR team develops a strategy is to engage in the “discovery process.” They look at the current state of the organization and determine what’s working and what’s not in its p.r. efforts.

Sometimes a company needs to “rebrand” itself. Typically, sales are slow, its hard for p.r. and marketing to connect with their audience, and the brand image needs a face lift.

When Lytho compiled a list of five examples of rebranding done right, the No. 1 example was Old Spice. Old Spice has been a recognized men’s deodorant since 1938. By the early 2000s, the brand was known as the brand your grandfather looked like. It introduced a body wash but competing brands – notably Dove Men+Care – did too. In 2010, Unilever announced a huge campaign for Dove Men+Care to air on the Super Bowl. Old Spice realized it had to respond, and it had to target younger men. The rebranding was incredibly successful, and you can read it here.

A major part of Old Spice’s effort involved social media. For both tv commercials and social media, Old Spice created a persona that was strong and on point. Old Spice used Wieden+Kennedy, an advertising agency. It seeded social networks with invitations to interact. On Twitter, for instance, Old Spice posted this tweet:

“Today could be just like the other 364 days you log into twitter, or maybe the Old Spice man shows up @OldSpice”

This can be used by almost any business. For instance, a wine shop could take questions on matching food with wine and let chefs from the best restaurants provide the answers and recipes. Run a dance studio? Post videos of dancers and invite viewers to select their favorite. An auto repair shop? Tips for maintaining your car.

Old Spice created the Old Spice Man. But you could engage an influencer or a famous person. The person doesn’t have to be a Broadway star or sports star. It could just as easily be the Mayor, or members of the local baseball team, or it could be a blogger. Some bloggers have astoundingly big followings. Personalize the response – every time you make the exchange personal with just one customer, others also want your character to give a “shout out” to them.

Create a series of stories. Remember, this whole process is about interactive storytelling. The more stories and the more consistently you deliver them, the greater the odds to become either a media habit or an outright addiction.

Keep the videos simple and short.

And tie your social media promotions into other advertising. Put up signage in your store. A merchant who advertises should promote your online contests or character. You’ll get a lot more views than just “visit our website.”

To learn how Ford developed a successful PR campaign as part of the launch of the Mustang Mach-E, click here.