Working Out Comms Strategy in 2023. 3 Tips for PR Pros

2023 is rapidly gaining momentum, while the PR departments worldwide are gearing up for the year ahead. Even though many PR pros have their communications strategies for the upcoming year mapped out, needless to say — change is the one constant.

To reach their goals beyond the overall ones, PR pros should also determine their channel strategy and what needs to be in the toolbox. We gathered valuable ideas and useful practices to thoroughly design your comms roadmap and lead successful campaigns throughout the year, and are now ready to share them.

Making your comms strategy effective: Three best practices to use

#1. Increasing brand recognition. SEO optimisation and partnership building

Brand recognition stands at the cradle of any PR campaign. Even though it can be difficult to measure and nebulous in meaning, PR pros still make big bets on this indicator every year. So what should comms professionals keep in mind?

Firstly, make sure brand recognition is what you really need right now. Maybe you need to focus on top-of-mind awareness or getting brand dominance this time? If brand recognition is what you really need, ensure you have strong definitions of what this means to your organisation and how you’re measuring progress along the way.

To increase the recognition of a brand, consider SEO optimisation. By increasing a brand’s visibility and ranking within a search engine, one’s brand consequently receives an increase in organic traffic and quality leads. Don`t hesitate to get external linking — this can be achieved by making various partnerships, attending events, and getting mentions. Catch every opportunity you have!

With that being said, building a brand doesn’t happen overnight, it’s always a long run. Be aware of the brand’s image you project into the market since it will be exactly what the brand will be associated with.

#2. Building the campaign forefront. Ideas and tips on content writing

To design a communications strategy, building a clear understanding of its inherent tools is a must — content writing, press release planning, media monitoring and analysis, pitching, and targeting. Still, content is considered to be the first priority, standing at the forefront of any campaign.

To make one’s brand voice come to life, it’s important to not only think big or generate ideas but also place these ideas into a format that would have the audience engaged. The following tips will help you build a meaningful content piece:

• First and foremost, think of a clear and concise message a story will hold for a reader.
• Determine the intent of your messaging, whether it is brand-driven or sales-driven.
• Use clear and concise ways to convey key messages to your reader — be clear with your message.

With these tips under your belt, you will design the content from the perspective of a person who will actually read, which will become an effective step towards meaningful and engaging content.

#3. Making comms roadmap. Communications calendar

Finally, a communications calendar helps you define and outline your content plan. Use this tool to generate comprehensive content plans that hit the stated goals and reach the intended audiences. Make sure you are well aware of the following tips when planning the calendar:

• To create your calendar, choose your tools, in the first place. Do not hesitate to explore free subscription templates and platforms like Trello, Haiilo, Airtable, Google Sheets, or Monday.com.
• Decide on the channels to focus on, either from a media or marketing component. You might want to use tools that will help measure your PR efforts: Google Analytics, Cision, Meltwater, Brand24, and others.
• Then, brainstorm and add content ideas — whether it will be press releases on the products’ launching or blog posts on the recent news.
• Finally, plan your publishing cadence and keep moving parts organised.

Summing Up

A thoroughly planned and carefully implemented communications strategy will have your audience engaged, while also increasing organic traffic and sharing a meaningful story. Properly planning or making adjustments is always a good idea given the data-driven industry and constant change the PR pros are working with. Make sure you are well aware of a message you convey, choose the right tools and channels, and keep things moving organised — these will ensure your comms strategy works properly and achieve your goals.

This post included highlights from the PR Daily webinar.