Writing a PR brief can be challenging and stressful but if done right, can reflect well on you when the project delivers outstanding results for your organisation.
Short of time, the busy executive is tempted to put everything they know into the PR brief and leave it to the PR company to work out what the priorities really are or, alternatively, to put nothing meaningful in the brief and hope the PR company can fill the gaps.
The fact is that as with most projects, success is determined by the quality of the planning and no matter what business you are involved in, you need a comprehensive brief if you want to get the best out of partnering with a PR company. Here’s how:
Set your goal – Start by documenting what success will look and feel like and be as specific as possible. A handful of deliverables with one key measure is recommended. That way at the end of the project everyone will know if you’ve succeeded or not.
Context – Understanding what series of events has resulted in the need to achieve this goal will help your PR advisors to shape the messaging you want to convey as well as the tone, style and urgency. Stay factual
Target audiences –Who do you want to engage with and what do you know about their current attitudes and behaviours?
Messaging – what do you think you can say/offer that will make your audience re-evaluate the position and why should they believe you?
Potential challenges – Think about the problems you could potentially come across, if you identify them now you may find them easier to address.
Timescale – When do you wish to start your PR activity, creating a timescale can help you identify how long you have to prepare.
Let’s talk money – Identifying and specifying how much money you are willing to spend will have a direct influence on the type of activity you require.
Evaluation – If you don’t evaluate you won’t learn. At the end of a project have a wrap up meeting and go through the desired outcomes. Have you achieved them? What worked, what didn’t? What would you do differently next time? This meeting should involve constructive feedback.
If all your information is under ‘Context’ then you don’t have a robust brief and you need to do some more digging 🙂
Once you have addressed all of the above points you should be good to go. Remember, selecting the right PR company to communicate your message will help you achieve those key outcomes.
