pr plan

Publicity Campaign Steps- How to Set a Budget And Timeline

By Tatyana Gann

by Tatyana Gann

A Publicity campaign does not have to be complicated and stressful! I love this quote by Albert Einstein, “The only reason for time is so that everything does not happen at once”. I often think about how many business owners do not realize that from the VERY moment they make a decision to go into business and create a plan, for some magic reason, they forget to include a publicity campaign. They do not realize that publicity is a key ingredient that they are missing and try to add it only later!

Here are some key elements of a publicity campaign:

In order for any publicity campaign to be effective, you must start early so that you have more time to mastermind with your PR planning team, your biz partners and if any changes have to be made you can do it with NO EXTRA STRESS! Also, it allows you have time to build true business relationships without pitching it or being rushed to do so.

Secondly, the interesting thing about business owners who are working with investors often think of a publicity campaign as a luxury component for their business and never include it or barely mention it in their business PR plan!

Third, you must be a pioneer in some area of your business. Contact your local and regional media and show them that you have a media plan.  Show them your unique approach! For example, styling tips for petite women …or weight loss without a low calorie diet… Whatever makes you stand out as a pioneer or be the first to tell the news the better off you are!

You could ask me, ” Tatyana, What will a publicity plan do for me in the next 90 days?”

Simple answer- FOCUS

1. It becomes a checklist of your plans

2. Gives you idea of a realistic budget

3. Makes you take a look at your values and what is important to you.

4 . Gives you a Long Term vision of your branding. You will be able to ask yourself, “Is this WHAT I want?”

5. Know your available cashflow to spend on the publicity and other promotion methods

6. Gives you an idea of the time frame to plan the PR campaign

7. Opens doors to NEW approaches to grow your business

Tip #1 It really does not matter if you are doing a product launch or want to redo your business plan and add a publicity ingredient, creating a detailed  marketing plan outline will give clarity to your business partners and yourself!

Your next step is to set a STRUCTURE. Without structure, nothing in life will work or function. Your publicity plan might remind you of a beautiful dance performance. When I was a ballroom dancer performing in front of thousands of people, all that the audience saw was the final result. I could not go on the stage without practicing and knowing the exact steps, the order and what to expect. In the end, each performer had a role to play in the dance performance. With your publicity, every element of a publicity campaign should be balanced out, planned out.

Write down the steps to write your press releases,  list of your events and the content of your column articles that needs to go out.  Then, you must write down these important steps:

1. Your publicity campaign budget (monthly or 90 day budget, including the next 6-9 months)

2. Your personal involvement or outsourcing

3. Marketing research and the time you need for it

4. Cost of each publicity campaign assignment

5. Review all your marketing tactics and when they should each start, in order for everything to flow right

The truth some PR experts do not want to tell you is that it can take longer and more work is involved once they start working, because business owners always want to add something or do it differently.

Public relations campaign experts recommend that you calculate each assignment cost and DOUBLE IT. Do not focus on the budget as much as on your final goal! Relax and be flexible!

Last tip: Start your publicity early, think of each component of your campaign, your cost for press stories, submission, radio interviews, content creation (your time is your money!), your events, your contests and so on. Some business owners want to keep it simple and some want to have a huge publicity campaign to reach a bigger audience!

Tatyana Gann is the founder of Smokin’ Hot PR Ezine, and SmokinHotPR Boutique providing publicity, online PR services and even private VIP consulting.  Tatyana Gann is ready to bring you publicity tips, advice and PR services to help you gain more raving fans for your business and create smokin’ hot publicity! She has the simple formula for creating a publicity plan that brings results! Grab your FREE publicity weekly advice at: http://www.smokinhotpr.com/

The heart of a perfect PR plan

By Tatyana Gann

Ready to develop a PR plan ?

You might ask me, “Tatyana, why do I  need a  PR plan and how can it help me to reach my goals in selling  more of my products?”

How long have you postponed putting together a PR plan? May be it is time to get moving forward!

In the past few weeks I have been writing press releases and researching what our publicity clients were really seeking to achieve with their PR plan?  I realized that in order for me to be effective and efficient at what I do I had to put my entire heart into it!

One of my clients Mari Ann has approached me to help her with a mini publicity campaign to share a story of one of her clients success story. To be brief, Mari Ann is the founder of The MARI Method, a permanent weight loss program that helps her clients to achieve long term results and stay healthy.  We have tweaked her first press story and sent it out to the media list of health, fitness, yoga, celebrity lifestyle reporters, editors and writers. Her press releases got attention, and she has received several emails from the editors asking for more information and even a request for an interview.

It was exciting to see how we could easily match her with the right media sources and bring the media exactly what they wanted. The message reached out people who have a passion and a heart for what they do.

In my Star Publicity: Step By Step Guide I wrote recently what it took to get the star level publicity. We are not talking about celebrities, movie actors, musicians. We are talking about you being a star in your own backyard.

How do you do that?

It is all about heart!

I realized also that understanding what my client wanted and putting together PR plan that consisted of the right media list, keyword research and communicating with editors on her  behalf was the best strategy. always think ahead. Always research before you approach media. They want to be asked what to present to them.

My client has an extraordinary passion for what she does and when everything got aligned, things worked smoothly and brought REAL results with what seemed to many- NO EFFORT. WHY?

Publicity works ONLY when you heart is in what you do!

Like everyone you have a story to tell the people on the web. You have got a pretty blog or website, but sometimes you feel stuck! The reason could be is what you do is not what you really love . It is only one good idea and nothing more. You become an advertising machine instead of powerful passionate storyteller.  People do not want the advertising that only sells and sells! They want real connections! They want to trust YOU!

But can they trust you if they feel you are wishy-washy about your  business?

Let me ask you a question. If you were a customer would you want  your product and services after seeing how it got presented? It does not mean you must act like a fool about your products and lie that you are in love with them. Being real and honest with yourself will help you to determine the best and clear PR plan.

Here are my two golden publicity tips today:

Tip 1: If you do not have a clear publicity plan like in anything you do, you will fail and your expectations for PR services will be low. Some people say you can write a press release in 30 min, but for me it is a piece of art. It is a masterpiece. It takes research of topics, trends to get the buzz going and find what people discuss on the particular topic and if it makes sense even to write press release.

Tip 2: Writing press releases for your business is one of great options to reach your buyers and media. PR plan is very important for a business owner regardless the size of their company.

Enjoy your day!

Tatyana Gann

Tatyana Gann & Smokin’ Hot PR http://www.smokinhotpr.com/ Ready to get access to the simple formula for creating a proven marketing and online PR campaign? It’s time to get back to the basics and enjoy simple PR and marketing methods that work around the clock. Learn how you can tap into the markets you never thought possible and how to establish your online credibility very fast. Tatyana and SmokinHotPR consulting is an online PR service on steroids – it gives you a quick and simple formula to do your own PR and eliminate marketing headaches.