prepare before doing a job. I always think of PR as like a marathon, because it takes practice, showing up and consistency. If you were a running novice, you’d be seeking advice on which running shoes to buy (or at least I hope you would) and following a training programme. Yes, you can just put shoes on and run and for some people this works out alright. But to avoid injury, insult and to be the absolute best you can be, you put the work in which is what this book will help you do for self-hype.
Each chapter works as a functional toolkit. I recommend using the book chronologically but the format does allow you to dip in and out of relevant sections when needed. Every element is split into:
– Activity: step-by-step instructions to activate this for your own business
– Example: a client, industry or self-example of what this might look like in action
– Tips: expert or best-in-practice tips to ensure that you execute to the best of your abilities
– Checklist: a review of what we have just covered
– Chapter summary: at the end of each chapter I’ll cover what you should have ticked off and what is coming up next.
Each chapter follows a clear road map to build your press office.
Chapter 1: PR plan – this is where we put the co-ordinates in your GPS, so we know where we are ending up on our publicity journey. Otherwise, we are going to be blindly waving our arms around in the PR pool not knowing which direction we are heading in. This chapter will provide clarity to shape your programme.
Chapter 2: Master your media toolkit – before you even think about contacting a journalist or pitching yourself as an expert for a podcast you need to get your house in order. This chapter is going to get into the practical minutiae of everything you need in your PR artillery before we go into our hype battle.
Chapter 3: Starting your press office – this is where I will hand over all the gems I’ve discovered for finding your way around the publicity wilderness. It can be a jungle out there and even for a seasoned PR professional you might only hear crickets. So, this section is a practical step-by-step list of actions to get you out there.
Chapter 4: The brain farts – this chapter aims to help ignite your creative thinking for your press office. It’s not all about big budgets but if you do have a bit of money in the pot or want some help generating quick creative wins, then this chapter will help you think far beyond the press release.
By the end of this book I want you to be well on your way to running a successful PR campaign, with well-thought-through building blocks. And the best bit, unlike any other publicity officer, you are already an expert in your business. So, who is better to talk about it?
OK. Grab your notebook if you haven’t already and let’s get hyping.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED
– A notebook to complete all of the tasks or download the relevant PDFs from www.thewern.com/book to fill in as you go along
– A red pen, time to be your own school teacher
– A 12-month wall chart to mark your key PR events
– A good relationship with your local newsagent so that you can call in niche magazines when needed – it is advisable to have an account so you can buy magazines in bulk.
CHAPTER 1
PR PLAN
OK, I’m going to start by throwing you into the deep end, ahead of strategic thinking. For this chapter, I want you to have an organised declutter hat on. Imagine your current PR strategy is a pile of dirty laundry and this is the Marie Kondo process to have some neat clothes at the end.
By the end of this chapter you will have laid the foundations for an effective campaign. It is an essential road map for your self-hype journey and makes you think into the why and what of your business – I’ll ask you regularly to refer to this throughout the book.
I am amazed at how many people (including PRs) are carrying out campaigns with no overarching strategy. Success can already be hard enough to measure without setting some goals and there is no point putting all the hard work in to hype yourself if you don’t know why you are doing it. We will now run through the following:
– Business objectives
– Communications objectives
– Your why
– Audience
– What is unique about your business
– Communications calendar
– Crisis Q&A.
Grab your notebook or download the strategy template from www.thewern.com/book. Throughout the book I will provide various business examples, but for the strategy work in Chapter 1 I have used my own business as a case study. The full template for this is also available from the website.
1.1 Business objectives
We need to start with outlining your business objectives, which we will constantly remind ourselves of all the way through. It is nigh on impossible to hype yourself in an effective way without knowing these, so best to get them sorted from the beginning. Changing the goals halfway through the campaign means you may have to start from scratch, so it is essential that your business targets are outlined on one page.
ACTIVITY
In your workbook write down the title ‘Business objectives’, have a read through the following questions and answer the questions that feel relevant for your own business.
NB: You don’t have to have an answer for all of these pillars, I’ve just included some examples to get you thinking.
Turnover or business growth
– Do you want to get more bums on seats?
– Do you want to launch or sell more products?
– What are your revenue goals?
– How much website traffic are you looking to attract?
– How many email sign-ups are you looking for?
– What’s your social media following target?
Internal goals
– Are you looking
